Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/425

Rh motion, ceases after death, or as soon as the body becomes cold: hence the two cases are so distinct, that they cannot be easily mistaken.  BURNET, the, or Wild, or Meadow Burnet; the Sanguisorba officinalis, L.; a native plant growing on moist pastures, especially on a marly and calcareous soil, in the North of England. It is a hard, woody plant, and grows from two to three feet high, branching towards the top, and terminated by thick oval spikes of flowers, of a greyish brown-colour, which appear in June and July.

This vegetable ought not to be confounded with the following, or the Upland Burnet, which is a very different genus of plants. The Great, or Wild Burnet, has been usefully employed in the art of dyeing. dyed wool, silk, linen, or cotton, in a decoction of the dried, brown-red flowers, of a grey colour with a greenish shade, by the addition of alum; of a dark lilac, which soon assumed a beautiful grey, by adding a solution of tin; and of a deep black colour, on dropping into the liquor a solution of copperas.

According to, the whole of the wild burnet is used in tinning leather, as a substitute for oak-bark: and the plant is also relished by cattle, especially by sheep.  BURNET, the, or Poterium sanguisorba, L. is likewise a native plant, and by some called the Common Garden Burnet, though it grows wild in a dry calcareous soil. It has fibry perennial roots, and retains its leaves throughout the year, but the stalks are annual: it has long been cultivated as a choice salad-herb in winter and spring. The leaves, being of a warm nature, are also used in cool tankards, and for imparting an agreeable flavour to wine. When bruised, they smell like cucumber.

With respect to the more or less profitable culture of this plant, the opinions of practical farmers are divided. At the head of those who have discouraged the introduction of this grass, are the late eminent botanist, Mr., and Dr. , one of the most skilful and celebrated writers on agriculture. The former asserts in his Dictionary, that the plants are left uneaten by the cattle when the grass about them has been cropt to the roots; that in wet winters, and in strong lands, the plants are of short duration; and that the produce is insufficient to tempt any person of skill, to engage in its culture: the latter, in his Essays on Agriculture, also affirms, that the produce of burnet is too small to be worth cultivating.

On the other hand, we meet with several authorities by whom the upland burnet is strongly recommended as proper food for cattle, on account of its partaking of the nature of evergreens, and growing almost as quickly in winter as in summer.

For the first introduction of this plant into arable fields, we are indebted to, an honest farmer of Walham Green, near London; who, in March, 1761, sowed six pounds of the seed upon half an acre of ground, with a quarter of a peck of spring-wheat; but the seed being very bad, it came up but sparingly. Not discouraged by this failure, he sowed two other pounds in