————$———— 
912 BRASSICA. 
jac show the produce of the first, compared to 
that of the second, to be as 955 to 700.” The 
chief of the other plants cultivated for the ex- 
traction of oil from their seeds, are species of 
stnapis, camelina, and raphanus. Sinapis alba is 
cultivated in the Vosges under the names of navet 
@été and grain-de-beurre. Camelina sativa is 
cultivated in some provinces under the same 
names as Sinapis alba ; and, next to Brassica cam- 
pestris oletfera, is the most productive of the oil- 
bearing cruciferous plants. Laphanus sativus 
oleiferus is a native of China, and is cultivated in 
Italy for its seeds. De Candolle says, respecting 
the whole group of the oil-bearing cruciferous 
plants, “ Most of them, and perhaps the whole 
number, are susceptible of two different varia- 
tions, the one having a thin, slender, slightly 
fleshy root,—the other a thick and fleshy root, 
In general, those of the first kind bear a consid- 
erable quantity of seeds, and are cultivated 
throughout Europe as oleiferous vegetables; the 
others, on the contrary, bring few seeds to per- 
fection, and are cultivated in general for their 
roots, as excellent for field or garden vegetables. 
So in the Brassica oleracea, the varieties that 
have a thin stalk are cultivated for their seeds; 
and those that have swelled radicles are reserved 
for food. Among the varieties of the Brassica 
campestris, which, by reason of its large seeds, 
_ appears to be eminently oleiferous, the colsa is 
| the most productive, and has the thinnest root ; 
for the produce of the oil, the ruta-baga and 
common NVapus brassica are much less useful. In 
the Brassica rapa, the navette with a thin root 
is cultivated for its oily seeds, whilst the turnip, 
or Brassica rapa depressa, is used for food. In 
the Brassica napus, the navette with a thin root 
is cultivated for its oil, and the navet for the 
sake of its root. Lastly, in the Raphanus sativus, 
| the same circumstance again appears; the thin 
roots constantly belong to the many-seeded va- 
rieties, whilst the thick fleshy roots are employed 
for culinary purposes only.—A similar law may 
be observed in other cruciferous plants. The 
Cochlearia armoracea, which has a very large 
thick root, rarely brings any seeds to perfection, 
whilst every other species of cochlearia produces 
them freely. This observation may be useful to 
guide cultivators in the choice of the varieties 
proper to try as oleiferous plants. If taken in a 
more extensive sense, it may serve to throw some 
light on the laws of vegetation in general, for we 
know it is not confined to cruciferous plants 
alone.” | 
The Brassica oleracea has the singular property 
of communicating fecundation to other species of 
brassica, and at the same time being incapable 
of receiving fecundation from any. Its pollen 
has been successfully applied, not only to other 
species of brassica, but even to the cultivated 
black radish; and it has itself resisted the pollen 
of all species of brassica, and of all varieties ex- 
cept its own. Even the colsa, chou-navet, or 
BRAWN. 
white ruta-baga, Brassica campestris napo-brassica, 
and the navet-jaune or common yellow ruta-baga, 
Brassica campestris napo-brassica ruta-baga, which 
appear to be hybrids between Brassica oleracea 
and Brassica rapa, and which possess strong re- 
semblances to the former, and have the power of fe- 
cundating species, varieties, and hybrids through- 
out almost the entire range of the genus,—even 
these cannot fecundate any variety of Brassica 
oleracea. All the varieties of the different spe- 
cies, however, are very liable to change or dete- 
rioration from the floral impregnation of other 
varieties growing in their vicinity, from the car- 
riage of the impregnating pollen by bees, from 
the impoverishment of reproductive energy by 
bees and other insects, from the nature of soil, 
from difference of climate, from degrees of mois- 
ture in both air and land, from change in the 
period of sowing, and from some other circum- 
stances whose precise nature and modus operandi 
have not yet been properly investigated. Judi- 
cious seedsmen will never grow crops of two va- 
rieties of brassica for seed in the near vicinity of 
one another, and will make a careful selection of 
circumstances for the separate growth of each 
variety.— Horticultural Transactions—Radclif’’s 
Flanders.— Gardener's Magazine—Farmer’s Maga- 
zine.—Sproule’s Agriculture.—Loudon’s Hneyclo- 
pedia of Plants.—Outlines of Flemish Husbandry. | 
BRASSIN. The principal winter and fatten- 
ing food of the stall-fed cattle of Flanders. It 
consists of the roots of turnips, carrots, and po- 
tatoes, and the meal of beans, rye, and buck- 
wheat, either boiled together in a copper cal- 
dron, or first chopped together in a tub and then 
macerated with boiling water. This food, in a 
lukewarm state, and in the quantity of two pails- 
full morning and evening to each cow, consti- 
tutes, with a little wheat-straw or barley-straw, 
the whole of the food of stall-fed cattle through- 
out the winter; and, in greater quantity, with 
the addition of more meal, and sometimes bruised 
linseed cake, it is the only food used for fatten- 
ing cows and oxen. In the vicinity of the brew- 
eries of towns, grains are added to the other in- 
eredients of the winter-feeding mixture; and 
they occasion a large increase in the cow’s milk. 
BRAWN. ‘The pickled flesh of the boar. 
Boars of all breeds, ages, and sizes, are slaughtered 
for preparing it; but those which are largest in 
size and deepest in the shoulder, are esteemed 
the best. They are generally fed upon beans, and 
have a mixture of sulphur in their drink, and 
are killed about Christmas. Their carcases are 
boiled, seasoned, freed from the bones, gammons, 
head, and feet, formed into collars, pickled, rolled 
up in cloth, and bound with tape. The precise 
method of preparation is, as much as possible, 
kept asecret by the manufacturers, and probably 
varies in different establishments, and has been 
altered and modified in the general progress of 
modern improvement. But the following method 
is mentioned in books of various kinds, published 
