FAG [ :584 ] 



FA'GUS. The Beech. (From fuyo, 

 to eat; referring to the edible seeds. 

 Nat. ord., Mastworts [Corylacese]. 

 Linn., %\-Moncecia Q-Polyandria.} 



By seeds, gathered in autumn, dried in the 

 sun, kept dry during the winter, and sown in 

 light soil in March. They might be sown in 

 the autumn, only mice, &c., make havoc among 

 them ; loamy soil, over chalk, suits them well, 

 as the roots seldom run deep. The different 

 varieties are propagated by grafting in March 

 and April. The male catkins, when sweeped 

 up, are often used for packing fruit, and filling 

 pillows for the poor man's bed. The morel and 

 the truffle are chiefly found under beeches. 



EVERGREENS. 



F. betuloi'des (Birch-like). 50. Magellan. 

 1830. Hardy. 



Cunninghu'mii (Cunningham's). New Zea- 



land. 1843. Half-hardy. 



HARDY DECIDUOUS. 



F. anta'rctica (Antarctic). 50. Magellan. 1830. 



castanoKfo'lia (Chesnut-leaved). June. North 



America. 



Comptonieefo'lia (Comptonia-leaved). May. 

 ferrugi'nea (American rusty). 30. June. 



North America. 1766. 

 Carolinia'na( Carolina). Carolina. 



purpu'rea (purple). April. Germany. 



sylva'tica (common wood) . 70. June. Bri- 



tain. 

 America'na (American). 100. May. 



North America. 

 atroru'beus (dark-red leaved}. 30. 



June. 



arista' ta (crested-Jeaued). 30. May. 



cu'prea (copper-coloured-teaued). 



70. May. 

 fo'Kis arge'nteis (silver-leaved; . 



May. 



fo'liis au'reis (golden-leaved) . June. 



heterophy'lla (various-leaved). 40. 



April. May. 



inci'sa (cut-leaved). 10. June. 



pe'ndula (pendulous). May. Gar- 

 dens. 



FA'LKIA. (Named after Folk, a 

 Swedish botanist. Nat. ord., Bind- 

 u-ecds [Convolvulacese]. Linn., o- 

 I'cntandria 1-Diyynia. ) 



Greenhouse evergreen creeper. Cuttings, 



under a hand-glass, in sandy peat, in April or 



May; peat and loam. Winter temp., 35 to 45. 



F. rc'pens (creeping). 4. Pink. July. Cape 



of Good Hope. 1774. 



FALL OF THE LEAF. Dr. Lindley 

 thus explains this phenomenon. In 

 the course of time a leaf becomes in- 

 capable of performing its functions ; 

 its passages are choked up by the 

 deposit of sedimentary matter; there 

 is no longer a free communication 

 between its veins and the wood and 



FAR 



| liber. It changes colour, ceases to de- 

 compose carbonic acid, absorbs oxygen 

 instead, gets into a morbid condition, 

 and dies ; it is then thrown off. This 

 phenomenon, which we call the fall of 

 the leaf, is going on the whole year. 

 Those trees which lose the whole of 

 their leaves at the approach of winter, 

 and are called deciduous, begin, in 

 fact, to cast their leaves within a few 

 weeks after the commencement of their 

 venial growth ; but the mass of their 

 foliage is not rejected till late in the 

 season. Those, on the other hand, 

 which are named evergreens, part with 

 their leaves much more slowly ; retain 

 them in health at the time when the 

 leaves of other plants are perishing ; 

 and do not cast them till a new spring 

 has commenced, when other trees are 

 leafing, or even later. In the latter 

 class, the function of the leaves are 

 going on during all the winter, although 

 languidly ; they are constantly attract- 

 ing sap from the earth through the 

 spongelets, and are therefore in a state 

 of slow but continual winter growth. 



FALLOWING is needless where there 

 is a due supply of manure, and a suffi- 

 cient application of the spade, fork, and 

 hoe to the soil. Fallowing can have 

 no other beneficial influence than by 

 destroying weeds, aiding the decom- 

 position of offensive exuviae, exposing 

 the soil to the disintegrating influence 

 of the air, and accumulating in it de- 

 composing matter. Now all these 

 effects can be produced by judicious 

 J manuring, and a constant application 

 ! of the hoe and fork. 



FALSE BLOSSOM is the very erroneous 

 name applied sometimes to the male 

 flowers, which containing only stamens, 

 do not produce fruit, yet are essential 

 for causing fruitfulness in, what gar 

 deners call, the true blossoms, which 

 contain the pistils. 



FAN PALM. Co'rypha. 



FARA'MEA. (The derivation has not 

 been explained, probably a commemo- 

 rative one. Nat. ord., Ciiichonads [Cin- 

 chonacea?.]. Linn., n-Triaudria \-i\Io- 

 ii"f/i/n/ii. Allied to the Coffee tree.) 



A sweet-scented stove evergreen bush, Joii 

 known in our gardens as Tctramerium. Cut- 

 tings of firm young shoots in May, in sand, 



