compete 
common in many parts of England, is a very ab- 
surd appendage, affording no protection from 
rain, and serving principally to catch the wind, 
and in consequence somewhat to embarrass the 
action or neutralize the power of the horse. See 
the article Harnuss. 
COLLEY. A black-faced, black-legged, wiry- 
woolled sheep; also a variety of dog much prized 
among some of the rural classes of Scotland. 
See the articles Supzp and Doe. 
COLLIER. See Apuis. 
COLLINSIA. A genus of very beautiful hardy 
annual plants, of the figwort tribe. The great- 
flowered species, C. grandiflora, was introduced 
to Britain in 1826, from the dry banks of the Co- 
lumbia river; and it has already become a very 
general and somewhat well-known favourite. Its 
stem has a height of about a foot; its flowers ex- 
hibit an elegant combination of blue and white 
| and purple; and its grouping of bloom and fo- 
liage admirably adapts it, not only to the ordinary 
modes of cultivating annuals, but to the forming 
of broad masses and prolonged lines. The spring 
species, C. verna, vies with the great-flowered in 
elegance, and has a similar height and habit; 
the small-flowered species, C. parviflora, is infe- 
| rior in elegance, and has a trailing habit; the 
two-coloured, C’ dzcolor, is taller than the great- 
flowered, and blooms through a much longer 
| period, but has none of the blue colour which so 
richly combines with the others’ white and pur- 
ple; and the various-leaved, C. heterophylla, is as 
tall as the two-coloured, and blooms in July and 
August. The two last were introduced since 1832. 
COLLINSONIA. A genus of perennial, her- 
baceous, ornamental plants, of the labiate order. 
The Canadian species, C. canadensis, grows wild 
in moist situations in Maryland and other paris 
of North America, and was introduced to the 
| gardens of Britain during the first half of the 
last century. Its stem is quadrangular, and 
about a yard high; its leaves are cordate and 
serrated, and grow in pairs upon the stem; and 
its flowers are purplish-yellow, have a long tubu- 
lar throat and a segmented top, grow in loose 
spikes at the extremity of the stem, and appear 
from August till October. Four or five other spe- 
cies, all from North America, one tuberous-rooted, 
and one with a fragrance like that of anise-seed, 
are in cultivation. 
COLLOMIA. A genus of beautiful, hardy, an- 
nual plants, of the polemonium tribe. They are 
natives of the same countries, and became known 
in Britain in the same year, as the Collinsias; 
but they have not obtained equal favour. The 
species hitherto best known attains a height of 
about 9 inches, and bears many flowers of small 
size and inconspicuous position among the foliage, 
but of very brilliant scarlet colour, almost vieing 
with some admired kinds of verbena. Five spe- 
cies were introduced between 1825 and 1834; 
and the colours of their flowers are severally 
| crimson, pink, saffron, red and yellow. 
COLOCYNTH. 
COLMATA. An artificial process for obtain- 
ing deep and fertile deposits of alluvium in some 
parts of Lombardy which lie lower than the level 
of the existing channel of the principal rivers. 
An embankment is raised round the field or 
farm to be subjected to this process; the dyke of 
the nearest rivulet is so far broken down as to 
allow the muddy water of high freshets to escape ; 
and this water is detained in the field till it de- 
posits its mud, and is then let off toward the 
river by a discharging course from the lower end 
of the field. This process is usually continued 
from five or six to ten years, or till it effects de- 
posits to the aggregate depth of from five to eight 
feet; and it may be so regulated, by means of a 
greater or less depth in the breach of the rivu- 
let’s dyke, as either to continue a comparatively 
long period and deposit nothing but fine silt, or 
to continue a comparatively short period and de- 
posit a mixture of silt, sand, and gravel. The 
process, in consequence of keeping the field for 
so long a time from any use, is necessarily very 
expensive ; yet the crops of only five years usually 
repay the whole cost, and the rich crops of suc- 
ceeding years yield a large amount of clear gain. 
The crops of the first and second year of the new 
soil are maize and hemp ; and those of the three 
succeeding years are wheat, without the aid of 
manure. A process similar to colmata has been 
practised in the vicinity of Gainsborough. 
COLOCASIA, — botanically Arum Colocasia. 
An esculent-rooted plant, of the order Aroidese. | 
It is cultivated in Egypt and other parts of the 
Levant for the sake of its esculent roots and 
leaves; and it was introduced to British hot- | 
houses as a curiosity, so early as the middle of 
the sixteenth century. Its roots are tuberous; 
|,its stems are about two feet high; its leaves are 
variegated and handsome; and its flowers are 
green and uninteresting. It is easily propagated 
from its tubers. 
COLOCYNTH,—botanically Cucumis Colocyn- 
this. A medicinal, trailing, annual plant, of the 
cucumber genus. It abounds in Nubia and some 
parts of Turkey and of the extreme south of 
Africa; and it was introduced to Britain about 
the middle of the 16th century, and can be cul- 
tivated in a frame. Its root is branching, and 
strikes deep into the ground; its stems are trail- 
ing, hairy, and about two yards long; its leaves 
are triangular, and grow on long footstalks, and 
effect an aggregate foliage like that of the com- 
mon cucumber ; its flowers are solitary, axillary, 
yellow, and campanulate, and bloom from May 
till August; and its fruit is yellow, about the 
size of a small orange, smooth, and trilocular, 
and contains many whitish, ovate, compressed 
seeds, within an envelop of white spongy pulp. 
The ripe fruit, peeled and stove-dried, is largely 
imported to Britain by wholesale druggists; it 
consists wholly of the seeds and of a very light, 
tearable, white, cellular matter; and it is free 
from smell, but has an excessively bitter and 
