pe 
BRINJALL. 
ease and cheapness of its own application. A 
solution of salt and common water, or an addi- 
tion of salt to sea-water, so powerful as to float a 
hen’s egg, is one of several means which have 
been successfully tried for preventing smut in 
wheat. The seed intended to be sown is poured 
into this solution, and stirred in it; all which 
floats is skimmed off and rejected ; and all which 
sinks is first drained upon a sieve, and afterwards 
sprinkled with siftings of newly slaked lime. 
The steeping of potatoes during four days in a 
strong solution of common salt destroys or great- 
ly retards their vegetative power, and causes 
them to keep long in a condition fit for culinary 
use; yet they afterwards require to be washed 
in several successive ablutions with clean water 
in order to be freed from the salt. A better 
method of effecting the same object is to use am- 
moniacal water. See Ammonia, A writer in an 
old agricultural work, the Museum Rusticum, 
says that, by a peculiar application of salt which 
is known in America as brining, he saved for the 
use of his cattle a crop of hay which had been so 
spoiled by rain as to be almost rotted in the 
field. ‘When my servants were making up the 
stack,” says he, “I had it managed in the fol- 
lowing manner: As soon as the bed of hay was 
laid about six inches thick, I had the whole 
sprinkled over with salt; then another bed of 
hay was laid, which was again sprinkled in the 
same manner ; and this method was followed till 
all the hay was stacked. When the season came 
for cutting this hay, and giving it to my cattle, 
I found that, so far from refusing it, they eat it 
with surprising appetite, always preferring it to 
the sweetest hay that had not been in this man- 
ner sprinkled with salt.” See the article Sarr. 
BRINJALL,—botanically Solanwm ovigerum 
ruber. A variety of the common egg-plant, It 
produces dark-coloured, elongated, esculent fruit ; 
and, for the sake of this fruit, it 1s extensively 
cultivated in the East Indies, especially in the 
vicinity of Bombay. It is also established as an 
esculent in the gardens of France, under the 
name of aubergine; and it has, for some time, 
been challenging the attention of the gardeners 
of Great Britain, and even sharing that atten- 
tion jointly with the egg-plant. It is an annual 
plant, of sufficient tenderness to require green- 
house culture; yet is well-raised in a frame, upon 
a dung-bed. The seeds are sown in February ; 
and from six to ten fruits are obtained from each 
plant. The fruits are generally used in India in 
curries and made dishes; but a better mode of 
using them, is first to divide them lengthwise, 
next to score them repeatedly across with a knife, 
next to dress them with butter, pepper, and salt, 
and finally to broil them on a gridiron. 
BRIONY. See Bryony. 
BRISKET. A projection, partly muscular, 
but chiefly cellular and adipose, from the ante- 
rior and upper part of the chest of the ox. It 
sometimes extends from 12 to 20 inches in a pro- 
BRIZA. a4] 
jecting direction, and nearly as much in a per- 
pendicular or descending direction. It varies in 
size in different breeds, and even in different in- 
dividuals of any one breed; but it has always a 
comparatively great size in all the good breeds, 
whether old or improved. It does not, as many 
persons imagine, afford any indication of depth 
or capaciousness of chest; yet it is a very de- 
cided index of a tendency to fatten. The brisket 
of a well-formed ox is not only deep but promi- 
nent. 
BRISTLES. The strong glossy hairs which 
grow on the back of the hog and the wild boar. 
They are extensively used in several of the use- 
ful arts, particularly in the manufacture of 
various kinds of brushes. ‘The bristles of the 
wild boar are much stronger than those of the 
hog; and are imported in large quantities from 
Russia. 
BRIZA,—popularly Quaking-grass. A genus 
of grasses, of the glyceria division. Both the 
botanical and the popular names allude to the 
nodding or trembling motion of the spikelets. 
The common or mediate species, Briza media, is 
also popularly called Ladies-tresses, and is an in- 
digenous perennial of the pastures of Great 
Britain. Its stem usually grows to the height of 
about 18 inches; its florification is a panicle of 
short spikelets, tinged with purvlish brown, and 
appearing in May and June; and its spikelets | 
have an ovate form, stand on very slender foot- 
stalks, tremble in a gentle breeze, and give the 
plant an ornamental character. This grass is 
well-adapted to poor soils; it contains a larger 
portion of nutritive matter than most other 
grasses which grow upon poor soils; and it is 
readily eaten by horses, cows, and sheep. This 
grass, by experimental trial, yielded per acre, at 
the time of flowering, on a poor, unmanured, 
sandy soil, 10,890 lbs. of herbage and 453 lbs. of 
nutritive matter; on a moist, clayey, unman- 
ured soil, 8,167 lbs. of herbage and 293 Ibs, of 
nutritive matter; and on a rich black loam, 
9,869 Ibs. of herbage and 462 lbs. of nutritive 
matter.—The smaller species, Briza minor, is an 
annual plant, grows wild in the corn-fields of 
England, usually attains a height of about six 
inches, and flowers in July and August. The 
greatest species, Briza maxima, is also an an- 
nual; it was introduced from the south of Eu- 
rope before the middle of the 17th century; it 
has usually a height of about 18 inches; and it 
flowers in June and July, and presents a decid- 
edly ornamental appearance. ‘The taller species, 
Briza elatior, is a biennial, has generally a height 
of about 18 inches, and was introduced from 
Greece in 1817. The jointed species, Briza geni-. 
culata, is an annual, has a height of about a foot, 
and was recently introduced from the Cape of 
Good Hope. Clusius’ species, Briza Clusiz, is a 
perennial, has about the same height as the pre- 
ceding, and was recently introduced from the 
South of Europe. The green species, Briza vir-. 
