et 
_ unassisted, horizontal mass. 
BUSH-HARROW. 
the grain, without direct reference to the con- 
tents of the bushel; and some farmers are in- 
duced to sell on this plan, in the vain hope of 
being able to boast that they have sold their 
grain at such a price, wishing it to be believed 
that the price applies to the true quarter, when 
in fact it is given for so many pounds weight ; 
and to deliver the number of pounds for the 
specified sum, the bushel is heaped. This is piti- 
ful work. The fair and common practice is to 
ask such a price for the grain per quarter, stat- 
ing its weight by the bushel; and of course, the 
heavier the grain, and better the quality, the 
purchaser will give the higher price for it.” 
BUSH-HARROW. A frame of wood inter- 
woven with cut shrubs or with the croppings and 
smaller branches of trees, and used for softly and 
sparsely harrowing grass lands. The frame con- 
sists of two end pieces and three or more cross- 
| bars; and the interwoven bushy matter is of 
such a kind as to present to the ground a dense, 
rough, and brushy surface. The bush-harrow is, 
in many instances, moved upon two wheels, about 
a foot in diameter, and attached to the extremity ; 
but, in other instances, it is dragged along as an 
A frequent substi- 
tute is a common heavy harrow, with strong and 
pliant branches of trees or some hedge-row thorns 
woven through its open squares; and another 
and vastly better substitute is an upright series 
of branches in a frame in the front of the car- 
riage of a common roller. The prime uses of the 
bush-harrow are to spread manurial top-dressings 
sparsely and equally upon grass-lands, or, after 
the removal of the cattle for the season from pas- 
ture-fields, to make an equal distribution of the 
mossy matter, the worm-casts, and the mimic 
heaps of mould which exist upon the surface ; 
and, in either case, it ought, in most instances, 
to be followed by rolling, in order that the land 
may be laid smooth for mowing, that spongy and 
porous soils may be somewhat consolidated, and 
that a firmer and hardier bottom may be given 
to the sward. Now when a series of upright 
branches in a frame in front of the roller is used 
as a substitute for a bush-harrow, the whole pro- 
cess is performed by one horse and one driver, 
while the use of the harrow and the roller as 
separate implements requires two horses and two 
drivers; and when the upright branches are 
somewhat worn, they can be moved farther down 
so as to continue in a regular manner the sweep- 
ing action upon the ground, while the horizontal 
bushy surface of either the formal bush-harrow 
or the common heavy-harrow substitute, soon 
becomes flat and smoothened so as to lose its 
power of spreading the earth. But some imple- 
ments are expressly constructed by the machine- 
maker to perform the work of the bush-harrow. 
See the article Harrow. 
BUSH-VETCH re yotaniealie Vicia sepium. A 
forage plant, of the vetch kind. Its root is per- 
ennial, fibrous, and ramified; its stems are nu- 
BUSTARD. 
merous,—some growing erect from the crown of 
the root, and some rising at various distances, — 
from decurrent or ramose members of the root ; 
its leaves are small and oval, and sit upon mid- 
ribs, each of which terminates in a tendril’; its 
flowers are reddish-purple in colour, have the 
same kind of papilionaceous form as those of the 
common vetch, and appear in the middle of 
May; its pods have a black colour when ripe, 
and are flatter and much shorter than those of 
the common vetch, yet larger in proportion to 
their length; and some of its seeds are speckled, 
some have a clayey colour, and all are smaller 
than those of the ordinary vetches. “Being a 
perennial,” says Mr. Sweyne, “it should seem to 
be a very proper kind to intermix with grass 
seeds for laying down lands intended for pasture ; 
and that it is as justly entitled to this epithet as 
any herbaceous plant whatever, I think I may 
be allowed to affirm, having observed a patch of 
it growing in one attain spot of my orchard 
for these fourteen or fifteen years past. It is 
not only a perennial but an evergreen ; it shoots 
the earliest in the spring of any plant eaten by 
cattle with which I am acquainted, vegetates 
late in autumn, and continues green through 
the winter, though the weather be very severe ; 
add to this, that cattle are remarkably fond of it. 
These peculiarities, it should seem, would make 
it particularly valuable to the farmer as a green 
food for his sheep in the winter and spring, when 
food of that denomination is so exceedingly 
scarce. Indeed, I had often wondered within 
myself, what could be the reason that this plant 
had never found its way into general cultivation 
for this purpose ; but since I have been acquainted 
with some peculiar circumstances attending it, 
my wonder has ceased. From these I collect, 
that the chief reason which has hitherto pre- 
vented its cultivation, has been the very great 
difficulty of procuring good seeds in any quan- 
tity. The pods, I find, do not ripen altogether ; 
but as soon almost as they are ripe they burst 
with great elasticity, and scatter the seeds 
around; and after you have procured the seeds, 
scarce one-third part of them will vegetate, ow- 
ing to an internal defect, occasioned by certain. 
insects making them the nests and food for their 
young.” [The Bath Society’s Letters and Papers, 
Vol. III.] This plant, when grown upon brown 
sandy loam, yields per acre 17,696 lbs. of green 
produce, and 976 lbs. of nutritive matter. It is 
not suited for clayey lands, but retains long and 
steady possession of other kinds of soils. A mow- 
ing of it may sometimes be obtained so early as 
the beginning of March ; and three or four mow- 
ings of it may usually be obtained in the course 
of a year. 
BUSTARD. The trivial name of a species of 
wader belonging to the genus Oézs of Linnzeus, 
and to the family Presstrostres of Cuvier. The 
great bustard, Otzs tarda, is the largest of Euro- 
pean land-birds, the male weighing, on an aver- 
