Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/161

BLACK. 135 BLACK BESS. Three Feathers (ISSl) ; Shandon Bells (1883) ; Judith Shakci^peare (1884): In Far Lochaber (1888): and ^ild Keliii (1898). As may be observed from these titles, Bbiek laid his scenes mostly in northern Scotland, which he knew and loved well. It was, however, his frequent prac- tice to contrast the simple manners of his coun- try-folk with the London Bohemia. His novels, some of which were extremely popular, show more than average workmanship. None of them quite reach the high art of the great novelists, though .1 Daughter of Beth reveals talent which almost approaches genius. Consult Sir Wemyss Reid. ^'Hliam Black, Xovelist : A Biography (Xew York, 1902). BLACKACRE, Jeret. A coarse bumpkin in Wycherley's Plain Dealer, trained to the law by a litigious mother, but cognizant only of its phrases. BLACKACRE, Widow. The mother of the above. She is always involved in a lawsuit. The character is borrowed from the Countess in Ra- cine's Lcs Plaide'irs. BLACK ACTS. Scottish Parliamentary acts dating from 1424 to 1504 ; so called because they were all printed in the black, or Saxon, char- acters. The expression "Black Act' is also ap- plied to an act of George I., directed against poachers who, with their faces blackened or otherwise disguised, and associated, as we are told in the preamble of the act, under the name of Blacks, appeared in Epping Forest, near Waltham. in Essex, destroyed the deer there, and committed other enormities. This act was, along with numerous other statutes, repealed in 1827, by 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 27. BLACK APPLE. A name applied in Queens- land and Xew South Wales to Achras australis, a tree of the natural order Sapotaeese. The tree produces an edible fruit about the size of a plum. The timber of this and several other Australian species is close-grained, hard, and easily worked, and is valuable for cabinet-work and for carving, for which it is especially suitable. BLACK ASSIZE. A popular name com- memorative of an extraordinary epidemic of jail fever which broke out at Oxford at the close of the assizes, July 6, 1577. Contemporary ac- counts describe it as having originated in the court-house immediately after a sentence to lose his cars was pa.ssed on Richard Jencks, a book- binder accused of sedition. It was popularly interpreted as a divine judgment on the cruelty of the sentence; but the phenomenon is satisfac- torily explained by the pestilential atmosphere of the adjoining jail, then, as it was until long after, a seat of misery, filth, and disease. From the 6th of .July to the 12th of August. 510 per- sons are said to have died in Oxford and the neighborhood of this terrible malady, among whom were the chief officials who sat at the assize, most of the jury, and many members of the university. Women, poor people, physicians, visitors, and children are said to have escaped the infection. A similar event is recorded as having taken place at Cambridge at the Lent Assizes in 1.521. Consult: Holinshcd, Chronicles (London, 1577: reprint, fi vols., London, 1807- 08) ; Stow, Annates (first edition, London. 1580; ed. Howe, London, 1031); Wood, Athenw Ox- onienses ( first edition, London, 1691-92 ; 4th edi- tion, ed. Bliss. Oxford. 184S1. BLACKBAND IRONSTONE. An ore of iron, found commonly in rocks of the Car- boniferous system, and to a lesser extent in the Jura-Trias system, of several countries. It oc- curs in bands or rounded masses, and is often associated with coal, and sometimes with lime- stone. It is mainly a carbonate of iron, accom- panied by some coaly matter and clay impuri- ties. In the United States, blackband ores are obtained in Pennsylvania. Ohio, and Kentucky. In Europe, Scotland yields some. This ore is low in iron, as shown by the percentage composition of an Ohio ore from Tuscarawas: Silica, 26.22; phosphorus, 0.27: iron carbonate, 34.69; iron sesquioxide, 10.42; alumina. 0.70; manganese, 1.70; lime carbonate. 2.00: suli)hur, 1.84. Be- fore melting in the blast-furnace, blackband iron- stone has to be roasted. It is seldom used alone. See Iron, section on Iron Ores. BLACK BASS, DUCK, etc. See the sub- stantives. BLACK BATE'MAN OF THE NORTH. See Dekker, TuoM-s. BLACK BEETLE. A common name in Eng- land for the Oriental cockroach (see CoCK- Ko.^^cn) ; also, rarely, for beetles of the genus Blaps. BLACKBERRY (Riibns rillosus) . A term applied in .merica to both upright and decum- bent thorny bushes bearing a fruit consisting of an aggregation of small drupes or berries, ar- ranged about the receptacle to which they adhere, and which, when ripe, separates from the plant with the drupes and forms a part of the so-called fruit. In America, the blackberry and dewberry, or running blackberry {Riibus Canadensis) , are indiscriminatcl.v spoken of as blackberries, while the English bramble {Rubus fruticosits) is also called a blackberry. In America, these fruits, with the exception of Rubus fruticosus, have attained a commercial status, and each year widens their range of cultivation. Although existing in a hi.sh state of development as wild plants.they attracted little attention as garden fruits until as late as 1850. Now, however, they are extensively cultivated over a wide area. The blackberry is propagated almost exclu- sively from root-sprouts, suckers, and root-cut- tings. Xew varieties are secured by planting the seed, but most of the named varieties now on the market arc chance seedlings from wild or cultivated plants. The habit of growth of the blackberry renders it necessary to set the plants not closer than 3 by 8 feet for the smaller grow- ing sorts, while 4 by 10 is not too wide for the larger kinds. The fruit is extensively used for canning, both in a commercial and domestic way ; but it finds its chief market as a fresh fruit for dessert purposes. The bark of the root has tonic properties which are much prized by the country folk. A (luid extract made from blacklwrry- root is sometimes prescribed in cases of diarrha'a. For a discussion of the genus, see RuBUS; also see Dewbkhky. BLACKBERRY DISEASES. See Rasp- ItEltliV DiSE.VSES. BLACK BESS. The name of the English highwavnian Turpin's mare. She is mentioned bv Sam' WoUer. in The Pickuick Papers, just be-