584 BUTEA. 
age, 25 pounds. It is four feet in length, and 
BUTTER. 
flowering plants, of the rush tribe. The two genera 
measures nine feet from tip to tip of the wings. | butomus and limnocharis constitute the natural 
The head and neck are ash-coloured, and there is 
a tuft of feathers about five inches long on each 
side of the lower mandible. The back is trans- 
versely barred with black and bright ferruginous 
colours, and the primaries are black. The tail 
consists of 20 feathers, broadly barred with red 
and black. The belly is white, the legs dusky, 
naked, and without a hind toe. The female is but 
half the size of the male, and has the crown of 
the head of a deep orange colour, traversed by 
red lines; the remainder of the head is brown. 
She otherwise resembles the male except that 
the colour of her plumage is less bright. This 
species 1s found in most of the open and level 
countries of the south and east of England, where 
they are occasionally seen, in autumn, in flocks 
of 50 and upwards. They are very shy and vigi- 
lant, and by no means easy to shoot. They run 
with great speed, and aid their course with their 
wings, like the ostrich. Although they rise on 
the wing with difficulty, they are said to fly 
many miles without resting. They feed on grain, 
seeds, worms, &c., and lay two eggs as large as 
those of a goose: these are of a pale olive tint, 
with dark spots. The nest is merely a hole 
scraped in the earth. They do not wander far 
from their accustomed haunts, seldom going to a 
greater distance than 20 or 30 miles.. Their 
flesh is considered fine eating. 
BUTCHER’S BROOM. See Broom (Burcu- 
ER’S). 
BUTEA. A genus of ornamental and econo- 
mical evergreen Hast-Indian trees, of the pea di- 
vision of the leguminous tribe. Only three species 
are known, the frondose, the superb, and the small- 
flowered; and all, within the last half-century, 
have been introduced to the hothouses of Great 
Britain. The small-flowered usually attains a 
height of about 20 feet, and the other two a height 
of about 30 feet ; and all carry scarlet flowers, and 
have an imposing and brilliant appearance. The 
frondose species is generally known in India 
under the name of Porasum, and is much valued 
for several economical purposes. Its flowers, 
either alone or in conjunction with those of the 
sorrowful nyctanthes, are used by the dyers for 
dyeing a beautiful bright yellow. Dr. Roxburgh, 
with the juice of the fresh flowers, diluted in 
alum -water, and clarified by depuration, pre- 
pared a soft extract which proved a brighter 
| water-colour than any gamboge he had ever 
seen. The seed is produced within a very flat, 
oval, chestnut-coloured legume, and is held in 
high estimation by the Tamul physicians as a 
remedy against tape-worm and ascarides. Dr. 
Roxburgh states that, from fissures and wounds 
made in the bark of the tree issues a beautiful 
red juice, which soon hardens into a brittle, 
ruby-coloured, astringent gum, which he thinks 
might prove a valuable medicine. 
BUTOMUS. Asmall genus of elegant, aquatic, 
order butomez ; and this order has an alliance 
with the orders alismaceze and juncagineze. The 
name butomus is derived from two words which 
signify “an ox” and “to cut,” and alludes to 
the fact of the best known species lacerating the 
mouths of oxen which crop it. The umbelled 
species, Butomus umbellatus, is a native of Bri- 
tain, and boasts the fame of being the most 
beautiful aquatic plant of our country, and has 
long been popularly designated the flowering- 
rush and the water-gladiole. It grows wild in 
ditches, ponds, and sides of rivers, which have 
a gravelly bottom. Its stems are round, very 
smooth, and two or three feet in height; its 
leaves are narrow, acute, and nearly as long as 
the stems; and its flowers have a pink or rose 
colour, grow in large bracteated umbels, appear 
in June and July, and produce an imposing 
affect. This plant acquired for some time, in 
Russia, the factitious and absurd fame of being a 
remedy for hydrophobia. 
nial, elegant aquatic, producing white flowers, 
and only about half the height of the umbelled 
species. 
BUTTER. A fat unctuous substance, usually — 
prepared from the cream of cow’s milk by agita- | 
It is of a yellow colour, possesses the pro- _ 
tion. 
perties of an oil, and readily mixes with other 
oily bodies. The process by which it is obtained 
from cream, is that sort of agitation called churn- | 
When pure, it is | 
soft and concrete, and of an agreeable sweet | 
taste. It melts at the temperature of 96°, and | 
becomes transparent; but if it be kept for some | 
time in this state, a portion of curd and water, — 
ing, well known to everybody. 
or whey, is disengaged, and it assumes exactly 
the appearance of oil. It has now, however, lost — 
almost all its peculiar flavour. 
The word butter is no doubt derived from the 
Latin butyrum; and that from the Greek. Hippo- 
crates is the first Greek author who mentions butter. | 
Speaking of the Scythians, he says, ‘‘ they pour the 
milk of their mares into wooden vessels and shake 
it violently ; this causes it to foam, and the fat part, 
which is light, rising to the surface, becomes what 
they call butter.” 
porary with him from the year B. c. 459 to B. c. 4)3, 
particularly describes the process of making butter 
among the Scythians. This affords a presumption 
that the article was not then known among the 
Greeks, and that they acquired the knowledge of it 
from the Seythians. Some have imagined that they 
found butter mentioned in the writings of Moses, 
the book of Job, and other parts of the most ancient 
sacred Scriptures. According to our translation, 
Abraham is said, Gen. xviii. 8. to have taken butter 
It may be propagated | 
either from seeds or by a division of the roots in | 
ponds, in small artificial bogs, or in cisterns of | 
proper depth, having a twelve-inch stratum of soil | 
at their bottom, and filled thence to the top with | 
water. A variety of this species has white flowers ; | 
but it is not constant.—The broad-leaved species, | 
Butomus latifolius, was introduced about twenty- 
two years ago trom Nepaul. It is a hardy, peren- | 
Herodotus also, who was cotem- | 
