Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/440

408&#93; 4 cS] GRO later experience. In obstinate roughs, it is still a favourite remedy with the poor, who probably expe- rience its good effects by persever- ing in its use, and abstaining from animal food. The expressed juice mixed with a little wine, and applied morning and evening, is said to destroy the white specks sometimes occurring on the eyes of horses. It is observable, that plants grow- ing near the ground-ivy, do not prosper; and that this vegetable proves hurtful to horses, if they eat it in any quantity ; nor should it be given to diseased sheep, though it is a grateful and salutary food to them, when in health. But horses are not very partial to it ; and it is totally refused by cows, hogs, and goats. GROUND-NUTS.orGRorxn- pease, the Arrachis Hypogaios Americanos of Ray, a plant culti- vated in the West Indies by the Negroes. When in flower, it in- clines towards the earth, into which the pointal enters, and extends to a certain d~pth, where the seed- vessel and fruit are formed 5 so that the latter attains to maturity under ground. As large crops of this vegetable are produced on light sandy lands, of little value, it may perhaps be advantageously culti- vated in the southern counties of Britain. The seeds or fruit, when bruised and expressed through canvas bags, afford a pure, clear, and savory oil, which, in the Opinion of Dr. Wat- son, may be used for the same pur- , both culinary and medicinal, as those obtained from olives or al- monds. The oil of ground-nuts, however, possesses a great advan- tage, as it will admit of being kept for, a considerable time, without GRO becoming rancid, or requiring any particular ore, even during the heat of summer. As one bushel of the seeds, when expressed, yields a gallon of pure oil without, and a mud) larger quantity, though of interior quality, with the aid of heat, they deserve to be more gene- rally known and imported. The value of a bivhel of these nuts, in South Carolina, did not exceed eight-pence in the. year 1 708, when specimens of the seeds were pro- duced before the Royal Societv, and an account given in the 59th vol. of their Philosophical Trans- tions for 1 76Q. GROUND PINE, or Ajuga Chanu&pitys, L. an indigenous plant growing in sandy fallows, and flowering in the months of April and June. It possesses a bitter and acrimonious taste, and though it has often been recommended as a medicine for the cure of the gout, jaundice, and intermitting fevers, yet its real efficacy in these diseases is not ascertained. GROUNDSEL, the Common, or Senecio vulgaris, L. an indige- nous plant, growing on cultivated grounds, rubbish, and in court- yards ; it flowers from April to September. A strong infusion of this weed excites vomiting 3 the bruised leaves afford a refrigerant and healing application to boils. — Its seeds are very agreeable to gold- finches and linnets confined in cages. — Cows do not relish this plant : it is, however, eaten by goats and swine, but refused by horses and sheep. There is another useful species of the groundsel, the SeneciaJacobcea , for which we refer to Rao- wort. GROUSE, or Growse, Tttrao tetrix, Li a native, bird, which is found in woody and mountainous bilU-