Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/718

 V I G

V I N

judgment and patience, it is probable he may at length be cured.

a. If a horfe is apt to fly out violently, it is certain, that the more the bridle-rein is pulled, and the more he is hurt by tug- ging the curb, the falter he will run: The beft method is therefore, if there be field-room enough, to let him go, as foonas he is going, by flackening the bridle, and giving him the fpur continually and fharply, till he fheken of his own ac- cord. Thus, by degrees, he will find that himfelf is thefuf- ferer, by all his flights, and he will then leave them off, tho* he could be never broke of them any way elfe. io. Some horfes will not endure the fpurs when they are gi- ven them, nor ever go forwards ; but fattening themfelves to them, they will ftrike out &nd go back ; and if they are pref- fed more hard, they will fall to piffing without ever going out of the place. If the horfe who has this Vice be a gelding, it will prove very difficult to cure him of it. A ftone-horfe, or a mare are much eafier cured ; but even thefe will be trying at it again afterwards ; and if ever they get the better of their rider, they will not fail to keep it up in this particular. Every horfe, of whatever kind, that has this fault of cleaving to the fpurs, as the jockies call it, and not going forwards with them, is to be rejected, in the buying for any gentleman's riding, for it is a fign of a rettive nature, and is a fault gene- rally accompanied with many others.

VICIA, Vetch, in botany, the name of a large genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : The flower is of the papi- lionaceous kind ; and the piftil, which arifes from the cup, finally becomes a pod, furnifhed with roundifh or angular feeds ; to this it is to be added, that the leaves ftand in pairs on the rib, and that terminates in a tendril. The fpecies of Vetch, enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : I. The common cultivated Vetch, with black feeds. 2. The common cultivated Vetch, or tare with grey feeds. 3. The cultivated Tare. 4. The great wild bufh Vetch. 5. The bu&i-Vetch, with roundifh, but pointed leaves, and with black feeds. 6. The bvtfh-Petcb, with roundifh, but pointed leaves, and with fpotted feeds. 7. The buih-Vetch, with narrower- pointed leaves, and a fmall black feed. 8. The many- flowered Vetch. 9. The hoary perennial many-flowered Vetch. 10. The great-many-flowered Vetch, with variegated blue and white flowers. II. The hairy perennial many- flowered Vetch* with pea-like pods. 12. The white-flowered hairy wild Vetch. 1 3. The great early French hairy wild Vetch, with red flowers. 14. The bufh Vetch, with a roundifh, fhort, and blunt-pointed leaf. 15. The corn Vetch, with numerous hairy pods. 16. The corn Vetch, with fmglc fmooth pods. 17. The leaft Vetch, with numerous fmooth pods. 18. The long-leaved Vetch, with longer pods. 19. The narrow-leaved violet purple-flowered Vetch, with broad fmooth pods. 20. The many-leaved Vetch, with fmooth pods. 21. The Vetch that buries many of its pods under the ground. 22. The leaft early French Vetch. 23. The procumbent Vetch, with broad, not ferrated leaves. 24. The procumbent Vetch, with very broad leaves, and with ferrugineous-coloured flowers and fruit. 25. The procumbent Vetch, with very broad ferrated leaves. 26. The largeft wild Vetch, with the appearance of the wild pea. 27. The wild yellow Vetch, with a hairy pod. 28. The perennial late-flowering yellow Vetch, with hairy pods. 29. The perennial late-flowering yellow Vetch, with fmooth pods. 30. The yellow-flowered Vetch, with a brown galea to the flower. < tourn. Inft. p. 397.

V1COMAGISTER, among the Romans, an cfHcer whofe bu- fmefs it was to take care of the ftreets, that nothing might ob- ffruct, or render them anywife incommodious. Hofm. Lex. Univ. tn voc.

VICTORIATUS, among the Romans, a coin with victory re- prefented on one fide, equal in value to half the denarius. See the article Denarius, Cycl.

VICTORIOLA, in botany, a name ufed by fome authors for the hippogloffum, called in Englifh the Akxandria-laurel, horfe-tongue, or double-tongue. Ger. Emac. Ind. 2.

VID1MARUM, in botany, the name of the tree which bears the febeftens, a medicinal plum, of Afia and -ffigypt. Hort. Mai. vol. 4. p. 77.

VIFLLE ridec, the ivrinkled old Woman's Shell, a name given by the French authors to a fpecies of chama of the mutilated kind, very much refembling the famous concha veneris, but longer, and without that peculiarly-fhaped oval aperture to which that fhell owes its name.

It has feveral fpines about the lips, as the concha veneris has, but they are fhorter and more obtufe than in that {hell. The whole furface of this fpecies is deeply and irregularly wrinkled. It is of a whitifh colour, variegated with brown.

VIELLEUR, in natural hiftory, the name of a fpecies of fly, common in Surinam, and fome other places. It is moderately large, though lefs fo than the lanthorn-fly, fo common in that place, and has a long head, and fome other particulars, in which it refembles that creature. Mrs. Merian has given a figure of it, and reports it as the opinion of the natives, that it changes at length into a lanthorn-fly. See thearticleLANT-

HORN-ity.

