Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/232

* BLUE GRASS. 202 BLUE LIGHT, lent quality upon good soils, does not yield a large quantity, and an this account it is less valu- able for hay than as a pasture and lawn grass. For these purpcscs it is not surpassed by any other grass in regions adapted to its growth. It is a perennial, attaining a height of from a few inches to two feet, with an abundance of long, narrow, soft root-leaves. It spreads with rapid- ity by means of its rootstocks, soon forming a dense' sod. On this account it stands pasturing well, the ordinary tramping of stock not injuring it to any extent". Blue grass should enter into everv mixture for permanent pastures in the eastern and middle United States. The seed, as marketed, usually contains much chaff and is of low vitality; hence it should be sown rather thickly. To make a good firm sod, about three years "are required, after which little attention is necessary. Pastures more than sixty years old are still in good condition. This grass does not do well in the warmer parts of the Southern States. In the South, the Texas blue grass, Pou arachnifera, replaces it. This species is closely related to the Kentucky blue grass, differing from it principally in its more vigorous grovth and having its 'seed' more or less covered with ■wool. This grass is propagated by seed or by setting out portions of sods, the woolly seed making sowing difficult. It spreads rapidly, and promises to become one of the best grasses for the regions to which it is adapted. Texas blue grass withstands drought better than the former species. There are a number of other species of Pou that resemble these blue grasses, and some of them may prove especially adapted to re- gions where the others are not suited. Kentucky blue grass has the following percentage composi- tion: Water, 65.1; proteid matter, 4.1: fat, 1.3; nitrogen - free extract, 17.0: crude fibre, 9.1; mineral matter, 2.8. Its feeding value, like that of other grasses, depends chiefly on its nitrogen- free extract, crude fibre, and protein content. It is a wholesome and nutritious feed, relished by all kinds of stock. Hay made from this g'rass, cut when the seed is in the milk stage, contains, on an average per cent, water, 24.3; proteid mattei-, 6.3: fat, 3.C; nitrogen-free ex- tract, 34.3: crude fibre. 24.5; and mineral mat- ter, 7.0. Hay made from grass cut when the seed is ripe "contains, on an average, a little less nutritive material. As regards composition, it compares favorably with hay and other grasses. BLtTE-GRASS REGION. A beautiful sec- tion of the State uf Kentucky, famed for its trotting horses and blooded stock. The soil is specially adapted to the cultivation of hemp and tobacco. BLUE-GRASS STATE. Kentuekj'. See States, Populak Names of. BLUE-GREEN ALG.ffi. See CYANOPHycE.a:. BLUE-HEN STATE. Delaware. See States, Popii.AR Xa.mks in--. BLUE fSLAND. A city in Cook County, 111.. 211: miles south of the city limits of Chicago, on the Calumet River and on the Illinois Central, the Chicago, Kock Island and Pacific, the Chicago and Crand Trunk, and the Chicago and Calumet Terminal railroads (Map: Illinois, E, 2). It is a popular suburb of Chicago, is an important railroad and commercial centre, and has brick- yards, stone-quarries, breweries, oil-works, smelt- ing-works, etc. Settled in 1833, Blue Island was incorporated as a village in 1872. It was the storm-centre in the early phase of the great railway strikes of 1894, which tied up the traf- fic of half the country and led to the sending of United States troops to Chicago and else- where. The government is administered under a charter of 1901, which provides for a mayor, biennially elected, and a city council. The water-works and electric-light "plant are owned and operated by the municipality. Population, in 1890, 3329; in 1900, 6114. BLUE JAT, SHARK, TIT, etc. See the substantives. BLUE KNIGHT, The. Sir Persaunt of In- dia, the fourth of the brothers, the Black, Red, Creen, and Blue Knights. Sir Beaumains, or Gareth, conquers him in chapter 131 of Malory's Morte d'Arthiir. He is spoken of as 'The Blue Knight' in chapter 133. BLUE LAWS. A name given to certain en- actments supposed to have been made by the New Haven Colony, in Connecticut, in the early days of the settlement. The supposition is based upon the fact that, as usual, in the Puritan days the personal conduct of citizens was often sub- ject to judicial supervision and animadversion, and Sabbath-breaking was especially odious to the magistracy. A Tory minister, the Rev. Sam- uel A. Peters, who had charge of the English churches in Hartford and Hebron, but who was compelled by the Revolution to flee to England, published there, in 1781, what purports to be a General History of Connecticut, a work whose exaggeration and spite make it almost a curi- osity. Many years ago a small book containing these supposed laws, which were really extracts from Peters's history, was published, and is even now referred to as authority by the unsuspicious. These laws were formerly supposed to have been invented out of hand by Peters, and to have had no existence in fact ; but recent investigations have shown that, although many of them are not to be found in the Xew Haven statute-books, all except two or three out of the forty-five are to be found either in the works of an earlier writer (Neal) or, with slight modifications, in the stat- ute-books of the various New England colonies. Consult: an article "An Examination of Peters's Blue Laws," by VV. F. Prince, in the Annual Re- port of the American Historical Association for 1898; and J. H. Trumbull, True Blue Laics of Connecticut and Xew Haven; and the False Blue Laws Invented hy liev. Samuel Peters (Hart- ford, 1876). Bn-E Laws or Hawaii, a compilation of Hawaiian statutes, largely of a paternal char- acter, promulgated in 1840 by Kaniehameha III. These laws were due to missionary influence, and were obnoxious to the native population of the islands because of their interference with the ancient customs and habits of the people. They were republished in 1894 under the title of Hawaii's Blue Laws. BLUE LIGHT, Bengal Light, or Bengal FiKE. A brilliiuit signal-light used at sea to attract attention, give warning, etc., and in or- dinary pyrotcchny for illuminating a district of country. It is" prepared from nitre, sulphur, and the tersulphuret of antimony. The mate- rials are reduced to fine powder, thoroughly