W I L
W I L
After tliis tedious preparation, they are given in coughs and colds, and are faid to be a remedy even in confumptions.
"WIDK-eared in the manege, is applied to a horfe, when the root, or lower part of his ear is placed too low, and the ear itfelf is too large. The French ufe the term Oreillard for fuch a horfe.
"WIDOW (Cyd.) — Mr. Kerfeboom has given us a table, fhew- ing how long 432 Widows lived, and finds, that, at a medium, each lived fourteen years. Phil. Tranf. N°. 468. feet. 3. Among the antient Greeks, Widows had the Care of the eter- nal fire of Vefta committed to them j which charge, among the Romans, could be performed by virgins onlv, who from their office were called veftals. Hofm. Lex. Univ. in voc. Vidua. Sec the article Vestal, Cyd.
Kiytg's Widow. See the article Dote.
WlDURIS, in natural hiftory, the name of a ftone found in Java, Malabar, and fome other places, and defcribed by Rum- phius. Some fpecics of this are all over of a fine white ; others are of a dufky colour, with ftrcaks of white ; the fimply white ones are femi-pellucid, and look verylikc the white of
■ an e gg* ■ Some alfo have called this the Hyalops, or Achates •uitrete perfpicuitatis.
WILD Oat. See the article Oat.
WiLT>-Goofe Chaa. See the article Chace.
WILDERNESS, (Cyd.) in gardening. There is nothing fo great an ornament to a large garden as a Wildermfs, when pro- perly contrived, and juclicioufly planted. The Wildernefs fhould always be proportioned to the fize of the garden, and fhould never be lituated too near the houfe ; becaufe the trees perfpire fo large a quantity of watery vapours, as make the air very unwholfome. The Wildcrnejs ihould never be fo placed as to block up a good profpect ; but where the view naturally ends with the verge of the garden, or little more, nothing terminates it fo well as a fine plantation of trees. The fize of the trees fhould be confidered, and tall growing ones fhould be planted in larger places ; fmaller, in lefs extenfive ; ever-greens alfo fhould be kept by themielves, and placed molt in fight, not mingled confufedly among the trees which caft their leaves. The walks fhould be large and not numerous ; the large walk is beft made ferpentine, and this ftiould not be entered upon the grand walks of the garden, but by fome private walk.
It is too common a method to difpofe the trees in Wtldernejfes in form of regular fquares, triangles, C3V. but this is faulty ; for as nature mould be ftudied in thefe works of fancy, the moft irregular is the moft pleafing plantation. The walks for the fame reafon are much more pleafing when they run in wild meanders, than when they interiecl: one another in ftu- died and regular angles. The winding walks fhould be made to lead to an open circular piece of grafs, with a fhtue, an obe- lifk, or a fountain ; or, if an opening large enough for a ban- quetting- houfe be contrived in the middle, it will afford a very pleafing fcene. The trees fhould gradually rife from the fides of the walks and openings, one above another to the middle of the quarters, where the largeft trees fhould frand, by which means the heads of all the trees will appear in view, but their ftems will not appear in fight. Not only the growth of trees is to be confidered in the plant- ing of a Wildernefs, but their nakedneffes are to be confidered and hid. The larger growing trees arc allowed a proportion- able diftance, and tbeirftemshid by honcyfuckles, rofes, fpi- reas, and other low flowering fhrubs. Thefe may alfo be planted next all the walks and openings ; and at the foot of thefe, near the walks, may be fet rows of primrofes, violets, and daffo- dils, with other the like flowers ; behind the firft rank of low- er flowering fhrubs fhould be planted tbofe of a fomewhat higher fhturc, as the altbaafrutices, the cvtifufes and geldcr- rofesj and behind thefe may be rows of the taiieft flowerin" fhrubs, as the lilacs, laburnums, and the like ; and behind thefe, the heads only of the lower growing trees will appear, which fhould be backed gradually with thofc of higher growth, to the center of the quarter ; from whence the heads of the trees fhoold defcend every way to the walks, or openings. The grand walks and openings fhould always be laid with tnrff, and kept well mowed; but, befide thefe, there ou2ht to be fmaller ferpentine walks through the feveral quarters, where perfons may retire for privacy ; thefe fhould be left with the hare earth, only kept clear of weeds, and laid fmooth. Thefe walks fhould be made as winding as poffible, and a few wood-flowers planted along their fides will have a very good effect. The ever-greens fhould be allotted a peculiar part of the Wildernefs, and fuch as fronts the houfe ; and in the planting thefe, the fame regard is to be had to their growth, that the taHeft trees be planted hindmoft, and their ftems hid by fhorter ones, and fo on, down to the verge : as in the firft row may be planted lauruftines, boxes, fpurge laurels, juni- pers, and favins ; behind thefe, laurels, hollies, and arbutuf- fes ; next behind thefe, yews, alaternuffes, phillereys, cypref- fes, and Virginian cedars ; behind thefe, Norway and filver firs, and the true pine ; and finally, behind thefe, the Scotch pine and pinafter. Thefe will have a very beautiful appear- ance, as their tops will only be feen, and make a fheet of green, which may alfo be very beautifully varied, from the artful ad- mixtures of the feveral (hades of green which the various plants have.
