FOOD OF PLANTS. 



FORCING PITS. 



geese, are found lo take on fat rapidly when 

 confined in dark rooms, and only fed at stated 

 hours by hand. There is no surer proof that 

 a pig is doing well than to see him eat his meal 

 quickly and then retire to his bed till the hour 

 of feeding returns. Animals, while fattening, 

 should never be alarmed, never rapidly driven, 

 never be fed at unseasonable hours, and, above 

 all things, never be allowed to want for food. 



The following table will show the ultimate 

 composition of those proximate principles 

 which have been already adverted to as con- 

 stituting the nutritive parts of food. 



IV. Table showing the ultimate elementary compo- 

 sition of 1000 parts of the following proximate 

 principles of Minimal and Vegetable Food. 



See also the heads CATTLE, FODDER, SHEEP, 

 SWINE, HORSES, &c. (Brande's Diet, of Science ; 

 Davy's jig. Chem.) 



FOOD OF PLANTS. See EARTHS, GASES, 

 SALTS, WATER, and MANURES, THEIR USES TO 

 VETJETATIOX. Plants absorb their nutriment 

 from the air and from the soil ; they become the 

 food of the gramniverous tribes, and from these 

 man derives the great bulk of his animal sus- 

 tenance. 



FOOL'S PARSLEY. Common Lesser Hem- 

 lock (JEthusa cynapium). PI. 10, q. A numbel- 

 liferous plant, common in gardens, waste 

 grounds, and cultivated fields, and so called 

 from its resembling parsley enough in appear- 

 ance to deceive ignorant persons. It is an an- 

 nual weed, with a tapering whitish root ; stem 

 round, often purplish, a foot high; flowers 

 pearl white ; the herbage of a dark livid green, 

 and fetid. The plant is poisonous, acting like 

 hemlock upon the human system, and is easily 

 known by the involucels having each three 

 linear leaflets, which are placed next the cir 

 cumference of the umbel. It is eaten by cattle 

 and sheep, but is pernicious to the latter. 



FOOL'S STONES (Orchis mono). See 



TWATBLADE. 



FOOT (Sax. For. Germ, fuss ; Dutch fute). 

 A linear measure, which, since the term is em- 

 ployed in almost all languages, has doubtless 

 been derived from the length of the human 

 foot. Though tlje denomination is the same, 

 the measure itself varies considerably in dif- 

 ferent European countries. In all of them 

 however, it is divided, like the English foot 

 into 12 equal parts, or inches. See WEIGHTS 

 and MEASURES. 



Foot is also the lower part of the limbs of an 

 animal, which afford support, and enable it to 

 move with ease and convenience from place 

 to place. An excellent article on the anatomy 

 and diseases of the foot 'of the horse, by Mr 

 Dick, will be found in the second volume of 

 the Quart. Journ. ofdgr. p. 214. The best anc 



most natural form of the foot of the horse is 

 hat where the bottom approaches to a circle : 

 t is most complicated in its structure, and lia- 

 ble to a variety of diseases. See the heads 

 ANKER, CORNS, CRACKS, SHOEING, and DIS- 

 EASES OF THE HORSE. 



FOOT-ROT. See SHEEP, DISEASES OF. 



FOOT-TRENCHES. A term signifying 

 small superficial drains, about a foot wide. 



FORCING. In horticulture, the art of ac- 

 celerating the growth of plants so as to obtain 

 ruit, vegetables, or flowers at seasons when 

 they are not produced naturally in the open 

 air. The practice appears to be as old as the 

 time of the Romans. In England forcing seems 

 to have been practised from a very early pe- 

 riod. At the present time forcing is carried 

 on in Britain, and in analogous climates 

 throughout Europe and North America, chiefly 

 under glass roofs. Structures for forcing are 

 known, as frames, pits, and houses, all of 

 which have glass roofs: but there are also 

 structures for forcing without glass roofs, such 

 as cellars and sheds for growing mushrooms 

 in the winter season ; and also sea-kale, rhu- 

 barb, blanched succory, and such other stalks 

 or leaves of plants as are eaten in a blanched 

 state, and consequently do not require much 

 light. 



FORCING PITS. Instead of forming hot- 

 beds with open sides, pits of brick-work and 

 other materials are very generally constructed 

 for containing the fermenting mass of dung 

 necessary for forcing. 



Mr. Flanagan, gardener to Sir T. Hare, of 

 Stow Hall, Norfolk, and Mr. West, who holds 

 the same situation under the Marquis of North- 

 ampton, at Castle Ashby, have each proposed 

 plans of pits, of which that of the first horti- 

 culturist is the least expensive ; that of the 

 latter more economical in other respects, not 

 only as preventing the waste of heat, but the 

 best mode of applying it. It may be laid down 

 as a fundamental principle that, in applying 

 heat, it should always be brought to the bottom 

 of the body to be heated. 



Mr. Flanagan only allows the heat of fer- 

 menting dung to be employed, the steam being 

 prevented entering the frame. One advantage 

 arising from this he states to be, that fresh- 

 made dung may be employed, and, conse- 

 quently, the loss sustained by any preparation 

 is prevented. If, however, it be a fact that the 

 steam of dung is rather beneficial than other- 

 wise, fresh fermenting dung can be used, with- 

 out any detriment that I am aware of, in other 

 pits of which we have plans. Mr. F. describes 

 his pit as follows : It is 4 feet deep within ; 

 the lowest 10 inches of solid brick-work sunk 

 in the earth; the remainder is a flue, 3 inches 

 wide in the clear, carried entirely round the 

 pit; the inner wall of which, forming the sides 

 of the pit, is 4-inch work, well bedded in mor- 

 tar, and pointed, to prevent the steam penetra- 

 ting; the outer wall of the flue is also 4-inch, 

 but open-work, to admit the steam and that of 

 dung-coatings into the flue, the top of which is 

 rendered tight by a covering of tiles, &c. The 

 frame rests on the external wall of the flue. 

 The cavity of the pit, which is kept dry by 

 means of drains, is 9 feet 2 inches long, 2 feet 



501 