V1GOROSO, or Vigoros Amente, in the Italian mufic, is ufed to direct a performer to fing or play with vigour, ffrength, and firmnefs.

VIGESIMA, among the Romans, a tax of the twentieth part of the yearly incomes of all inheritances. It was firff. efta- blifhed by Auguftus. Pitifc. Lex. in voc.

Vigesima was likewife a cuftom paid fur flaves fold, as alfo for one made free. Pitifc. in voc.

VIGESIMARIUS, among the Romans, an officer who had the management of collecting the vigefima. See the article Vigesima.

VILLANELLA, in the Italian mufic, a fort of air or tune to which the peafants of that country dance. There are fome of thefe Villanellas very agreeable, having fometbing gay and enlivening in them, well adapted to their defign. The firffc couplet is ufually played plain and fimple, afterwards come an infinity of variations, diminutions, &c.

VILLEIN Fleeces, in our Statutes, are bad fleeces of wool, fhorn from fcabby fheep. 31 Ed. 3. c. 8. Blount, Ccwel.

VILLOSE Stalk. Seethe article Stalk.

VILTRUM, a word ufed fometimes alone to exprefs a nitre, inftead of the word filtrum. But Viltrum is more commonly joined with the word philofophorum, and then expreffes the common alembic for diftillation.

V1MMALA, in natural hiftory, a name given by the people of the Eaft Indies to a kind of pyrites, of a brafly appearance, and of a cubic figure.

They alfo give it in the fame places to the pyrites in general, when fmall and of a fimple internal ftructure.

V1NAGO, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to the wood-pigeon, from the colour of its breaft, fhoulders, and wings, refembling that of red wine. Its more ufual name among authors is OEnas. See the article CEnas.

VIND1CTA, among the Romans, the praetor's rod or fwitch, with which he touched a flave's head when he was afltan- chifed. Danet. in voc.

VINCETOXICUM, in botany, a name ufed by many authors for the afclepias, or fwallow-wort, from its fuppofed virtues as an antedote. See the article Asclepias. The people of Stiria and Carinthia are more fubject than any other nation to fcrophulous difeafes ; but nature has provided them alfo with a very ready and fafe remedy, which is the Vincetoxicum, or fwallow-wort. This grows in vaft abun- dance all over thefe countries ; and the common people know it as a certain cure for this terrible difeafe. It is alfo found of excellent ufe in dropfies ; and as it might be cultivated with us, or its roots imported in any quantities, it is wonderful that we do not ufe it.

VINE,. (Cycl.) Vitis, in botany. See the article Vitis.

All the forts of Vines are propagated either from layers or cut ; tings. The former is the method ufually pradlifed with us, but the latter feems much the better.

In order to propagate them by cuttings ; thefe mutt be chofen fuch as are ftrong and well-ripened fhoots, of the faff, year's growth, and fhould be cut from the old Vine, juft below the place where they were produced, taking a knot of the two years wood, which fhould be pruned fmooth. The upper part of the fhoot fhould then be cut off, fo as to leave the cut- ting about fixteen inches long. Thefe cuttings are to be placed with their lower part in the ground, in a dry place, laying fome litter about their roots to prevent them from drying. In this place they fhould remain till the beginning of April, which is the time to plant them. They are then to be taken up and wiped clean, and if they are very dry, they fhould ftand with their lower parts in water fix or eight hours. Then, having prepared the beds for them, they are to be fet at about fix foot diftance from each other, and making their heads flant a little toward the wall. The cutting is to be fo buried in the ground, that only the uppermoft bud be upon a level with the furface ; the earth is then to be well clofed about the plant, and a little mould heaped up over the eye of the bud, to keep it from dry- ing. After this, there is no more trouble neceffary, but to keep the ground clear from weeds, and to nail up the fhoot as it grows, to the wall, rubbing oft all the fide-fheots. The Michaelmas following, if the cuttings have produced ftrong moots, they fhould be pruned down to two eyes. In the fpring following the ground is carefully to be dug up about the fhoots, and the (talks to be earthed up to the firft eye. During the fummer all the lateral fhoots mutt be rubbed off as they appear, and only the two from the two eyes which were left, mutt be encouraged; thefe, as they grow, are to be nailed up againft the wall ; and in the middle of July thefe fhould be fhortened, by nipping off their tops, and this will greatly ffrengthen the fhoot. At the Michaelmas following thefe fhould be pruned, leaving them each three eyes, if they are ftrong ; but if they are weakly, only two. The next fummer there will be two fhoots from each fhoct of the laffc years wood ; but if there fhould be two from one eye, which is fometimes the cafe, then the weaker is to be rubbed off. At midfummer the ends of the fhoots are to be pinched off as before; all the weak lateral fhoots are to be difplaced, asm the preceeding fummer, and the whole management is to be the fame. This is all the culture neceffary to young Vines. As to the management of grown Vines, it is to be obferved that thefe rarely produce any bearing fhoots, from wood that is more than one year old ; the great care mutt therefore be al- ways to have plenty of this wood in every part of the tree.

2 The.