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when it is finally exhaled out oflt; and when, at length, the earth is thus hardened, it can receive no benefit from any thing lefs than a deluge of rain, which feldom falls till the fca- fon of vegetation is over.
As fine hoe'd ground is not fo long foaked with rain, fo the dews never fuffer it to become perfectly dry. This appears from the flourifhing frate of plants in hoe d ground, while others near them, but in ground not /wV, are ftarved for want of nourifhment. The common opinion is againft this, but obfervation proves it to be true againft the common opi- nion. The vulgar are guided by this, however, and will not hoe their ground in dry weather for fear of letting in the drought, as they call it ; whereas hoeing this is the only me- thod of keeping away the drought, and without either this, or watering, they muft perifh in thefe feafons. TuWs Horfe- hoeing Hufbandry.
There is alfo another advantage given to plants by Hoeing, ■which animals are not capable of. Meat and drink, in a pro- per degree, is all they require, or can difpenfe with, and un- lefs new mouths could be made to them, they can ufe no more ; but in plants, the Hoeing at once gives encreafe of nou- rifhment in abundant quantities, and encreafe of mouths to receive it ; for every time the Hoe is ftruck into the ground, new particles of earth are made by breaking the old ones ; the new pores made by thefe, afford a new fupply of food to the plant, and every ftroke of the Hoe at the fame time cut- ting ofFfome of the fibrous roots of the plant, great numbers are propagated in the places of every one that is cut, and the plant has at once more food, and more mouths to feed with.
HOISE, in the fea language. Seethe article Hoyse, CycL
HOITLALLOTL, in zoology, the name of an America, bird, defcribed by Nieremberg, and called by him Avis longa. It is very remarkable for the fwiftnefs of its running, and is of a very long fhape, having alfo a long tail. Its beak is alfo very long, black above, and grey underneath. Its tail is green, and has all the fplendor and beauty of the peacock's. Its whole body is of a whitifh yellow, and near the tail of a blackiih yellow. But the moulders are black, with white fpots. It does not fly high, nor very well, but runs fo fwiftly as is fcarce to be conceived. It is but an ill tailed bird. Ray's Ornithol. p. 304.
HOITZILO TXITL, in botany, a name by which fome au- thors have called the tree which affords the balfam of Peru. Jonf. Dendr. p. 309.
HOITZITZIL, in zoology, the name by which fome authors have called the guainumbi, or humming bird, the fmalteft of all birds. Hernandez, Nov. Hifpan. £.9. C. II. Seethe article Guainumbi.
HOITZITZILLIN, in zoology, the name of a beautiful Ame- rican bird, defcribed by Nieremberg. The Indians prodi- giously efteem this bird, and ufe its feathers in ornamenting their images. It is not lawful to kill it, only to ftrip it of its feathers, and then turn it loofe ; and this no one may do but the principal perfon of the place. The method of getting their feathers, according to Hernandez, is the inviting them to fome boiled Indian wheat, and placing lime twigs in their way. They fly in large flocks, and fit together on trees, making a confufed hifling noife. They breed in the holes of trees. Ray's Ornithol. p. 303.
MOKE Tide, a folemn feftival celebrated for many ages in England^ in memory of the great flaughter of the Danes in the time of king Ethelred, they havingbeen, inthatreign, almoft all deftroyed in one day, in the different parts of the kingdom, and that principally by women. This is ftill kept up in fome counties, and the women bear the principal fway in it, flop- ping all paffengers with ropes and chains, and exacting fome fmall matter from them to make merry with. Plot's Ox- fordfhire, p. 206.
HOLCE, 'o?.x«, a word ufed, by fome of the Greek authors, as the name of a dram weight; and by others, as Diofcorides, csV. to fignify a weight in general.
HOLCUS, the name by which the antients called the common gramen fecalinum, or rye grafs, commonly called by us bar- ley grafs, or wild baftard barley ; a low grafs, with a large bearded ear, growing under old walls.
HOLD, in the manege. See the article Retain.
Hold Off, on board a fhip, a term ufed in heaving in the cable at the capftan i for if it be very ftiff' and great, or have lain long in a flimy or oozy ground, unlefs that part which is heaved in be haled away hard from the capftan, the ca- ble will furge or flip back ; therefore it muft be haled away as faft as it comes in, that the cable may keep clofc about the whelps : And this work is called Holding off, and may be done by hand with a fmall cable ; but in all great fhips they either hold offynfa nippers, or elfe bring the cable alfo to the jeer capftan.
Predy the Hold, in the fea language. See the article Predy.
To Rummage the Hold, at fea, is to remove and clear the goods and things therein.
Holds its own, atfea. A fhip isfaid to hold itsown, that keeps its courfe right forward.
Stowing the Hold, a fea phrafe for taking goods into the Hold.
HOLLOW Toothed Horfe, in the manege. See the article Shell Toothed.
