Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/256

234&#93; ■ ^^- 234J MOT the mos?, that five, nnd &ve« mr, successive crops of oats have been obtained, without any appearance of its being exhausted ; and that often at the end of the se- tond, a^d always of the third year, it acquires sutiicient firraness to be ploughed by two horses, to within two Z-owiy or stitches of the division-furrow. Farther, the seed should be harrowed in by horses ; and, when the oats are ripe, they may be removed from the field in carts, without the moss sinking, or rendering the carriage difficult. iSuch is the ovxtiiae of Mr. Smith's tiiethod, which deserves €0 be more generally known, ef.pe- ciaily in Lancashire, and those ■counties 'that abound with mo- rasses or fens. We cannot, ftow- cver, omit to mention, that some •intelligent farmers conceive this «5ode of cultivation to be pra6li- cable only on sliallow mosses ; ilumghy in the essay above cited, Mr. Smith states that he has suc- cessfully practised it with such as Avere fourteen feet in depth. MOSS-RUSH, o'l GoosE-coRN, Jmicits srjnarrosus, L. a native pe- rennial plant, growing on heaths and barren turfy bogs 5 flowering in the months of June and July. — This vegetable indicates a barren soil: it is eattn by " horses. ; but, being a very low plart, its leaves adhere so closely to the grouild as -to elude tlic stroke of the scythe. MOIH, or Pitalccna, a g-enus of inserts comprt bending several htindrcd species, which it would ■be needless to enumerate : they are tiniformiy bred frcm eggs, and, are 110 sooner Hatched than they construct for themselves a sn all hahitaiitn,. in which- they live ; •nnd may thus be easily distinguish- ed li'omolhej inscdSj which do not MOT form their chnjsalis till they ar«' dbout to change from a caterpillar state into that of a butterfly. Most moths become no6turnal butterflies ; though some species' of these vermin, being real mag- gots, assume the shape of files }■ and others that of chafers. With respeft to their abode, they are divided into domestic,' field, and aquatic moths. The first is the small lead-coloured' moth, that lives on tine furs and woollen goods, by the destru6tibn of which it often occasions consi- derable damage : the two latter kinds prey on the leaves of trees>' the fibres of wood, bark, &c. The butterflies of the domestio moth are scarcely half an inch in' length, and have foiu" long wings that cover the whole posterior part of the body. From the early spring to Midsummer, they infest our dwell- ings, and during the night search for convenient places to deposit their eggs, which are scarcely dis- cernible by the naked eye. These are hatched within three weeks, and produce very diminutive cater- pillars with sixteen feet, and which immediate, ly begin to weave, for their accommodation, a thin silken cover from tlvcir own substance; not irnlike the silk-worm, and then gnaw off" the wool and liair from the stutFs on which they are settled. Thus arises a cylindrical texture Avhich, beir.g open at both ends, is gradually enlarged with the growth of the inseft. In order to extend this fabric, the caterpillar divides it longitudinally into two parts ; weaves an intermediate piece between each section; and joins to both ends a small portion for enlarging its abode. Th6 whole has externally the colour of the stuff t'lom which it is tijkeji, aii4