Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/381

Rh Wood-peckers, though eaten by the Italians, do not form an article of food at the British tables.  WOODROOF, the, or Asperula odorata, L, an indigenous perennial, growing in woods and shady places; where it flowers in the month of May.—This plant possesses an exceedingly grateful odour, that increases on being moderately dried: it has a sub-saline, and somewhat austere taste; which, together with a peculiar, fine flavour, it also imparts to vinous, liquors.—According to , the smell of this herb, expels ticks, and other insects.

The sweet woodroof is supposed to attenuate viscid humours, and strengthen the bowels; to remove obstructions of the liver and biliary ducts; and was formerly esteemed a medicine of great efficacy in epilepsies and palsies.—The plant is eaten by cows, horses, sheep, and goats; having the remarkable property of increasing the milk of animals, and especially of those first mentioned.—See also ; p. 194.  . See.  . See.  . See.  . See.  WOOL, in general, signifies the hairy substance which forms the covering of.

The growth of wool is always completed in one year, when it spontaneously decays, and is naturally renewed; in which respect it resembles the hair of most of the lower animals; though that of sheep is considerably finer, and grows with more uniformity, each filament advancing at an equal distance; separating from the skin nearly at the same time; and, if it be not previously shorn, it falls off naturally; the animal being already provided with a short coat of young wool, that undergoes similar changes in the subsequent year. Another circumstance, that distinguishes wool from hair, is its various thickness in different parts of the same sheep; being closer at the points than at the roots; and the part, which grows during the winter, being considerably finer than that produced in the summer.—Next to Spanish wool, the English sheep furnish the most valuable commodity of the kind in Europe.

Wool, when first shorn, is called a fleece, and every fleece is divided into three kinds, namely: The prime or mother-wool, which is taken from the neck and back; the seconds, or that of the tails and legs; and the thirds, which is obtained from the breast, and beneath the belly.

The finest and most esteemed sorts of British wool, at present, are those obtained from the Ryeland, South-Down, Shetland, Cotswold, Herefordshire, and Cheviot-sheep: and, as this article forms the most extensive staple commodity of British commerce, various and successful attempts have lately been made to improve its quality. To effect this desirable object, recourse has been had to intermixing or crossing the ditferent breeds; and, by the patriotic exertions of the British Wool Society, the Board of Agriculture, Lord (see ), and Dr., the British wool is now little inferior to the best kind imported from Spain.  Our