FARMERS GENERAL. 



FASC; 



he need not have any other protection, unlee* it be for the last two or 

 three years of the lease, when the tenant might be induced to over- 

 crop the land, and t lm exhaust it 



In entering on a farm there is often a heavy demand on the in-coming 

 tenant for work done by the predecessor, for a supposed remainder of 

 manure, and various other items, which are usually settled by reference 

 to the custom of the country. Some general rule is required to regu- 

 late all theee demand*, which are often exorbitant, and cripple the 

 in-coming tenant in his capital. It is just that an out-going tenant 

 nhould be repaid for any permanent improvement which he has made, 

 and of which be has not reaped the whole advantage, and that he 

 -hould be encouraged to keep up the proper cultivation of the land, 

 so that Uie in-coming tenant may be able to continue the regular 

 course. But this be will not do, unless he expect to be remunerated. 

 On the other baud, it is also just that the in-coming tenant should 

 not pay for work slovi nly done, or for supposed remnants of manure 

 which do not exist in the land. We have known instances where the 

 valuation of all the items to be paid for by the in-coming tenant 

 greatly diminished his capital, and crippled his operations for several 

 years. There should therefore be a separate stipulation on this head 

 before a farm is finally hired. [TH.NANT Kic.iiT.J 



FA KM i;i;s i , : : N KU.VL, Fermiers (jlneraux, was the name given in 

 France under the old monarchy to a company which farmed certain 

 branches of the public revenue, that is to say, contracted with the 

 government to pay into the treasury a fixed yearly sum, taking upon 

 itself the collection of certain taxes as an equivalent. The system of 

 farming the taxes was an old custom of tin 1'n in h monarchy. I'ndcr 

 Francis 1., the revenue arising from the tale of salt was farmed by 

 private individuals in each town. This monopoly was first assumed 

 by Philippe de Valois, in 1350. Other sources of revenue were like- 

 wise farmed by several individuals, most of whom were favourites of 

 the court or of the minister of the day. Sully, the able minister of 

 Henry IV., seeing the dilapidation of the public revenue occasioned by 

 this system, opened the contracts for farming the taxes to public 

 auction, giving them to the highest bidder, according to the ancient 

 Roman practice. By this means he greatly increased the revenue of 

 the state. But the practice of private contracts through favour or 

 bribing was renewed under the following reigns ; Colbert, the minister 

 of Louis XIV., called the farmers of the revenue to a severe account, 

 and by an act of power deprived them of their enormous gains. In 

 under the regency, the various individual leases were united into 

 a Ferme Gcne'rale, which was let to a company, the members of which 

 were hnnccforth called Fermiers Generaux. In 1759, Silhouette, 

 minister of Louis XV., quashed the contracts of the farmers general, 

 and levied the taxes by his own agents. But the system of contracts 

 revived : for the court, the ministers, and favourites, were all well 

 disposed to them, as private bargains were made with the farmers 

 general, by which they paid large sums as douceurs. In the time of 

 Necker, the company consisted of 44 members, who paid a rent of 

 186 millions of livres, and Necker calculated their profit at about 

 two millions yearly, no very extraordinary sum, if correct. But the 

 revolution swept away the farmers general, and put an end to the 

 system of farming the revenues ; it equalised the duties and taxes all 

 over France; but the monopoly of the salt and tobacco has remained, 

 as well as the duties on provisions, cattle, and wine, brought into Paris 

 and other large towns, and the right of searching by the octroi officers, 

 if they think fit, all carriages and individuals entering the barriers or 

 gates of the same. 



The system of farming the taxes, although generally disapproved of, 

 is (till continued in some European states. Not many years ago the 

 custom-house duties at Naples were farmed by private speculators. 



The Roman system of levying taxes, at least after the Republic had 

 begun to acquire territory out of Italy, was by farming them out. In 

 the later period of the Republic, the farmers were from the body ol 

 the equestrian order. Individuals used to form companies or associa- 

 tions for farming the taxes of a particular district ; the taxes were let 

 by the censors for a period of five years. They were probably let to 

 those who bid highest These farmers were called publican!, and by 

 the Greek writer* telome (n\inu), which is rendered by publicans in 

 the Englinh version of the New Testament, where they are appro- 

 priately classed with sinners, for they were accused of being often 

 guilty of great extortion. These tax-collectors in the province were, 

 however, only the agents. The principals generally resided at Rome, 

 where the affair* of each association (societas) were manage. I by a 

 director called a magistor. The individual members held shorn (partes) 

 in the undertaking. There was also a chief manager in the province 

 or district of which the company farmed the tax, who was called 

 pro-magister. 



There are no means of knowing what proportions of the taxes col 

 leeted reached the Roman treasury (trrarium). Numerous complaints 

 of the rapacity of the publican! or their agents occur in the classical 

 writer*. Theee publican! were the monied men of the late Republic 

 and the early empire, and their aid was often required by the state for 

 advance* of money when the treasury was empty. Part of the mal 

 administration probably came from the publican! sub-letting the taxes 

 which seem* to have been done, sometimes at least. 