In all thefe plantations, the trees, however, fhould. not be fet in formal ft iff rows, but in a loofe variety, proportioned to their manner of growth. Miller's Gardener's Diet.
WILDS, a term ufpd by our farmers to exprefs that part of a plough by which the whole is drawn forwards. The Wilds are of iron, and are of the form of a gallows, whence they are by fome called the Gallows of the plough but improperly, the gallows of the plough being properly that part formed by the crow-ftaves, and the tranfverfe piece into which they are mortifed at the top.
The Wilds confift of two legs, and a tranfverfe top-piece: one of the legs, and the top-piece, are all of one piece of iron, and the other leg, which is loofe, has a hole in the top, into which the end of the tranfverfe piece is received ; both thefe legs pafs through the box of the plough, which is that tranfverfe timber through which the fpindles of the wheels run : thefe legs are pinned in behind the box with iron pins : the holes through the box at which thefe legs pafs, are not made at riofit angles, but flawing upwards, fo that the fore-part of the Wilds is higher than the hinder part ; were it not tor this, the upper part of the crow-ifaves would lean quite back when the plough is drawn.
The ufe of the notches in the Wilds is to give the plough a broader or narrower furrow; if she links are moved to^the notches on the right-hand, it brings the wheels toward the left, which gives a greater furrow ; and, on the contrary, a fmaller furrow is made when the links are moved to the notches on the left. The legs of the Wilds fhould be nine- teen inches, and their diftance eight inches and a half; they muft be made ftrong, and the links muft be placed in dif- ferent notches, that the front of the plough may be kept ftea- dy, and the wheels not be drawn one before the other. Thefe links are of iron alfo, and are each fix inches and a half long, and to thefe are faftened the chains of the harnefs, by which the whole plough is drawn along. Tail's Hufbandry. See the articles Plough and Gallows.
WILLOW, in botany. See the article Salix.
Our common Willoius, in thefpring feafon, when they are in flower, produce a quantity of cottony matter, which might be put to fome ufe.
The Chinefe arc induftrious enough to collect this cotton as it falls from their Willows ; and the women and children, a- mongthe poorer people, card it, and pick out the feeds, and render it fit for many ufes in the place of cotton. The poor people, in fome parts of the Indies, make a fort of liquor of the flowers of the Willow before tbey are opened which intoxicates them very fuddenly ; and the dry hufks of the fame tree, remaining after the flowers and feeds are fallen, arc wholfome as food, people in times of famine having lived upon them, boiled in water.
'1 'he ignorance of the Chinefe in natural hiftory, has occafioned two very ftrange ftories, about the downv or cottony matter of the Willow, to be recorded in their books, and firmly be- lieved among them.
The one is, that if this down fall upon the water, it is in one night's time converted into the plant called duck-weed, and it it falls upon any of their fur garments, it becomes a fort of moth, or worm, that eats them to pieces. The common people are fo fully peifuaded of this, that they will never let any garment of this kind he expofed to the air at this time of the year. There is fome probability, that the down of this tree may contain the eggs of certain infects, but then it doers not change into them ; and thefe can only be the eggs of thofe butterflies which frequent that tree; the conleqiienee of which muft be, that they will produce caterpillars whole food is the Willow leaves, not any other fubftance. The other error may probably be owing to the water-plant ufually making its firft appearance at the fame feafon when the tPillows are in flower, fo that it feems produced of them.
A like error we have among the common people of EiHand, in regard to the yellow rattle, or erijU galli lutea. This^pJant appears in our meadows juft at the time when the cowflins have done flowering, and" is thence vulgarly fuppofed to be the fame plant in a different ftate, or that the cowfiip at a cer- tain time changes into this plant.
The wood of the Willow, though in itfelf very light and fpongy, is yet of a nature to bear the injuries of wet better than almoft any other kind. It is ufed by the Chinefe on this occafion, in the making their wells, and on all other oc- calions where wood is to ftand under water, and fucceeds per- fectly well. Obferv, fur les Coutumes de l'Afie.
Wihiow-Galls, in natural hiftory, the name given by authors to certain protuberances found very frequently on the leaves of the feveral fpecies of Wilkw,. which are properly galls, each containing the worm of a fly, and owing its exiftence to that infect.
The galls are ufually of a roundifh or oblong figure, and are equally protuberant on each fide of the leaf : They are of a pale green at firft ; but they afterwards become yellowifh, and finally reddifh. The furface of thefe is feldom perfectly even, but ufually has feveral little prominences and cavities in it. When this gall is opened, there is found in it a worm much refembliog a caterpillar in figure,, having a fmooth an- 2 nulateJ
