FOWL'S DUNG. 

 FOWL'S DUNG. See GUAXO and PIGEON'S 



DuKG. 



FOX- EVIL. A disease in which the hair 

 falls off. 



FOXGLOVE, COMMON (Digitalis purpu- 

 raz). A very handsome biennial plant, blow- 

 ing purplish-crimson, or occasionally white 

 flowers, from June to September. In England 

 it is found wild in pastures and about hedges 

 or banks, on a gravelly, sandy, or chalky soil. 

 In gardens it is easily propagated by seed. 



The lesser yellow foxglove (D. parviflora) 

 is a native of Italy, and perennial : grows 

 three feet high, blooming yellow flowers in 

 June and July. It may be propagated from 

 seed. 



The large yellow foxglove (D. ambigua), with 

 larger flowers, is also a perennial, growing 

 three feet high. 



The medicinal qualities of the foxglove are 

 diuretic, powerfully emetic, and narcotic ; and, 

 under proper management it is a most useful 

 medicine. The leaves are inert in the first 

 year of the growth of the plant. They are 

 sometimes used externally as cataplasms for 

 resolving scrofulous tumours. As every part 

 of the foxglove is poisonous, children ought to 

 be warned against chewing it. No person not 

 qualified to practise medicine should venture 

 to prescribe foxglove. 



FOX-TAIL GRASS (Setaria glauca). A 

 common American grass, with -a bristly head, 

 found in cultivated grounds, old stubble-fields, 

 orchards, &c., flowering in July. Its root is 

 annual, and the stem grows 2 or 3 feet high. 

 When mature it has a tawny, or orange 

 colour. 



Another species of fox-tail is popularly called 

 green fox-tail, or butter-grass (Setaria viridis}. 

 Its general resemblance to the species first- 

 named, render it liable to be passed by as a 

 green variety of that plant. 



A species of Setaria (S. verticillata), com- 

 monly found about gardens and cultivated lots 

 in the Middle States, has teeth on the bristles, 

 which cause the spikes to adhere to objects 

 with which they come in contact. 



Another species called German Setaria, millet 

 or Bengal grass, is occasionally found in fal- 

 low fields. Dr. Muhlenburg supposed this an- 

 nual plant might be a variety of the green 

 fox-tail, to which Dr. Darlington thinks it cer- 

 tainly allied. Some years ago, the Bengal 

 grass was introduced into the Middle States as 

 an object of culture, and, for a time, excited 

 much interest among farmers. It was soon 

 found, however, not to be as valuable as the 

 usual summer crop, of which it occupied the 

 place, and its cultivation is now pretty much 

 abandoned. The seed is sown in the early part 

 of May. 



Several other species of this genus are 

 found in the United States, of which one called 

 the Italian Seturia is met with along the river 

 Delaware, distinguished by its very large 

 spikes. The others are southern plants. None 

 of them, except the German setaria, possess 

 any value to the agriculturist. (Flor. Cestric.} 

 See ALOPECUHUS. 



FRANCE, THE AGRICULTURE OF. 

 Although the Wo kingdoms of Britain and 

 504 



it 



-- 



e 

 e 



FRANCE, AGRICULTURE OF. 



France, are such near neighbours, and enjoy 

 a soil so similar, yet the agriculture of each 

 differs very materially. The chief features in 

 the farming system of France which strike an 

 Englishman are the almost total absence of 

 hedges, and the smallness of the farms or 

 plots ; the minute divisions of landed property 

 having been long encouraged by the laws of 

 France in every possible way. The end has 

 been attained ; considerable comfort has been 

 diffused amidst the mass of the people, but 

 with injurious results to agriculture. For in a 

 country where the farms generally do not com- 

 prise more than from 15 to 20 acres, all the 

 common evils of a land of small holdings are 

 naturally felt. The capital required for them 

 being limited, the competition to obtain them 

 is naturally considerable; the charge for the 

 labour to cultivate them is also great; the live- 

 stock kept on them inferior ; the rotation of 

 crops bad, and agricultural improvements of 

 all kinds but slowly adopted. The government 

 of France, it is true, in the absence of large 

 landed proprietors, and opulent, enterprising, 

 and scientific farmers, does all it can, by ex- 

 pensive state agricultural institutions, to sup- 

 ply their place ; but these are not attended with 

 the general advantages which are derived in 

 other countries from the exertions of private 

 individuals. Of these small farms, Mr. Deni- 

 son has given the following graphic descrip- 

 tion (Jour. Roy. Agr. Soc. vol. i. p. 263); "In 

 comparison with the English system of enclo- 

 sures, France may be called one vast open 

 field; you may travel from Calais to Paris, 

 from Paris to the German frontier, to the Alps, 

 to the Pyrenees, and scarcely see a hedge or 

 a partition fence of any sort. This vast open 

 field (unlike the open districts of England, 

 where the operations of farming are generally 

 conducted on the largest scale) is cut up into 

 the smallest conceivable plots of every variety 

 of produce. As far as the eye can reach, over 

 vast plains bounded by sloping hills, you see 

 the surface varied by every description of 

 crop ; none, perhaps, above an acre or two in 

 size, the larger portion not more than the 

 fourth or the eighth of an acre. Here a vine- 

 yard 100 yards by 20 ; there a strip of wheat, 

 lucerne, barley, oats, potatoes, clover, and 

 vetches. Few roads intersect this extensive 

 garden, which, from the nature of the cultiva- 

 tion, must be traversed every day in all direc- 

 tions by the proprietors and cultivator of the 

 various lots. The residences of these proprie- 

 tors are almost invariably congregated into 

 villages or towns, and lie, therefore, for the 

 most part, wide of their respective allotments." 

 The advocates of such a general system of 

 cultivation will hence see that this mode of 

 tillage is attended with sundry insuperable dis- 

 advantages. The public agricultural establish- 

 ments maintained entirely by the French 

 government are 1. Sheep farms; 2. Model 

 farms; 3. Veterinary schools; 4. Haras, or 

 studs. And it assists, by its patronage and 

 with funds 1. Public lectures; 2. Agricultu- 

 ral societies ; 3. Local associations ; 4. De- 

 partmental model farms. 



There are three public sheep farms; viz., at 

 Rambouillet, Perpignan, and La Hayevaux. 



