Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/522

488&#93; 4 83] CH A lf.f, of Catherine-street, Strand, for I is invention of a ch&h - of peculiar construction : bu we have not been favoured 1 its specification, we cannot com- municate, farther particulars. Sfdax -Chairs are vehi ' supported by poles, for earr le persons, at short dista in town; and borne by two men. Their number in the metropolis, allowed by act of parliament, is four hundred ; and the fare to which the chairmen are k entitled, ought not to exceed two- thirds of the rate fixed for a hack- ney-coach, driven to the same dis- -. See Q A;::;, c. 23, see. 8 ; also lOAxx, c. Iji and 12 Gj;o.I. c. 12; CHALDROX, is a c- ure, generally used for sea- coal, and consisting of 36 bu I filled up according to the sealed el kept at Guildhall, Lol On ship-board, 21 chaldrons are al- lowed to the score ; each of which should weigh 2000 pounds : hence a bushel of coals ought to weigh from 56 to 62lb. — See Busht.l. CHALK, Greta, is a white earth, abounding in Britain, France, Norway, and other parts of Eu- rope, which is said to have been anciently dug Chiefly in the island of Crete, whence it has received its name. This substance is found most plentiful!}' in t! e county of Kent, in England, en the. sides of hills, which the workmen -undermine to a certain depth : they then dig a trench at the top, as far distant from the edge as the milling ex- tends at th^- bottom $ then fill the trench with water, which sbaks through during the night, when the whole mass falls down. In other parts of the kingdom., it ge- CH A lies much deeper in ground. Chaik is of two kinds : hard, dry and firm-, or soft and unctu- ous. The former sort is the best for burning into lime ; but the latter furnishes the best manure for lands. Both these spe- . are an excellent manure for sandy soils, as they fill up the interstices, or pores, and give the land a degree of consist- ence, which adapts it for the pur- poses of vegetation, and totally exterminates that pernicious weed, the com marygold, or yellow ox- eye, i t L, which abounds particularly in sandy soils. It has a very differ- ent effect en clayey ground ; for, r from rendering it more com- pact (Which is too much so al- ready), it irfsini If into the 11 pores ; and, by raising a fir- mentation, exposes the clay more to the operations of the frost, rain, sun, and air ; by which means its too coherent particles are loosened, and it is reduced to a state of pul- verization. It is, however, a circumstance worthy of remark, that, although the Kentish chalk agrees extreme- ly well with other clayey soils, yet, when laid on those lands in Kent, situated near the pits, it by no is answers the expectations of farmer. This is probably ow- ing to the Kentish clays partaking in some degree of the nature of chalk, which, therefore, has not so good an effect in Kent, as in r parts of England; the quality he manure being nearly conge- nial with the soil. It also deserves to be noticed, that chalk, however excellent it may be in itself, when mixed with dung or any other ma- nure, is so far from ameliorating ths