FARTHING. [MoxEY.J 



FARTHINGALE, or VARDINOALE, a hoop, a circle of whalebone 



formerly worn by ladie* to spread the petticoat to a wide circum- 

 ference. Strutt, in hi* 'Manner* and Customs,' vol. iii. pp. 84,86, 

 tells us that among the men, early in the reign 

 wearing of great breeches was carried to very absurd and ii.l 

 eugths ; and the ladies, that they might not be behind-hand with the 

 (uutlemen in fantastical taste, invented the large hoop farthingales a* a 

 companion to the trunk-hole or breeches. The farthingale at! 

 the ladies a great opportunity of displaying their jewels, and the other 

 ornamental parts of then- dress, to the utmost advantage, and for that 

 reason obtained the superiority over the closer habits and the more 

 simple imitations of nature. 



Bulwer, in his ' Artificial Changeling,' says, when Sir Peter \V v )i 

 was ambassador to the Grand Signior from King Jatnes I., his lady was 

 with him at Constantinople ; and the sulUneas, having heard im 

 her, desired to see her; whereupon Lady Wych, accompanied 

 waiting- women, all of them dressed in their great farthingales, which 

 was the court-dress of the English ladies of that time, waited upon her 

 bighness. The sultaneas received her with great respect ; but wondering 

 much at the extension of her hip-. inquired if that shape was peculiar 

 to the women of England ; to which the 1:>. ly replied, that the Knglish 

 women did not differ in shape from those of other countries ; and, by 

 explaining to her the nature of the dress, convinced the sultam- 

 she and her companions really were not so deformed as they appeared 

 to be. (Strutt's ' Habits of the People of England,' vol. ii.) 



The farthingale, however, if not then, was at least subsequently .> n 

 through Europe. The French farthingale had thenai 

 see Cotgrave. Lascells, in his ' Voyage of Italy,' 12mo., 1655, p. 96, 

 say*, " I found all the great ladies here to go like the donnas of 

 Spain in guardinfantas, that is, in horrible overgrown -uitipils of 

 whalebone ; " and Pepys, in his ' Diary,' notices the strangeness of those 

 worn by the ladies who came over from Portugal with Charles the 

 Second's queen. The hoop, the successor of the farthingale in 

 England, went out at the beginning of the reign of George IV 

 forbade its being worn at court. In 1858 and 1859 a modified revival 

 took place. The hoop was no longer worn of the same size from the 

 hips, but, under Uie name of crinoline, began a little larger than the 

 body and swelled to an enormous size near the feet. 



FASCES. [CONSUL; DICTATOR.] 



FASCINES (Military) are bundles of strong brush-wood, employed 

 chiefly for the purposes of reveling the epaulements of batteries and 

 covering the roofs of field-magazines and blindages; and also with 

 gabions to increase the heights of trench parapets, and to make 

 temporary roads over marshy ground. 



They are formed by placing the rods side by side in a cradle made of 

 trestles placed about 4 feet apart, and compressing them by means of 

 two levers connected by a chain, which is passed round the bundle : 

 the whole is secured by withs or binders of spun yarn, which are 

 placed 18 inches asunder. Fascines are commonly about 8 or !' inches 

 in diameter, and, when made, are 18 feet long; but' they are then, if 

 necessary, cut by the saw into parts of any required 1 h arc 



generally 6 feet or 12 feet. A fascine of the longest kind is sometimes 

 called a saucisson. 



When fascines serve for the revetment of a batten-, they are usually 

 laid horizontally, one line above another, against the interior .-1 

 the epaulement, to which they are attached by pickets driven through 

 them into the earth. 



FASCINES, tit Oiril Engineering. A species of light defence 

 (applied to the earthworks thrown up for the purposes of closing small 

 branches of rivers, or of regulating the flow of the water), composed of 

 small twigs bound together in bundles, and fastened to the ground by 

 means of stakes and withes, is known among civil engineer* by the 

 name oifatcine nark. The bundles of twigs are made f nun ih, clearings 

 of underwood and of dwarf trees, such as the ash, oak, I 

 willow, thorn, bramble, Ac., of about six or eight years old, t! 

 ends of which are all placed at one end, and in no cose should the 

 branches exceed 4 or 5 inches in diameter. The di.un undies 



may vary between 1 foot 6 inches to 4 feet 6 inches at the larger 

 end, anil their length would, under these circumstances, range 

 between 5 and 10 feet; the twigs being retained in 

 means of withes (or twisted twigs which tie the bun. 11. 

 placed at intervals of from 1 foot 4 inches to 1 foot 8 inches fn 

 another. These bundles, or fascines, are either placed by band upon 

 the surface to be protected, or they arc fonm d into species of rafts 



which are flouted over tli. ] in n they are iuinni.il ultimately to 



.nid are then sunk n\mn it, by being l..,i.|. nes or 



gravel. The stakes or pickets are then driven ihr..u^h the > 

 fascines into the bank, and they are connected together by - 

 withes, which jias.1 alternately round the head* of the stake*, in such a 

 manner as to form square case*, to be subsequently lil 

 rubble. It is supposed that the species of mat' adapts 



itself with ease to the irregularities of the surface of 

 but its principal advantage seems to consist in the fact, that , 

 tributes the weight of the pitching course over the whole area, and 

 thus prevents it from sinking into ' the earth. 



Fascines are much used by the Dutch, German, and Frcn 

 gineers; especially in the works executed for the t>rot< 

 banks of the Rhine. A description of the various systems adopted in 

 the hydraulic works of .that .river will be found in ' Lea Aunale* des 