HOLLO WNESS of Trees, This is one of the moft mifchicv-
ou3 diftempcratures to which trees are fubjecT:. It is generally occafioned by the lopping of them in an improper manner, and leaving the wet to fall in upon them, efpecially on their heads. When this mifchief is found out in its beginning, the only method is to cut the trunk off to the quick, facrificin^ the whole hollow part ; it is, in this cafe, to be cut off Hoping, that the wet may run off from it. All foft woods are liable to this mifchief, after the lopping, particularly the elm ; and when it takes hold of any tree, it grows upon it daily, till the whole fubftance of the tree is at length eaten away, and only a coat of bark is left. The beft way of preventing it in the elm, is never to cut off the head or top of the tree at all, but only to lop the fide branches ; thefe will yield a very large quantity, and the body of the tree will thrive the better for their being often cut off, and will be good timber at laft. Mortimer's Hufbandry, vol. 2. p. 79. Thefe tall elms fometimes grow hollow from another caufe, that is, from the decay of fome of the large roots ; but the ftarving condition of its branches will (hew this, tho' there he no external mark of it. This fort of Holhwnefs always begins at the bottom of the tree. Blafted parts of trees are to be cut away to the quick, in the fame manner as the hollow ones, and the wounds will heal in the fame manner.
HOLLY, in botany. See the article Aquifolium.
The manner of propagating the fine ftriped and varie- gated Hollies, is by budding or grafting them on plain Hetty ftocks. And the common Holly is very eafily raifed by fowing the berries, as foon as they are ripe. They lie two years in the ground before they appear, therefore a good way is to mix them with dry fand, and putting them into a large garden-pot, bury them in the ground till the next Auguftor September; then take them out, and fbw them in a bed of common earth, covering the feeds a quarter of an inch thick with light mould, and the fpring following the plants will ap- pear above the ground. Thefe young trees make but a very flow progrefs for the three or four firft years. The beft time for tranfplanting the Holly is in April, in moift weather, and, if the feafon is good, there will be little danger of their growing. They may alfo be tranfplanted in Augufl: ; and the roots, in this cafe, muft be furrounded with mulch, to keep them from the injuries of the frofts. And if the fea- fons prove dry, the new planted trees muft be at times fup- plied with water for two years. Miller's Gardener's D«£t.
Holly Hedges, are a very beautiful ever-green and ftrong fence, but liable to perifh in hard winters. It ba3 been fuppofed, that the feverky of the cold in thefe feafons, was the occafiou of this; but a elofer obfervation has fhewn, that the mifchief is owing to the field mice, which, in very fevere feafons, when they can get at nothing elfe, drfbark the roots of thefe fhrubs. The method of prcferving thefe hedges, in fuch feafons, is found to be by clearing away the weeds which are a harbour to thefe little animals, and placing traps and boxes in pro- per places, with a pafte made of butter and ratfbane, daubed over their infides, and holes made in their fides no biggerthaa what the mice or rats, if there be any there, can creep into; and thus the vermin are deftroyed, and the mifchief which might attend ratfbane being expofed, are prevented. More- ton's Northampt. p. 486.
HOLLYHOCK, or Holy-oak, in botany. See Malva. We have many fpecies of this plant cultivated in oujr gardens, for the beauty of their flowers. They are all propagated from feeds, which are to be fown in March, upon a bed of light rich earth. When the plants are come up pretty ftrong, they fhould be tranfplanted out into nurfery beds at about eight inches diftance from one another. They muft be watered till they have taken root, and will then require no farther care for the fummer, but being kept clear of weeds. At the latter end of the September following, they fhould be tranfplanted into the places where they are to re- main, and fet in rows of two foot diftance, and at a foot from each other in the rows where they may flower : And when it is obferved which roots produce the fineft flowers, thofe fhould, the Michaelmas after, be tranfplanted into garden beds, where they will live four or five years ; after which they grow weak, and fhould be replaced by new ones. When theftalks of the plants begin to decay, they fhould be cut down clofe to the ground, otherwife they are apt to rot and deftroy the roots.
HOLM Oak. See the article Ilex.
HOLOCAUTOMA, 'Oto X a.vlup.a, among the antients, the fame with Holocaujl. See the article Holocaust, CycL
HOLOSCH/ENOS, in the materia medica, the name of the great bulrufli, or Juncus lavis maximiis, common in rivers. Dale, Pharm. p. 258.
HOLOSERICA Vejl'u, a garment entirely of filk, which were not ufed at Rome till the time of Heliogabahw. Hofm. Lex. in voc.
HOLOSTEUM, in zoology, a name by which Bellonius, and fome others, call the oftracion, a fifh of the river Nile, co- vered with a hard fhelly fkin, and approaching, in its body, to a pentangular form. IVUlughby, Hift. Fife. p. 148.
HOLOTONICOS, a word ufed by fome authors to fignify an univerfal convulfion or rigor over the whole body.
HOLQUAHVILT, in botany, a name by which fome authors have called the tree which produces the jefuits bark. Her- nand. p. 50.
4 HOLT