Laid Hedge - A hedge that has been layered.

Laid Up Field - One reserved for a particular purpose, e.g., kept ungrazed for Hay production.

Lairage - A place where livestock are housed, particularly at markets and docks while awaiting slaughter or export.

Lamb - A young sheep under 6 months old, or the meat derived from it. Also to give birth to lambs.

Lambing Percentage - Inflammation of the lamina in an animal's hoof, particularly cattle and horses, thought to be an allergic reaction to overfeeding with barley, or to toxic products from afterbirth breakdown or bacteria.

Laminarin - (1) Polysaccharide storage product which is found in brown algae
(2) Carbohydrate food reserve in brown algae.

Lammert's Cycle - Daily cycle of temperature changes taking place in beehives during winter. The temperature decreases to a minimum of B°C. This stimulates the bees to greater muscular activity and the temperature increases rapidly to about 25°C. At this temperature the bees stop their activity and the temperature again decreases gradually to B°C. In an average hive about 20 gms of sugar are used up during this cycle. .

Land Drainage - 1. The construction of drains in or under a field to remove surplus water from the land to a ditch. Such drainage stabilises soil structure, improves aeration and root development, allows the soil to warm up more rapidly, promotes early crop growth, and lengthens the growing season for grass and arable crops. It also reduces the incidence of certain plant and animal diseases, and weed growth.
2. The removal of surplus water from land via ditches, streams and rivers.

Lands - Strips or divisions marked out in a field due to be ploughed by dividing ridges or rigs, each subsequently ploughed systematically (Casting, Gathering). The width of each land is determined according to tractor and plough size, e.g., 40-50 m wide for a 4­furrow plough.

Landside - A long piece of lJ1etal fitted to the frog of a plough which bears against the furrow wall on the unploughed side and resists the force of the Mouldboard as it turns the furrow, thus providing. lateral accuracy and stability. The landside sometimes includes' a secondary spiringloaded, wheel-like part which rolls and reduces wear.

Lanolin - Wool wax having greater purity than the ordinary wool grease of common degrees; the USP and cosmetic grades of lanolin have been highly purified, refined, bleached and deodorised.

Lanugo - Hairy covering on a foetus, begins to be shed before birth.

Laterals - Side shoots which develop from lateral buds on the branches or stems of trees or shrubs, as distinct from terminal shoots which develop from terminal Buds.

Latex - Milky, usually white, fluid emulsion which occurs in certain cells in some famous gum resins, fats, waxes, and often complex mixtures of other substances, frequently including poisonous compounds rubber, guttapercha, chicle and balata are the chief commercial products obtained from latices.

Lauren's Half-Shade Polarimetre - Instrument which is used for finding the optical rotation of certain solution. When it is used for finding the optical rotation of sugar it is called a saccharimetre. If the specific rotation of sugar is known, the concentration of the sugar solution can be found out.

Lauritsen Electroscope - Rugged yet sensitive electroscope which is using a metalized quartz fiber as the sensitive element.

Lawn - Open ground about a house or other building which is grown to the grasses and maintained in good turf, especially for its aesthetic value.

Lawn Mover - Mechanical device which is used for cutting lawn grass to an even height.

Laxatives - Mildest and least active cathartic which is used to overcome constipation e.g., white mineral oil, sulphur etc.

Layer - 1. Mature female fowl which has been kept for egg-laying purpose, especially one in current egg production.
2. Plant twig or shoot which is tied down and partially covered so that it can take root while remaining unseparated from its parent.

Layerage - Method of plant propagation by asexual means in which a portion of stem, shoot or bran h has been covered with soil or some other medium in which root can develop, after which the rooted portion gets detached from the parent plant.

Layering - 1. Part of the process of hedging in which partly cut stems are being over and woven with others to produce a new hedge. Also called plashing or pleaching.
2. The pegging in the ground of a branch or half-cut branch from the stem of a plant so that it produces new roots and gives rise to a new plant. A common method of propagation.

Laying Period - The period of season during which polutry are in lay normally of about 50weeks duration, and usually commencing at 22-24 weeks of ege for egg-producing strains, and 26-28 weeks for Broiller strains. Most egg-producing fowl are slaughtered after the first laying period as fewer eggs are laid in the second period.

Lea - Open country such as meadow, pasture, or arable land left Fallow or under grass. Another term for ley.

