The _E_quisètum hyemàle, is commonly sold under the name of Dutch rushes,
for the purpose of polishing wood and ivory. If the rush be burnt
carefully, a residuum of unconsumable matter will be left, and this held
up to the light will show a series of little points, arranged spirally and
symmetrically, which are the portions of silex the fire had not dissipated;
and it is this serrated edge which seems to render the plant so efficient
in attrition. Wheaten and oaten straw are also found by the experience of
our good housewives to be good polishers of their brass milk vessels,
without its being at all suspected by them that it is the flint deposited
in the culms which makes it so useful.--_Magazine of Natural History,
March._
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