Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/1030

 LOR

LOT

where cut off, and foon fpreads to the very root, fo that the whSle is but a ihell or cafe of a tree. If a tree grow top heavy, and be in danger of breaking clown, then fome think it necef- fi:ry to take off the top to preserve it ; but this may be much better done only by thinning the top, that is cutting off the fmall branches that grow from the main boughs of the head, and leaving them bare, fo as to let the wind have a free paf- ftge through them. This is a very good practice for young trees, which are intended to be fpreading ones; and if they are intended to he tall and {lender ones, the beft method to be taken with them, while young, is rubbing off the buds as faff as they appear in the fpring, and taking off the fide fhoots as they grow, leaving only here and there one ; when any new {hoots breakout, fome of them may be faved, and the others cut off in their place, always obferving to cut off the largcft, and leave the youngeft ; the whole intent being to leave fome check there for the fap, to prevent its all run- ning up to the head, which would endanger the breaking of the body in fome weak place. When the trunk feems ftrong and robuft, the fewer of thefe {hoots need be left : the great care, in this cafe, is to be employed about the head. The leading ftalk, or branch, muft be carried up all the way {trait and fingle, and not fuffered to fork or fplit till it come to the head, and the quantity of boughs left there muft be fuch as will not leave the whole top heavy. When the tree is grown to its proper height, the head is to be fuffcrcd to break out in its natural way, and the fide branches are to be kept cut off as they {hoot, or at any proper difhnces of time. Mortimer's Hufbandry, Vol. 2. p. Hi, feq.

If the fide boughs are found ftill breaking out, and the top is able to fuftain itfelf, the boughs that put but in fpring fhould be lopped very clofe in fummer, a little after Mid- fummer; this will caufe the bark to {boot over them, and they will not be liable to grow again. This is the only method of making a tree grow with a fine ftrait and hand- fome body.

The generality of the world are againft pruning timber trees at all, and where they naturally grow ftrait and regu- lar it is much better let alone. But all the common faults in fhape may be regulated by this lopping them while young, and it can be attended with no ill confequencc to the timber ; for- the cut not lying near the timber pith cannot affect it, when grown up, and fquared in the working for beams or other ufes, or to be quartered ; for all the defects occasioned by fuch wounds, are in the fnperficial parts, and all the four quarters arc perfectly found within.

As to the large forcft trees they fhould not be lopped at all, except in cafes of great neceftity, and then the large boughs nraft not be cut, but only the fide branches, and even thefe muft be cut off clofe, that the bark may foon cover the wound, and yet a little {Uniting, that the water may run off, not lodge upon the cut part.

If there is a necefTity of cutting off a large bough, as by its being broken or cankered, let it be cut oft' flanting at about four feet diftance from the body of the tree, and that if pof- fible near fome place where there is a young fhoot from it, which may receive the fap, and grow up in its place. No flump muft be left (landing out farther than this, becaufc they are wounded parts which never can heal, and which will always be letting in the water, and will ferve as pipes to convey that water to the heart of the body of the tree, and by degrees will utterly fpoil it. All that grow upright, whe- ther they be hirge or fmail branches, muft in cutting be taken off flanting, never evenly for the fame reafon ; thofe boughs that bear from the head are to be cut with the flope on the lower title, and on any occafion that great wounds are given to a tree, they fhould be covered with a mixture of clay and horfe dung, which will make them heal much fooncr than they other wife would do. Ibid. Vol.2, p. 84.

LORARTI, among the Romans, officers whofe bufmefs it was, with whips and fcourges, to compel the gladiators to engage.

The lorarii alfopunifbed flaves who difobcyed their matters. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.

LORD (CycL) — Lords of the admiralty, a name frequently ufed for the comniifli oners for executing the office of lord high admiral.

Lords of feffion, in Scotland. SceSESsioN.

LORDOSIS, in the medical v/ritings, a name given to a dif- tempered ftate of the fpine, in which it is bent inwards, or toward the anterior parts. It is ufed in opposition to gib- bous, or hump backed.

LORICA^ a name given by fome chemical writers to a pecu- liar lute made for the coating over veflels, which are to bear a very vehement fire.

