FEN 



TER 



including tlie coping, 4^ feet high. 

 Two good cart- loads of stones will 

 suffice for building a yard. 



" When a fence is required within 

 sight of a dwelling, and it is desira- 

 ble for it to be concealed, a deep 

 ditch is sometimes dug, and a fence 

 placed in the bottom of it at such a 

 depth as not to appear above the lev- 

 el of the ground. This is called a 

 sunk fence. Sometimes a wall is 

 built against a perpendicular side of 

 a ditch, and some very light fence is 

 placed obliquely outward near the 

 top of it and level with the ground. 

 This is called a ha-ha fence, a name 

 given to it from the surprise excited 

 in a person unacquainted with it, 

 when he suddenly finds himself on 

 the top of a wall with a deep ditch 

 before him. When it is desired to 

 keep off sheep or cattle from a lawn 

 or pleasure-ground without obstruct- 

 ing the view of the park or the fields, 

 the ha-ha fence is very useful." 



Some persons recommend division 

 fences for every ten acres, but this is 

 ridiculously small, for it is not to be 

 forgotten that the fence requires some 

 room, hinders close ploughing, and 

 this probably reduces the enclosure by 

 one third to one half an acre, which, 

 in a farm of two hundred acres, would 

 amount to ten acres. Tiiirty or for- 

 ty acre lots, except on small farms, 

 are small enough. 



FENESTRATE. In entomology, 

 the appearance produced by the trans- 

 parent spots on the wings of some in- 

 sects. In botany, the absence of tis- 

 sue between the veins of a leaf 



FENNEL, COMMON. Mcum fcs- 

 niculum. This is a well-known bienni- 

 al plant, cultivated in kitchen gardens 

 as a garnish, and used as a domestic 

 medicine. The taste and aromatic 

 qualities of the garden fennel are well 

 known. The sweet and warm seeds 

 are a common carminative for infants. 



FENNEL, SWEET. Fccniculum 

 duke. This species of fennel is an an- 

 nual plant, a native of Italy and Por- 

 tugal, where it is cultivated as a pot- 

 herb, as well as for the seeds and the 

 oil which these afford. It is a small- 

 er plant than the common fennel. The 



' stem is somewhat compressed at the 



base. The fruit is much longer than 



i that ofthe common fennel, being near- 



i ly five lines long, less compressed, 



somewhat curved, and paler, with a 



greenish tinge. 



FENUGREEK. Trigonellafctnum- 

 grcFcuni. Fenugreek is a species of 

 i trefoil, sometimes cultivated in fields 

 for its seed ; but it yields a very un- 

 certain crop. The stem is a foot 

 high, erect, with round, branched 

 stalks, trifoliate leaves, toothed ; the 

 flowers small and white ; the fruit a 

 sessile, straight, erect, acuminate, 

 flat pod, containing a number of yel- 

 lowish seeds having a strong, disa- 

 greeable smell, and an unctuous, far- 

 inaceous, and somewhat bitter taste. 

 These seeds are useful in cataplasms 

 and fomentations. 



FENUGREEK, RUSSIAN. Trig- 

 onella nithcnica. A hardy perennial, 

 native of Siberia, with yellow papil- 

 ionaceous blossoms in July and Au- 

 gust. It loves a strong loamy soil 

 and an open situation. It is propa- 

 gated either by parting the roots in 

 spring or from seed. 



FERMENT. A substance in the 

 state of decay which is capable of 

 communicating fermentation and sim- 

 ilar changes to other bodies. Fer- 

 ments contain nitrogen, and are pri- 

 marily derived from albumen, fibrin, 

 or casein, which, when moLst, decay 

 spontaneously. The product of the 

 ferment depends upon temperature, 

 amount of water, access of air, and 

 I other conditions. These actions can 

 ' only originate in organic matter, but 

 ferments act upon inorganic substan- 

 ces, as mixtures of gases, &c. Fer- 

 ments become exhausted in acting 

 upon other bodies, from their own 

 decay. For common ferment, see 



FERMENTATION. When a fer- 

 ment, as yeast, is brouglit in contact 

 with grape sugar, and several other 

 principles, mixed with water, and at 

 a temperature of 70^ or upward, the 

 sugar is changed, and gives off car- 

 bonic acid, alcohol being produced ; 

 this change is attended with consid- 

 erable movement in the mixture, and 



279 



