520 BREAD-ROOT. 
duetion, called by English travellers the cow- 
.tree, by the inhabitants of the Caraccas Palo de 
Leche, and by Humboldt Galactodendron utile, 
‘has. been thought by some naturalists to be a 
species of bread-nut. See the article Cow-TRus. 
BREAD-ROOT,—botanically Psoralea esculenta. 
A hardy, esculent, tuberous-rooted plant, of the 
clitoria subdivision of the butterfly - flowering 
portion of the leguminous tribe. It grows to 
the height of about a foot, and carries a blue 
flower in June and July. It is cultivated in 
North America as an esculent; and was intro- 
duced to Great Britain from Missouri in 1811. 
Pursh describes it in his Flora Americanze Sep- 
tentrionalis. 
BREAK. Land ploughed the first-time after 
it has lain two or more years in grass. 
BREAK -FURROWING. The rib-ploughing 
_of stubble-land with porous soil. Only the:alter- 
.nate furrow-slice is turned ; and this.is so depos- 
ited on the adjoining space that the stubbles of 
the very thin turned slice are applied to those 
of the unturned one. The stubbles, by this 
method, have sufficient circulation of air to de- 
.eompose; and the porous soil is prevented from 
being too much pulverized by the action of frost. 
See the article Prouguinea. 
BREAKING. The reducing of an animal to 
a state of. subjection ; and, in particular, the ac- 
customing of a. young colt to the saddle or the 
yoke. The foal, immediately after being weaned, 
ought every day to be handled and partially 
dressed, and occasionally led about and made 
fast with the halter. . After the second winter, 
the colt may, for days in succession, be accus- 
tomed, during an hour,or so a-day, to a small bit 
of such a construction.as will not hurt his mouth. 
If he is intended for ordinary farm-draught, he 
may be accustomed :-to piece after piece of :the 
-harness,—allowing him to be well used to one 
piece before subjecting him to another piece, and 
reserving the blind-winkers to the last. A few 
days after he has become accustomed to all the 
harness, he may be yoked into a team, with one 
horse before him, and another horse behind him, 
and all attached to a mere empty cart or wag- 
gon; he ought not to be further urged than by 
the strain of the other horses, and by an occa- 
sional patting and vocal encouragement ; and 
after he begins to pull with the other horses, 
which he will do in the course of a few days, or 
of perhaps the very first day, the waggon may 
receive a gradually increasing load, to make him 
exert his muscles, and acquire the habit of 
draught. All severity and infliction of pain and 
use of forcible means ought, from first to last, to 
be most carefully avoided. Backing, which is by 
far the most difficult part of his work, must not 
be thought of till he has learned to draw; and 
it must be taught, first without any thing what- 
ever being attached to him,—next, with a very 
light cart,—next, with a light load or heavy cart, 
BREAST-PLOUGH. 
with studious care not to kurt his mouth with 
the bit. Blinding him while teaching him to 
back must not be thought of,amnless he prove ob- 
stinate and-restive; and not.even then, unless 
all methods of coaxing and:adroitery should fail. 
Prompt and uniform obedience will afterwards 
be best inculcated by firm, steady,-kind, uniform 
treatment, and with a very infrequent, but smart 
-and severe, use of the whip or goad. efractori- 
ness, restiveness, and all;the other varieties of 
-vicious habit in horses are, in all instances, more 
or less produced by cruel usage. ‘A bland and 
soothing manner, combined with. steadily com- 
manding tone, will subdue any colt and :train 
him to a cheerful performance of any.work. Hven 
when a colt is unusually resistive, and opposes 
with high and:pertinacious spirit the earlier at- 
tempts to subjugate him,.a combination of kind- 
ness and firmress may very speedily tame him, 
while a single act or two of harshness might | 
drive him into prolonged rebellion,.and perhaps | 
permanent viciousness. When a young :farm- 
horse is wanted for the saddle as well as for the 
yoke, he ought:to receive his first lesson when in 
the team, and ought to be first mounted by the 
person who has been accustomed to feed him. | 
The breaking of horses for the carriage and the 
chase, is the work of regular practitioners or 
‘breakers,’ and therefore does not demand from 
us any particular remark. Yet we may say. that, 
while the method usually practised by breakers | 
is unquestionably good, it might be materially 
improved by studying the natural action of:the | 
horse, and especially by discarding much of its | 
harshness, and infusing into it a considerable | 
addition of bland though firm kindness. 
BREAST-PLOUGH. Animplement for paring 
off the sward or turf, in thin slices, from:the sur- 
It is also.called | 
face of any piece of grass land. 
a paring-spade, a denshare, and a flaughter-spade. 
It was originally constructed to work somewhat 
like a plough, and to be pushed forward by.the 
breast of aman. It consisted of a cutting-iron, 
about eight or nineinches long, and having one 
of its sides turned up.to cut the turf. The iron 
‘was fixed toa pele bending upwards, about five | 
or six feet in length, forked at the upper end, 
and having a crutch or cross-handle mortised in- 
to the forks; and the workman placed his breast | 
against the crutch, and pushed forward the im- 
plement so as to pare and cut the turf. The 
breast-plough now in use is so constructed as to 
be pushed forward by means of a board or of 
woollen pads attached by straps to the front of 
the thighs; and it has a curved shaft, and is pro- 
vided with a cross hilt which the workman grasps 
so as to guide his operations. Workmen usually 
break the pared turf into pieces of nearly uni- 
form size by mere wrenches of the implement ; 
they sometimes follow one another, in an exten- 
Sive piece of work, in the same sort of order.as.a 
body of mowers; they, in most cases, find the 
—next, with a heavy load,—and, all through, | working of the breast-plough very hard labour ; 