This is ordered to be made of the powdered glafs of broken retorts mixed up into a pafte with potters clay by means of warm water: the retort, or other veiled, to be loricated, is to be covered a third of an inch thick with this matter, and if it cracks in the drying, which muft be done gra- dually before it is to be ufed, the cracks muft be filled up with fome of the fame pafte, and this muft be left to dry as the former. Collect. Chynu Leyd. See farther under Lo-

KICATION. ^

LORICATION, or Coating, in chemlftry, is the co- vering a glafs or earthen veffel with a coat or crvjloi a matter able to refift the fire ; to prevent its breaking in the per- forming an operation, that requires great violence of fire. Either when veffels are expofed to a fire too ftrong for their ftrufture, or on the throwing on of freib cold fuel into the fire where they ftand, it frequently happens that they crack and burft ; for the preventing of which the operator has recourfe to this method of coating or loricating his veffels ; it is performed in the following manner : take a quantity of waihed clay, with an admixture of pure fand, powder of calcined flints, or broken crucibles; and inftead of pure water, moiften it with frefli blood that has not yet been co- agulated, diluted with twice or three times its quantity of water j make the clay with this into a thin pafte, and work into it fome cow's hair, or other hair not too long, or too ftiff, and a little powdered and fifted glafs, if you have it at hand ; fmear over the veflel intended to be ufed with this pafte, by means of a pencil; and fet it to dry ; when dry befmear it again, and repeat the operation, till the veflel have a cruft of a third, or a quarter of an inch at leaft thick, of this matter, and let it be thoroughly dry before it is ufed. To keep blood in a proper ftatc fur tins ufe, it muft, when juft let out from the animal, be well ftirred about with a ftick, for fome time; at leaft till it is quite cold, and being thus prepared, it will keep for fome days without coagulat- ing and fit for uie.

This compofition, with an admixture of bole, worked into a pafte with the whites of eggs diluted with water, makes alfo the proper lute for clofing the junctures of other che- mical vcfiels, in the diftilling ftrong fpirits. Cramer y Art of Aflay. p. 74.

LORIMERS, one of the companies of 'London, that make bits for bridles, fpurs, and fuch like fmall iron ware. They are mentioned Stat. 1 Rich. 2. c. 12. The word feems derived from the L.itin lorum, a thong.

LOEIPES, in zoology, the name ufed by fome authors for the himantopus, a bird of the water kind, remarkable for the length and weaknefs of its legs. Rays Ornithol. p. 220. See the article Himantopus.

LORUS, a name by which fome of the chemical writers have called mercury.

LOT (CycL) — -Lot, or Loth, in mining, is the thirteenth difh, meafure, or part of the miner's ore, which the bar-mafter takes up for the king, or the farmer. Houghton's compl. miner, in the explan. of the terms.

LOTA, in zoology, the name of a fpecics of the muftclafiu- viatUis, or eel pout, differing from' the ordinary kind, in that it has no hairs or excrefcences on the upper jaw. The tail is flat, and like the point of a broad fword, whereas that of the common kind is more rounded, and that it is covered with eafily diftinguifhable fcales. Rondelet.

LOTION [CycL) — Lotio faponacea, the faponaceous lotion, the name of a form of medicine prefcribed in the late Lon- don Pharmacopoeia, being properly foap in a liquid form. It is ordered to be made thus : take damafk rofe water three quarters of a pint, oil of olives a quarter of a pint, ley of tartar half an ounce in meafure ; rub the ley and oil toge- ther till they are mixed, and then gradually add the water. Pcmhertorts Lond. Difp. p. 348.

LOl OMETRA, in botany, a name given by many of the antients to the nymphtea indka, or agvptiaca, called alfo the faba agypiiaca ; and originally the niiufar, an abbreviation of mlnufar; nufar fignifying a water lillv, and the prefix nil exprefling its growing particularly in the river Nile. Neophytus tells us, that this lotovuira has leaves of a middle form, between thofe of the common nympbtva which are roundifti, and thofe of the arum which are oblong and pointed, and are cordated at the bale, and this is the very figure of the leaves of the faba agyptiaca, as we fee it ia all paintings, c3V.

LOTUS, in botany, the name of a genus of plants. The characters of which arc thefe. The flower is of the papilio- naceous kind. Its piftil arifes from the cup, and finally be- comes a pod, fometimes divided by tranfverfe fepta into fe- veral cells, and furnifhed with roundifti feeds. To this it is to be added, that the leaves Rnnd three at a joint, and are fur- niftied at the ftalk with two other foliaceous wings. The fpecies of lotus, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe. 1. The fmall fmooth hand cinquefoil lotus, called the fmaller fmooth horned lotus. 2. The fmall fmooth cinquefoil lotas with longer and narrower leaves. 3. The leffcr hairy horned lotus. 4. The fmall five leaved hairv lotus with very {lender pods. 5. The five leaved lotus with a large fhining yellow flower. 6, The hoary and white large cinquefoil lotus. 7. Tire great cinquefoil lotus. 8. The fhrubby cinquefoil lotus with very narrow fmooth leaves. 9. The Spanifh lotus with fpotted leaves. 10. The filvery fhrubby lotus of Crete, with long, ftrait, propendenr, pods. 11. The yellow flowered Cretic lotus with long, ere£f pods. 12. The hairy, white, cinquefoil lotus. 13. The low white hemorrhoidal, podded lotus. 14. The talk-ft hairy lotus with glomerated flowers. 15. The large hard ftalked yellow meadow lotus. 16. The fmaller, and foftcr

ftalked