Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/365

BRE or Sii3ke-veed (p. 268) ; of the Small, Welch, or Alpine Bistort (p. '2>6g) ; of the Common Orobus, or Heath-pea; theTuberous Vetch 3 the Common Reed ; both the Sweet- smelling and Common Solomon's Seal ; the Common Corn-flag, or Gladiolus communis; the Salt-marsh Club-rush, or Scirpus maritimus, &rc. — Indeed, some authors also include in this list the roots of the Mandragora, Cokhicum , Fumaria luli. , Hellelorus acconitifol. and nlgr. , Lilium lullif. , and many- others ; but for these last mentioned we have not sufficient authority. III. Fibrous and less juicy Roots : viz. those of the Couch-grass, or CreepingWheat-grass ; theClown's, or Marsh Wound -wort (p. 31)5 the Marsh Mary-gold, or Meadow Bouts ; tlie Silver-weed, or Wild Tansej r ; the Sea Seg, or Carcx arenarius, &c. Having thus stated the various substitutes for bread, which have either already been adopted with success in tin's country, or which might, in times of real scarcity, be easily converted into proper nutri- ment, we cannot better conclude this article than in the words of Arthur Young, Esq. who, in his Observations on the late Royal Pro- clamation, recommending frugality in the consumption of corn, as one of the surest and most effectual means of alleviating the present pressure of the times, espouses the cause of the unfortunate poor, nearly in the following words : Every master or head of a family is in duty bound to second, without compulsion, the humane views of the legislature. Hence, bread made of the whole produce of the wheat, excepting onlv seven pounds of 1 lie bran in each bushel, and adding cne-fourth or third part of a sub- stitute, would probably be the most effective saving. If the consump- tion of the whole kingdom be com- puted at 8,000,000 of quarters in twelve months, this saving on all the wheat consumed in nine months would be /00,000 quarters, which would feed 8/5,000 persons, at the ordinary consumption of one quar- ter a head per annum ; and pro- bably be equal, under the present restrictions, to afford food to 1,000,000 of people for the next nine months. — Farther, if the sav- ing of oats to the supposed number of 500,000 horses of luxury, be calculated only at one bushel per week, this would, in nine months, amount to 18,000,000 of bushels ; or sufficient to support 1,000,000 of persons for the same period of time, allowing to each not less than twenty-five bushels per annum. — . With duedeference to Mr. Young's statistical information, however, we beg leave to doubt whether 500,000 fit horses, crammed on the food of man, move about the king- dom : though it must be acknow- ledged, that pleasure horses " are spectacles of envy to the starving poor — abominable • and scandalous spectacles, which, in times like these, ought to be removed from the view of those whose miserable children might be fed on the corn thus saved." BREAD-FRUIT-TREE, or the Artocarpus, L. — a plant which grows in the South-Sea Islands, and is remarkable for the size and nutritive quality of its fruit. Al- though this tree has been mention- ed by many voyagers, it was little noticed till the return of Captain Wallis from the South Seas. It grows in abundance on the La- drone Islands. In the Society Islands, it is of the size of a mid- dling