Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/243

Rh  the sweet part at the bottoms ot the petals or leaves. To prevent these depredations, the usual practice is, to put the bowl of a tobacco-pipe, or the claws of lobsters, upon the sticks supporting the flowers, because ear-wigs creep into cavities and dark places during the day. The placing of hollow reeds behind the twigs of wall-trees, has been found of considerable service, if they be examined and cleared every morning. A visit at midnight, however, is preferable, as more vermin may then be destroyed in one hour, than can be exterminated in one week by the other means; and the garden will in a short time be, in a very considerable degree, if not totally, freed from their depredations.  EARTH, in general, signifies that solid, incombustible substance which forms the basis of the globe we inhabit.

Chemists have, hitherto, made us acquainted with eight different species of simple earths, namely, 1. The siliceous, or ; 2. calcareous, or ; 3. magnesian, or ; 4. argillaceous, or ; 5. ponderous, or barytes (Derbyshire spar); 6. Strontian (from a place of that name in Scotland); 7. Circon, or jargon of Ceylon; and 8. glucine earth, very lately discovered by, and also called sweet earth of beryl.—We cannot enter into an analysis of the different earths here enumerated, and shall, therefore, content ourselves with stating, that simple earths are rarely found in a state of purity; that all the strata of rocks (which compose in a manner "the shell of this globe," on the surface of which the vegetable mould is immediately incumbent) principally consist of siliceous, argillaceous, calcareous, or other compound earths derived from the primitive kinds before specified; that stones are only earths in an indurated state; that the characteristic difference between earths and alkalis arises from the insolubility of the former, while the latter may be dissolved in water or other fluids; and, lastly, that most of these earths unite with acids, and neutralise them, like alkalis.

As we treat of those species of earth, which may be usefully employed in domestic economy, under their respective heads of the alphabet (see, , , &c.), we cannot in this place enlarge upon the subject.  EARTH-BANKS, in husbandry, are a kind of fence, very common in the vicinity of London, and in several other parts of England: where stones cannot easily be procured, they are preferable to other fences, both for soundness and durability.

The best method of making earth-banks is, to dig up some turfs in a spot abounding with grass, about a spit deep, and four or five inches thick: these are to be laid even on one side by a line, with the grass outwards, and on the back of them is to be placed another row of turf, leaving the space of one foot of solid ground on the outside, to prevent the bank from slipping in, lest any part of it should be deficient. On the outside of this, a ditch is to be dug; otherwise both the sides must be made with a slope two feet in depth, which, however, will be no detriment, as they will both produce pasture.

The soil dug out of the ditches, or from the slopes, should be thrown in between the two rows