being many subvarieties (founded on variations of lustre, colour, and other differences), of which the following are some of the principal, viz. adularia, a transparent or translucent felspar, met with in granitic rocks (frequently in large crystals); moonstone; sunstone; Murchisonite, erythrite; glassy felspar or lanadine, a transparent variety found in volcanic rocks, containing 4 per cent. of soda or upwards.”[79]
[79] Ure.
ORTHOPÆ′DIA. In surgery, the straightening, correcting, or curing deformities of children. See Surgery.
OSIER. The osier, which is a species of willow (salix), and is largely used in the construction of baskets and other wickerwork, is extensively cultivated at Nottingham and on the level lands of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire, as well as on the banks of the Thames, Severn, and other rivers. The small islands in these rivers, when planted with osiers, are known as osier HOLTS. But large as is the supply of shoots afforded by the English osier beds, it is insufficient for home consumption; hence great quantities of ozier rods are imported into this country from Holland, Belgium, and France. There are a great variety of oziers, and it is found that those which have been the most highly cultivated yield the toughest and finest wood, and those best adapted for the superior kinds of basket work. The branches of the wilder and less domesticated kind, which are more liable to break, are used for making hoops and coarse baskets. This last variety, which is known as the Common osier (Salix viminalis), grows on the alluvial grounds of Britain, and in other European countries, and is often planted on the banks of rivers to prevent their being washed away.
The following are the principal varieties of osier indigenous to this country, and which yield the most valuable wood:—1. The fine basket osier (Salix Forbyana). 2. The Green-leaved osier, or ORNARD (Salix rubra). 3. The Spanish rod (Salix triandra). 4. The Golden osier, or Golden willow (Salix vitellina).
The osier requires plenty of water, and hence it thrives best in those localities and low grounds which are washed by a river. The soil best adapted for it is a rich but not clayey one. In planting an osier bed an important condition is that the trees should be placed sufficiently closely together, since it is found that, with too much space, the shoots do not develop into long and slender branches, which are so much sought after. The shoots are cut once a year, at any time between the fall of the leaf and the rising of the sap in spring. After being cut they are divided into those destined for brown, and those for white baskets. In the latter ease the rods have to be peeled, but as this operation cannot be performed at once, and the rimous of the
bark would be difficult were they allowed to dry, the shoots are placed upright and sustained in that position in wide shallow trenches in about four inches of water, where they are kept until they begin to bud and blossom in the spring, which they do as if they were attached to the parent plant. The peeling is easily done by passing them through an instrument known as a break. If the spring has been a cold one, they have, previous to peeling, to be laid for some time under a layer of litter.
When they have been peeled they are stacked, preparatory to being sold. With the rods intended for brown baskets, no peeling is of course necessary. They are therefore carefully stacked in some place protected from the rain, and diligently watched to see that no heat is set up in them, as is sometimes the case with freshly stacked hay, and which, if not stacked, would cause the rods to rot and render them useless.
In England, besides the native produce, 5000 tons of osiers are annually imported, valued at about £40,000. Of late years the Australian colonists have turned their attention to the cultivation of the osier, in the hopes of supplying the demand for it in Great Britain.
OS′MAZOME. The substance on which the peculiar odour and flavour of boiled meat and broth were formerly supposed to depend.