45 



FELT; FELTING. 



FENCES. 



46 



to state generally, that murder, manslaughter, felo-de-se, robbery, arson 

 burglary, some offences against the coin, &c., are considered and classec 

 as felonies ; and (the distinction between grand and petit larceny u 

 longer existing) every larceny is a felony. 



Besides the special punishment affixed to his crime by the law, 

 felon upon conviction forfeited the rents and profits of his lands o 

 inheritance during his life to the king (which are now usually com 

 pounded for), and also all his goods and chattels absolutely ; and a* 

 attainder of felony caused corruption of blood, his lands, except o 

 gavelkind tenure, escheated to the lord of the fee. This last conse 

 quence, however, was taken away by etat. 54 Geo. III. c. 145, whic! 

 enacted that, except for treason or murder, corruption of blood shouk 

 not follow attainder; and as difficulties might sometimes occur ii 

 tracing descent through an ancestor who had been attainted, it was, bv 

 the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 108, 10, enacted that descent may be traee< 

 through any person who shall have been attainted before such descen 

 shall have taken place. [ESCHEAT ; FORFEITURE.] 



In connection with this subject, it may be interesting to refer to the 

 distinction formerly taken between felony with and without benefit o 

 clergy, as explained in the article BENEFIT OF CLERGY. 



FELT; FELTING. Under HAT MANUFACTURE will be found i 

 description of that peculiar process whereby woollen and fur fibres an 

 felted into a material suitable for hats ; but woollen fibres are also 

 sometimes combined by the felting instead of the weaving process for 

 carpets and various kinds of cloth. Among other manufacturing firms 

 for the purpose, there is the ' Patent Felted Woollen cloth Company ; 

 by whom is made felt carpets, embossed and printed felt table-covers 

 felt polishing cloth for plate and other purposes, felt for veterinary 

 purposes, felt waistcoatings, felt coach-cloths and railway-carriage- 

 linings, upholsterers' felt, and felt for pianofortes. 



A material called Asphalted Roofng Felt has come rather extensively 

 into use. The two principal kinds are Croggon's and McNeill's 

 The qualities of this material are imperviousness to rain and snow, 

 non-conduetibility of heat, elasticity, lightness, durability, economy, 

 and easy application. The felt is used for roofing buildings ; for 

 lining granaries and stores ; for protecting ceilings from damp ; for 

 lining the insides or outsidea of wooden buildings ; for covering con- 

 servatories and garden-frames ; for thatching corn and hay ricks ; and 

 for many other purposes. This felt is sold in large sheets at the rate 

 of about a penny per square foot. Another kind, called Inodorous 

 Felt, i.s tnntad with waterproof material free from the smell of the 

 ordinary felt, and is used to prevent wall-paper from being injured by 

 damp. There is also a patent Felted Sheathing, for covering ships' 

 bottoms ; it is a felted mixture of hair and vegetable fibre, not 

 led as a substitute for copper sheathing, but to be used as a layer 

 beneath it. Another variety, the Non-conducting Felt, is used as a 

 rig for boilers and steam-pipes, on account of its power of con- 

 fining the heat within the vessel enclosed by it ; it is used for fixed, 

 locomotive, and marine steam-engines, and in breweries and distilleries : 

 it is said also to be a good protective of water pipes from frost. An 

 Ited Felt is made in long pieces, 32 inches wide by about 30 

 yards long, and is sold in any smaller or larger quantities. The 

 fibrous material of which it is formed is saturated with asphalte or 

 bitumen. Some of the sheds and other buildings at Devonport and 

 Woolwich Dock Yards, the Isle of Portland, and elsewhere, have been 

 covered with this material ; but its inflammability is a disadvantage. 



For all the above and for other kinds of uses, new felted materials 



have been patented within the last few yeare. Williams's patent 



for felting wool or fur or both into cloth, taken out in 1840, 



was extended for a further period in 1854, on the ground that, 



the process, although involving a heavy expenditure, had not yet 



I much profit. Parker's felt, patented in 1851, is made in a 



peculiar way. The fibres of wool, fur, or hair, are first made into a 



r soft sheet by the action of carding and doffing engines ; this 



batt is wound on a roller and conveyed to the felting machine. There 



are two strati or beds of bars of wood, laid crosswise on straps or belts ; 



the beds are horizontal, and a little distance apart ; the batt of fibres 



V 'tween them; and all the bars of the upper bed, having 



ortical movement, felt the fibres while travelling 



onward. The roller and the two beds dip in water, to facilitate the 



i reference to the felt for retaining the heat of steam- 



, we may state that a new mode of procedure was introduced by 



Mr. Garaett in 1858. The felt is here composed entirely of waste 



woollen refuse from paper-mills, converted to coarse pulp in the 



ordinary rag engines ; it in put upon the steam boiler in a wet or 



l-iilpy state, and is felted or matted together by being beaten with 



f Ilat wood. Wln.-n dry, it becomes one solid piece. As a 



'f its excellent qualities as a non-conductor of heat, it is asserted 



. i a boiler working .it 50 or fid tons pressure, candles may be laid 



" felt for weeks together, without melting. The felt may at 



any time be taken off and replaced, by steeping in hot water till 



-> far as concerns the manufacture of felted cloth for 



pears to have made a greater advance than 



I r. U'liitworth, the eminent machinist, in reporting on the 



I at tin 1 (Irrat Exhibition in New York in 1853, had 



notice the Bay State Mills at Lawrence, nine miles from 



, and twenty-six from Boston. This is one of the largest woollen 



mills in the world, employing more than 2000 hands. He said : 



" The whole waste from the mills is worked upjin the manufacture of 

 felted cloth. The felt-making machine employs but a small space. 

