Vermouth

“ All who care for flowers will desire to raise Verbenas, as they blossom all Summer. If you wish to raise them from seed they should be sown in February or first of March. One secret in raising fine Verbenas is change of soil. It would be better to plant them every year in a different location, but if you renew the soil it will do to plant them twice in the same bed, but never three years in succession. Indeed, flowers as well as vegetables need constant change of soil; they soon exhaust the earth. Seeds are better that are raised in locations distant from the place where they are to be sown. ”

“ Vermilion is a permanent pigment, and may be used with water or oil, but cannot be used in enamel, as it volatilizes at a red heat. It possesses great body, weight, and opacity. Numerous pigments consisting of aniline colors thrown on a lead body, such as the oxide or carbonate, have largely taken the place of the true vermilion as a pigment, especially as they have a permanent red color, stand exposure fairly well, and change to a lighter color with age instead of a darker, as is the case with vermilion. ”

“ It is strange that a Vermivora should linger here with winter so near at hand, but indeed there is evidence which leads us to believe that a few of these warblers may attempt to spend the winter in the southern part of this region, and should any one of them withstand the cold season, it may furnish, when it moves northwards towards its breeding ground, one of the exceedingly rare instances of the occurrence of the bird on the northern Atlantic coast in spring. ”

“ They differ very little in form; the shape of the caudal fin, the number of its component rays, and the position of the pectorals and ventrals with respect to each other,—constituting the distinctions which have been relied on as specific. In colour their resemblance is equally exact; a delicate tint of pink, in some specimens, even of the same species, deepening to a light vermilion, in others fading to a carnation or flesh-colour, is the universal hue, adorned in life with pearly, or silvery, or metallic reflections; the fins are party-coloured in bands. ”

“ Another method is to add vermilion and golden ochre to white, which gives a nice bright colour. Venetian red and chrome, added to white, gives a duller colour. Still another mixture is Venetian red, vermilion, yellow ochre and white.
Scarlet Lake. —This colour can be purchased ready made. A colour very similar may be obtained in one of the many vermilionettes on the market. It will be convenient to remember that all vermilions are lightened by the use of pale chrome instead of white lead. Lead takes down the brilliancy of the colour, producing a pink. ”

“ In pursuing the most direct route from the Konza village to the Missouri, they crossed at the distance of seventeen miles, the Vermilion, a small stream bordered with handsome forests. Nineteen miles beyond this they arrived at the sources of Grasshopper Creek, where they encamped on the evening of the 27th. [159] Here the soil changes somewhat abruptly. The high prairies about the Vermilion and Blue Earth creeks are barren, almost naked, and inhabited by some orbicular lizards. About Grasshopper Creek the soil is fertile, the grass dense and luxuriant. ”

“ From almost under Tom’s feet, a ptarmigan whirred up and stopping, the boys discovered the nest filled to overflowing with the heavily spotted brown eggs. A moment later Jim had his turn as he flushed a black and white snow bunting and found its cleverly hidden nest and spotted green eggs in their bed of fur and down. [99] All about, from waving weeds stalks and jutting bowlders, buntings and longspurs, gray sparrows and dainty horned larks twittered and sang. From far up in the blue sky came a sweet rollicking song as a lark soared and bubbled over with joy. ”

“ Vermin had become unusually numerous in the valley, partly because in the mild winter their food had been sufficient, and partly because the keeper, feeble with old age, could no longer shoot and trap them with the deadly certainty that had made him famous in his younger days. Bold in the care of their young, the vermin ravaged the countryside, preying everywhere on the weak and ailing little children of Nature. But fate was indulgent to Kweek ”

“ Its many lakes are free from alkali, and the varied growth of willows which they sustain, yield ample sustenance to the herds of moose which still roam the land. The deep trough through which the river flows increases with singular regularity as the traveller ascends the stream. Thus at Vermilion the banks194 are scarcely thirty feet above low-water level; 200 miles higher up they rise to 350 feet; at Dunvegan they are 720; and 100 miles still further west they attain an elevation of 900 and 1000 feet. Once upon the summit, however, no indication of ruggedness meets the eye. ”

