Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/688

* BUCKSTONE. 610 BUCKWHEAT. years as leading low comedian. In 1840 he vis- ited the I'nited States. He afterwards played at the Haymarkct, Dnirj' Lane, and Lyceum theatres, of the first of which he was lessee for twenty-three years, retiring from its manage- ment a short time before his death, October 31. 1879. Buckstone's acting was not more noted for its comicality and hnmnr, which never degen- erated into vulgarity, than for its distinct appre- ciation of the peculiar traits in each individual character he assumed. Yet his odd personal style and voice were always noticeable, as ap- peared once with unexpectedly droll effect, when, at the Haymarket Theatre, he sustained the part of the First Witch in Machelh. Buckstone was also a prolific dramatic author, and of about one hundred and fifty pieces he wrote for the stage, several have been highly popular. Among the best known are: The Green Bushes; The Floicers of the Forest; Luke the Labourer; The Wreck Ashore; The Rough Diamottd; Oood for Noth- ing; The Irish Lion; The Alarminii Sacrifice; Victorine; and Popping the Question. Consult Marston, Our Recent Actors (London, 1890). BUCKSTONE, Luc? Lsabella (18.58-93). An English actress, the daughter of .John Bald- win Buckstone and sister of John C Buckstone. also a well-known comedian. At the Hajiuarket Theatre, London, under her father's management she made her appearance as Ada Ingot in David Qarrick (187.5), after some experience in the provinces. Among her later roles were those of Annette, in The Bells, at the Lyceum: Lucy Or- Diond, in Peril, at the Prince of Wales's Theatre; and (jiwcndolen Pettigrew, in a successful revival of The Parvenu, at the Globe Theatre (1891). She died in London March 17, 1893. BUCKTAILS. A name for the members of Tammany Hall from about 1817 to 1826. It also came to be applied to the political i)arty which opposed De Witt Clinton during his campaign for reelection to the Covernorship of New York State in 1820. BUCKTHORN (Uhamnus). A genus of shrubs or small trees of the order RhamnaeeiB. They are numerous, and natives of most of the tropical and temperate regions of the world. The common buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica) is a deciduous shrub or low tree, frequent in Eng- land and in other parts of Europe and the north of Asia. The leaves are ovate, crenate. and bright green; the branches spiny: the (lowers small, yellowish-green and densely clustered ; male and female flowers on separate plants; the berries about the size of peas, globular, blue- black, nauseous, and violently jmrgative. They were formerly much used in medicine, but now more rarely, and only in tlic I'orni of a .syrup prepared fioin their juice. Tiiey supply the sap- green or bladder-green of painters. The bark affords a beautiful yellow dye. The buckthorn is sometimes planted for hedges, but is of too straggling a h.ibit. The alder buckthorn, or berry-bearing alder ( h'lianinus (ranguhi), is also a native of Great Britain and is frequent in woods and tliickets thrmighout Europe. It is <a shrub, rarely a small tree, with spineless branches, oval entire leaves, and small, whitish .axillary flowers, which are, in general, somewhat clustered. The charcoal of the wood is light, and is used for the preparation of gunpowder. The bark, leaves, and berries are used for dyeing; the bark for dyeing yellow, and, with preparations of iron, black ; the unripe berries to dye wool green and yellow; the ripe berries to dye it bluish-gray, blue, and green. There are about a dozen native species in the United States, one of the most important being Rhamnus purshiana of the Pacific States, where it is known as Cascara sayrada. It is a tree 15 to 20 feet in height and its bark is extensively used in medi- cine. It contains tannin, three resins, and other principles, and has a considerable reputation as a tonic, vermifuge, and purgative. Rhamnus C'aliforniea. an inferior s])ecies. is also some- times called Cascara sagrada. Dyer's buckthorn {Rhamnus infcctoria) is a low shrub, abundant in the south of Kuro|)e, whose unri])e fruit yields a brilliant yellow dye. The berries and inner baik of Rhamnus tinctora, a native of Hungary, are also used in dyeing; as also are the berries of Rhamnus saxalilis, a procumbent shrub, grow- ing among rocks as far north as Switzerland. The 'French berries,' 'Avignon berries,' or 'yellow berries' of dyers are the fruit of Rhamnus in- Jectoria, saxatilis, oteoidcs, and alaternus. The sea-buckthorn is a shrub of a different genus and order. (See Swai.i.owthdun.) liumelia lanugi- nosa, a small tree i(li hard wood and useful for hedges, is also called buckthorn. BUCKWHEAT {buck, AS. bOc, bece, beech -f u-heal, tier. Wcizen, so named in allusion to its triangular seeds, which look like beechnuts). A genus of plants of the natural order Polygo- naceie, or, according to many botanists, a subge- nus of Polygonum, distinguished by the central embryo, and by racemes of flowers grouped in panicles. Common buckwheat (Fago]>yrum es- culenlum or I'oli/gonum fagnpi/runi) is a native of the basin of the Volga, the shores of the Cas- pian Sea, and many parts of Central Asia. Its introduction into Europe, the details of which are not definitely known, took place during the Middle Ages. In the Sixteenth Century it spread toward the centre of Europe and has since ex- tended over the entire Continent and the Brit- ish Isles. The plant is upright, branched, 1 to 3 feet in height; the leaves are triangular, heart-shaped or halberd-shaped: the flowers pale red, the seed (nut) black and triangular, the angles even (not toothed). It is culti- vated as a food and forage plant in Europe and America, and very commonly serves as a crop for green manuring. Over eleven million bushels were grown in the United States in 1899. In Germany buckwheat is much valued as a crop, p.'irticularly for moorlands and other poor soils. It is of easy cultivation and requires very little nitrogen in the soil, l>ut responds cpiickly to applications of potash and lime. Tliirty bush- els or more per acre may be expected, weighing 46 or 48 pounds per bushel. In America the seed is usually sown broadcast over the land, which has been plowed in autunm or early spring and well scarified or harrowed. About a bushel and a half of seed is recpiired when sown broad- east, but a bushel is sudicicnt if drilled. In the latter case it should not be sown in narrower drills than one foot apart, but two feet is recom- mended as being better for the succeeding crop, as the wider intervals can be properly cultivated. It should not be sown too early, as the young plants are very sensitive to frost. When the lower seeds are ripe, it should be mown, as they are easilv shed out if allowed to stand too long.