Lea Plough - A type of plough with a long pointed share, keeping the cutting edge well in front of the slightly twisted convex mouldboard, thus producing a continuous smooth furrow slice, as distinct from the rough broken slice of the Digger Plough. This type only ploughs to about 15 cm (6 in.) depth and is rarely used now.

Leaching - The removal of nutrients in solution from the soil, particu­larly under heavy rain.

Leaf Roll - A virus disease of potatoes transmitted by Aphids causing the leaves to curl upwards and inwards, to thicken and turn yellow, and the plants to remain stunted. Yields are reduced by up to 90%.

Leam - An open drain, particularly used in Land Drainage systems in the Fens.

Legbar - An Auto-Sex Linked breed of poultry produced by crossing the brown Leghorn and the borred Rock. Barred in colour with yellow legs, a single comb, and producing white eggs.

Leghorn - A small, nervous, laying breed of poultry, variously coloured including black, blue, brown, black and white, gold and silver, and white, the last being the most popular. Yellow-legged, single-combed, and producing large numbers of white egg.

Legume - A plant of the pea family (Leguminosae) which produces seed in pods and is characterised by five pettalled flowers and by root nodules capable of Nitrogen Fixation. Some are cultivated for their protein rich seeds (e.g., Peas and Beans) for human consumption and for feeding to stock. Others are sown with grasses to produce mixed leys (e.g., Clovers, Lucerne, etc.) Legumes are often grown as a break between cereal crops to enrich the nitrogen in the soil.

Lehmann System - A system of pig feeding designed to utilise relatively cheap roots or other bulk foods in quantity. The pigs are fed a basic fixed ration of Meal (a mixture of barley and fish meals) and, as they grow, increasing amounts of roots, mainly cooked potatoes, according to appetite

Leicester- Liecester Longwool - English Leicester.

Lemma - The lower of the two bracts which enclose the flower of a grass.

Leptospirosis - A bacterial disease (Leptospira hardjo) of cattle which causes abortion, results in serious masttis and a dramatic loss of milk. It is transmitted via the urine and can also affect man. It is estimated that 30% of cattle herds in southern Britain are affected, and up to 90% in bad areas like South Wales. Another strain of the bacteria, Leptospira australis, can cause infertility in pigs.

Let Down - The release of milk from a cow's Udder during milking activated by the hormone oxytocin, the secretion of which can be stimulated by various events such as washing the udder before milking, introducing feed to the managers, etc. It is a onditioned reflex. Let down normally lasts about 7-10 minutes after which milk extraction from the udder becomes increasingly difficult.

Level - In general terms a flat, usually low lying area of land. Specifically applied to a Drainage District or lowland area in a river valley Fen with more or less uniform drainage characteristics and usually managed as one unit, e.g., Pevensey Levels, Romney Marsh.

Lewing - A screen of material, e.g., coir mesh, plastics-coated netting or plastic strips, erected on the exposed boundaries of hop gardens and Orchards where natural windbreaks do not exist.

Ley - Land temporarily sown to grass (Grassland Species) and ploughed after 1-3 years (short duration ley) or after a longer period, up to 10 years in some cases (long duration ley). Seed mixtures are available to suit particular conditions and the type of ley required. Leys may be established by (a) Undersowing, either by broadcasting (Broadcast) or preferably by drilling (Drill), (b) Direct Seeding, (c) Direct Reseeding, sometimes with a Companion Crop, to encourage early grazing, and (d) direct drilling into old grassland previously treated with a herbicide. Short duration leys are an important element in crop Rotation.

Ley Corn - A cereal crop which follows a Ley in a Rotation.

Ley Farming - A system of farming in which several fields (and sometimes an entire farm) are cropped as Leys with regular reseeding, or, alternatively any rotation or cropping system which includes leys. Also called Alternate Husbandry.

Lichen - A lowly type of plant comprising an alga and a fungus living together symbiotically. Commonly found on tree trunks, old walls, bare rock, etc. Lichens are primary colonisers of rocks and important in soil formation.

Lift - To harvest root crops and potatoes, etc., by digging them from the ground, either mechanically (Potato Harvester, Sugar Beet Harvester) or by hand, ass distinct from harvesting by cutting.

Lifting Shares - A device commonly used on Sugar Beet Harvester, consisting of a pair of triangular shaped steel Shares, which lift the beet from the ground onto the elevator section to be deposited in a trailer.