“ Male with the head and hind neck ultramarine-blue, eyelids vermilion; fore part of back and scapulars yellowish-green; rump purplish-red; smaller wing-coverts purplish-blue, secondary coverts green; quills and tail-feathers dusky; lower parts bright vermilion. Female yellowish-green above, greenish-yellow beneath. Young like the female. In the second year, the male with the upper parts olive-green, the lower dull orange, paler behind, head as in the adult; in the third year, with the back mottled with yellow and light green, the secondary coverts green, the rest as in the adult. ”

“ All was silence and desolation on this side of the island. No one walked its pavements, and the laundresses wheeling their barrows to town from the lower end, instinctively chose the inhabited quarter to pass.
‘A man might rot to carrion here,’ said Dr. Vermont, as he stood between the battered walls of the tower, and looked up at the weeping heavens, and then down at the sullen and swollen river. ”

“ It was believed to be the herba sacra of the ancients, until it was understood that the generic title Verbena was a word which was applied to branches of any description which were used in religious rites. It certainly seems, however, to have been applied to some especial plant in the time of Pliny, for he writes that no plant was more honored among the Romans than the sacred Verbena. In more modern times as well the vervain has been regarded as an “herb of grace,” and has been gathered with various ceremonies and with the invocation of a blessing, which began as follows ”

“ But still more confusion meets us: the word vermilion which is now used for a red colour of mineral origin, is derived from vermis, a worm, and should therefore also be applied to cochineal. The word pink, one of the most familiar of plant-names, has a curious origin, being simply the German p. 112Pfingst, a corruption of Pentecost, i.e. the fiftieth day after Easter.
The tendency to make some kind of sense, or at least something familiar, from the unfamiliar, comes out in name service-tree (Pyrus torminalis) . ”

“ Being a hard-billed bird. I supposed that would be suitable food, and certainly he throve upon it. The little blue quills began to tell of coming feathers, his vigorous chirpings betokened plenty of vocal power, and in due time he grew into a young greenfinch of the most irrepressible and enterprising character. His lovely hues of green and yellow led to the name of Verdant being bestowed upon him, and his early experiences made it a somewhat suitable name. ”

“ A florist says that "to grow Verbenas successfully, plant them in beds cut in the turf. Chop the turf well and thoroughly mix with it a good share of well-decomposed stable manure; never, on any account plant them in old and worn-out garden soil as they will most assuredly fail. ”

“ The flowers are small and scattered along the slender branches at the top of the stem. The upper leaves are narrow, those of the mid-stem divided; and the lower are broad and irregularly toothed.
Large-Flowered Vervain (Verbena plicata) shows some variation in color from white to lavender, the flowers commonly being a bluish-lavender. The flowers are about half an inch broad and grow in long showy spikes. The plants are perennial, and numerous stems form erect clumps 1-2 ft. high. It is especially handsome southwest of San Antonio and ranges into Mexico. It blooms from February to May. ”

“ From the cliffs, where they stood in endless rows, the auks, guillemots, puffins, and cormorants gazed down and protested in raucous cries. Presently the boys could distinguish the seals—great brownish yellow creatures with dark harp-shaped markings on their backs—a hundred or more, drawn far up on the shore among the rotting cakes of ice and sleeping soundly in the warm summer sunshine.
Silently the boat crept nearer. Without a sound, it grated against the shore. Armed with their clubs and one or two firearms, the men leaped towards the herd. ”

“ Nor does Yellow Oker, though laid never so thick, produce the colour of Vermilion, nor though it be temper’d with Black, does it at all make a Red; nay, though it be temper’d with White, it will not afford a fainter kind of Yellow, such as masticut, but onely a whiten’d Yellow; nor will the Blues be diluted or deepned after the manner I speak of, as Indico will never afford so fine a Blue as Ultramarine or Bise; nor will it, temper’d with Vermilion, ever afford a Green, though each of them be never so much temper’d with white. ”