 A sliver of wool is taken from the carding machine and passed between 

 two endless cloths ; these carry it over a narrow steam-box, where it 

 is steamed. It is then passed under a vibrating pressing-plate, which 

 operation causes the fibres to curl and interlace with each other, and 

 so form a cloth." The cloth thus made is of fair quality in fineness 

 and elasticity. A new and useful fabric made in that establishment is 

 felted lining- cloth, composed of a small quantity of wool felted upon 

 gauze ; the gauze forms a back to the felt ; and the substance obtained 

 by this means is much thicker than the small quantity of material 

 employed would seem to denote. The gauze surface is hidden when 

 the lining is applied to a garment, and the felt is quite strong enough 

 for the purpose in view. Some of the carpet and cloth felt made at 

 these mills is printed by block-work ; and in a few instances cloth for 

 coatings is printed of two different colours on the two surfaces. 

 FEME-SOLE. [WIFE.] 

 FEMININE. [GENDER.] 



FENCES are necessary wherever cattle are depastured and proper- 

 ties divided ; and according as they are intended to prevent men or 

 cattle from trespassing over them, they are formed of various materials 

 and dimensions. 



When a park is enclosed to keep in deer or game, the best fence is a 

 stone or brick wall, well built with lime-mortar ; but as this is expensive 

 where stone and lime are not at hand, the common park-paling is more 

 frequently met with. This is composed of posts and rails of oak 

 mortised and pinned together, and split pales of the same material 

 nailed upon these in an upright position. The pales are split out of the 

 trunks of oaks, where there are no branches or knots, when the sap is 

 still in them. They are about half an inch thick, and with feather 

 edges, that is, diminishing in thickness from one side to the other : 

 their usual width is five inches. When they are nailed on the rails, 

 which are usually of a triangular form, the thickest edge of one pale is 

 nailed over the thinner edge of the preceding, forming thus a very 

 close fence. Every alternate pale is placed three or four inches 

 higher than its neighbour, which gives the top of the fence a castellated 

 form. This is not done merely for appearance ; but it makes it more 

 difficult to climb over, and the deer are not so apt to leap at it as if 

 the top were a straight line. The distance between the posts is usually 

 nine feet ; and the three rails with the pales nailed on them is called a 

 panel, and may be conveniently moved at once when any alteration in 

 the fence is required. A whole fence may be moved at a small 

 expense, merely by digging out the posts, and placing them elsewhere. 

 The panels come in regularly, and are pinned into the old mortices in 

 the posts. Sometimes the pales are nailed at a distance from each 

 other, which makes the open-paled fence, and the pales are then gene- 

 rally cut to a point at top. This fence is peculiar to Great Britain and 

 Inland, and is very seldom found on the Continent. 



In the Jura and the Alps, where wood abounds, a rough fence is 

 frequently made with strong split pieces of wood, which are fixed 

 obliquely in the ground and supported at the upper end by two others 

 placed in the form of a cross. It is not a very strong fence, but it is 

 itifficient to prevent the cows from straying, for unless a bull with his 

 lorns makes a gap in it, they will not attempt to pass it. 



In wild mountain pastures in Scotland and Ireland, it is usual to 

 separate the properties of different individuals or that of parishes by 

 rough stone walls put together without any mortar. The materials are 

 generally at hand, and a rough and efficient fence is made without 

 much labour. 



Some of these walls are built with considerable skill and are very 

 durable ; especially if the stone is of a nature to split with a flat 

 surface, in which case a dry wall may be built which has all the 

 appearance of one built with mortar. Sometimes a layer of mortar is 

 aid on the stones at a little distance from the ground, and another near 

 he top. The coping is usually made of flat stones, which are Bome- 

 imes placed on edge in a direction across the wall, and wedged 

 ogether along the top of it or set in mortar, forming a very rough 

 oping, which it is not easy to get over. 



Where stones are not at hand, or less trouble is taken, a high bank 

 if earth faced with sods of grass is substituted for a wall. This is 

 not so durable and is more easily surmounted, unless a hedge of some 

 :ind be planted along the top. Furze seed is often sown for this 

 mrpose, and soon forms an excellent fence, which by proper care and 

 lipping will last a long time. But the most common kind of fence 

 or fields is the hedge and ditch, the bank being raised with the earth 

 nd sods taken out of the ditch, and the hedge planted on the side of 

 lie bank towards the ditch or on the top. Sometimes there is a ditch 

 n both sides. In flat wet lands this last is extremely useful, not only 

 as a fence, but as a drain for the superfluous water. When the ditch 

 s intended to carry off the water, and there is only one, it is of con- 

 equence that it should be so placed as to answer this purpose 

 tt'ectually ; it should therefore always be on that side of the bank 

 rhere the ground rises, for otherwise the bank will impede the natural 

 ow of the water, and it will be necessary to cut through it in different 

 laces to let the water running from above have an outlet into the 

 itch. In some extensive inclosures of land great inconvenience has 

 arisen from the neglect of the surveyor in not attending to this circum- 

 itance, and setting out the bank on the upper side. Where they are 



