FELLMONGER'S POAKE. 



winter, and others in favour of midsummer. 

 The question principally turns upon the quan- 

 tity, and the value of the soft or outer wood in 

 the trunk of the tree to be felled, known by 

 foresters and carpenters as the sap-wood. As 

 this sap, or outer wood is the only portion of 

 the trunk in which the sap or juices of the tree 

 flow, it is evident that if no value be set upon 

 it, the tree may be cut down at any season ; 

 because the truly valuable part of the trunk, 

 the mature timber, is impermeable to the sap 

 in its ascent through the soft wood, and is 

 therefore in the same slate at every season of 

 the year. On the other hand, where much 

 value is attached to the soft or outer wood, 

 where this outer wood is to be made as valua- 

 ble as possible, or where, as in the case of 

 comparatively young trees, the greater part of 

 the trunk consists of sap-wood, felling ought 

 to take place when there is least sap in the 

 course of ascending. This season is without 

 doubt mid-winter, which, all other circum- 

 stances being equal, is unquestionably the best 

 season for felling timber ; the next best being 

 midsummer, when the sap is chiefly confined 

 to the young shoots, the circumference of the 

 soft wood and the bark. The worst time for 

 felling timber is the spring, just before the de- 

 velopement of the buds, when the tree is fullest 

 of sap, and receiving constantly fresh supplies 

 from the root; and in autumn, immediately 

 before the fall of the leaf, Avhen there is a su- 

 perabundance of sap, from its being as it were 

 thrown out of employment by the falling of the 

 leaf. In general, all the softwoods, such as the 

 elm, lime, poplars, willows, &c., should be 

 felled during winter: hardwoods, like the oak, 

 beech, ash, &c., when the trunks are of large 

 size, and valued chiefly for their heart wood, 

 may be felled at any time. When the bark, 

 however, is to be taken into consideration, as 

 in the oak, the tree should be felled in spring, 

 as then the bark contains four times the 

 quantity of astringent matter to that felled in 

 winter. See TIMBER and WOODS. (Brande's 

 Diet, of Science.) 



FELLMONGER'S POAKE AND CLIP- 

 PINGS. Poake is the waste arising from the 

 preparation of skins, and is compounded of 

 various proportions of lime, oil, and hair. It 

 is commonly used as a manure, in the state of 

 compost with earthy substances, and some- 

 times, when it is thought expedient to increase 

 the powers of farm manure, also with stable 

 dung. The clippings are the parings and 

 scrapings of the skins. When ploughed in 

 upon a summer fallow for wheat, these clip- 

 pings have been found highly serviceable to 

 deep loamy land, and to strong soils which are 

 not too wet, for they not only produce a full 

 clean grain, with a "bright straw, but the bulk 

 of the crop is also greatly increased. Care 

 should, however, be taken to cover them well 

 with the soil, for if left near the surface, the 

 putrid effluvia, which they soon emit, attract 

 the crows in swarms, and great quantities are 

 thus lost out of the ground. From thirty to 

 forty bushels per acre is the usual quantity 

 applied; the price varies in different places 

 from 4c/. to 9tf. per bushel, heaped loose. (Brit. 

 Husb. vol. i. p. 423, 424.) 

 466 



FEN LANDS. 



FELLY. A provincial word meaning to 

 break up a fallow. It also signifies a part of a 

 wheel. 



FELON, or FETLOW. In farriery, a term 

 for a sort of inflammation in animals similar 

 to that of whitlow in the human subject. 



FELT. A kind of stuff formed of fur or 

 wool alone, or of a mixture of these articles 

 with camel's hair, which are blended into a 

 compact texture used principally in the manu- 

 facture of hats. Hare and rabbit's fur, wool 

 and beaver, are the chief materials used ; they 

 are mixed in proper proportions and tossed 

 about by the strokes of a vibrating string or 

 bow, till they become duly matted together. 

 Felt strongly compressed is now used as cloth. 

 It has one advantage over woven cloth, it does 

 not become threadbare by use. 



FEN. The name of a distemper to which 

 hops are subject. It consists of a quick grow- 

 ing mould, or moss, which spreads itself with 

 much rapidity, and occasions great injury. 



FENCE. In rural economy, is any kind of 

 erection made for the purpose of enclosing 

 ground; as a hedge, wall, ditch, bank, paling, 

 &c., or any continuous line of obstacle inter- 

 posed between one portion of the surface of 

 land and another, for the purpose of separation 

 or exclusion. The kind of obstacle or material 

 differs according to the animals which are to be 

 separated, excluded, or confined, and the nature 

 of the soil and situation. In the early state of 

 husbandry, fences were little known or wanted, 

 except in particular places, as near houses or 

 yards. The introduction of fences into agri- 

 culture was about as great an improvement in 

 the progress of that art, as that of the principle 

 of the division of labour into the art of manu- 

 facture. The subject of fences is one of high 

 interest to the farmer, an immense amount of 

 whose capital is annually expended chiefly for 

 the purpose of preventing the depredations of 

 stock belonging to other persons. Many valu- 

 able observations on this topic will be found in 

 various American agricultural periodicals. 



FEN LANDS, or FENS. Boggy or marshy 

 lands, the subsoil of which is constantly in a 

 state of saturation with water, and the surface 

 liable to be overflown by rivers or streams 

 during spring or autumn. The soil of these 

 lands is generally black, light, and rich to the 

 depth of two or three feet ; and as the surface 

 water readily filtrates through this soil, to the 

 subsoil, fen lands generally produce, when pro- 

 perly drained and cultivated, bulky crops of 

 grass and- corn. As they have very seldom 

 any natural outlet for their drainage, this is 

 usually performed by machinery; and when 

 this is the case fen lands are more productive. 

 (See DRAINING and WARPING.) The principal 

 fens in England are those of Lincolnshire, 

 Cambridgeshire, and the adjoining counties, a 

 very full account of which will be found in 

 M'Culloch's Geogr. Did., art. "Bedford Level." 

 (See also Erit. Husb. vol. i. p. 466469. " On 

 the Course of Cropping in the Fens," vol. ii. p. 

 107.) Fens generally abound with saline 

 plants, which are very nourishing to cattle. 

 See IRRIGATION. 



FENNEL, COMMON (Meum fccnicnlum, 

 Smith). This is a well-known biennial plant, 



