Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/272

242] bile is duly secreted, ought to drink such beer as is sufficiently strong and nourishing, without being of an intoxicating nature: for this purpose, we would give the preference to Bell's Beer, over Burton, and other ales.—A thin, weak, and well-fermented beer, is diluent and wholesome; whence it agrees well with the plethoric, and persons disposed to corpulency. On the contrary, thick and nourishing malt-liquors are most serviceable to the debilitated, and especially to wet-nurses; consequently sweet beers are chiefly nutritive, and more proper for daily use, on account of their being least exposed to dangerous adulterations; while the bitter kinds possess medicinal properties, and should be drunk in a weak state of digestion, by individuals subject to acidity in the stomach.

Lastly, every kind of beer is improper for the hysteric, the hypochondriac, and all those who are already of a full habit, or manifest a thick, atra-bilious blood; but it is of peculiar service to the laborious, the lean, emaciated, and all such constitutions as are not liable to flatulency, or any organic diseases of the breast.  BEESTINGS, or Breastings, in domestic economy, a term used for the first milk drawn from a cow after calving.

This liquor is of a thick consistence, and yellowish colour; whence some persons have imagined, that it is impregnated with sulphur. As Nature has peculiarly designed the beestings for the purpose of cleansing the young animal from those viscid impurities which, in the human subject, are denominated the meconium; it appears rational, that the calf should partake of this benefit. Nor is this strong and viscid liquor calculated to afford a wholesome food; though farmers, in general, give it to the indigent cottager. And, as it is frequently eaten by children, who are scarcely able to digest it, we are of opinion, that it might be better employed in feeding young calves, or by converting it into cheese.  BEET, or Beta, L. a plant of which there are four species, viz.

1. The maritima, or sea-beet, which grows spontaneously by the sea side; and in salt marshes in many parts of England.

2. The hortensis, or common white beet, is cultivated in gardens for its leaves, which are frequently used in soups. The root of this species seldom attains a greater size than that of a man's thumb; the varieties are the white beet, the green beet, and die Swiss, or chard beet: these vary from one to the other, but have never been known to change to the first or third sort.

3. The vulgaris, or red beet, the roots of which are large, and of a deep red colour. It is worthy of remark, that the larger these roots grow, they are more tender; and the deeper their colour, the more they are esteemed. The varieties of this species are the common red beet, the turnip-rooted beet, and the green-leaved red beet.

4. The cicla, which grows wild on the banks of the Tagus, in Portugal; it is originally a small, white root, but there is a variety of it, called by the Germans Runkelrübe, or the Beta allissima of Botanists, the culture of which cannot be too strongly recommended. The stalk of the latter grows to the height of seven or eight feet; and the root weighs from eight to twelve pounds. This variety of the root of scarcity is