“ About twenty-five of these are found in Texas, part of them belonging to the vervain group. The plains verbena and the slender vervain are the ones most widely distributed. Among other very lovely verbenas found in the state are Wright’s verbena in West Texas and Lambert’s verbena in East Texas. A South American verbena (Verbena venosa) , with brilliant purple flowers, has escaped cultivation in Southeast Texas.
Wright’s Verbena (Verbena wrightii) is quite similar to the plains verbena but has larger flowers of a reddish-purple color. The plants are larger, and the foliage is coarser. ”

“ Whenever he entered the dining-room my first act was to open Verdant's cage, when he would always fly to the bullfinch's cage and greet him with a chirp, then look to see if his friend had any provender that he could get at-a piece of lettuce between the bars, or a spray of millet to which he could help himself; no matter that Bully remonstrated with open beak, Verdant calmly feasted on stolen goods con gusto, and then scouted around for any dainties on the carpet, where he sometimes found a stray sunflower seed, always his greatest delight. ”

“ The inconvenience of vermin he remedies without a comb, by plaistering up his hair with clay, which being dried on the head, and then washed with soap and water, makes him clean beyond conception; his teeth are constantly kept as white as ivory; for this purpose he uses nothing but a sprig of orange-tree, bitten at one end, until the fibres resemble a small brush; and no negro, male or female, is to be seen without this little instrument, which has besides the virtue of sweetening the breath. ”

“ Higher and higher it rose; the shining dew on his tanned shirt shone gray and the little drops of moisture on his cap gleamed in the blue-white sheen. The light swirls of trout as they rose to the surface here and there broke the silence; from far beyond in the marshes came the solitary qu-a-a-ck of a duck; the hoarse croaking of a heron sounded faintly; then the dull, booming calls of the marsh bittern floated up out of a distant valley stream.
“Ah mus’ go to-mor’,” Verbaux decided as he listened to these sounds of the summer wilderness; the heartache to find Marie overpowered him. ”

“ London, 1804, p. 1319) are thought to bear some likeness to the hemorrhoids, and to heal them on the principle that the remedy should resemble the disease. 202. See above, vol. i. pp. 162, 163, 165. In England vervain (Verbena officinalis) grows not uncommonly by road sides, in dry sunny pastures, and in waste places about villages. It flowers in July. The flowers are small and sessile, the corolla of a very pale lilac hue, its tube enclosing the four short curved stamens. The root of the plant, worn by a string round the neck, is an old superstitious medicine for scrofulous disorders. ”

“ The Vermilion is a considerable stream, which enters the Illinois from the south, two hundred and sixty miles above the Mississippi. Not far below this river, and two hundred and ten miles above the Mississippi, commences Peoria lake, which is no more than an enlargement of the river, two miles wide on an average, and twenty miles in length. Such is the depth and regularity of the bottom, that it has no perceptible current whatever. It is a beautiful sheet of water, with romantic shores, generally bounded by prairies; and no waters in the world furnish finer sport for the angler. ”

“ The male, on account of the splendid vermilion of his plumage, always attracts attention; and though rather shy and careful in exposing himself, is frequently shot by gunners for no other purpose than the possession of such a handsome bird.
The colors of our northern Cardinal bird are vermilion, with the throat black. In Mexico, there is found another beautiful species, singularly resembling in form and color that to which we have just alluded, but wanting the black throat. ”

“ We crossed, at 10 A.M. the Big Vermilion, which has a rich bottom of about one mile in breadth, one-third of which is occupied by timber. Making our usual halt at noon, after a day's march of twenty-four miles, we reached the Big Blue, and encamped on the uplands of the western side, near a small creek, where was a fine large spring of very cold water. This is a clear and handsome stream, about one hundred and twenty feet wide, running with a rapid current, through a well-timbered valley. To-day antelope were seen running over the hills, and at evening Carson brought us a fine deer. ”

“ Birds are no annoyance to the farmer, or gardens, for they destroy more caterpillars, slugs, snails and other vermin, that do ten times more mischief than they do.
TO CATCH FISH.
Take oculus indiæ, and some wheat flour, and with sweet wine, milk or mead, make a stiff paste, then make pellets, and throw them where fish are, and you may take them with your hands.—Or take assafœtida, flour, milk, and honey, make it into a paste, and bait your hook with it. ”