154 



HENDERSON'S HANDBOOK OF PLANTS 



FEE 



far impoverish the soil in one or more of the 

 principles necessary to sustain a luxuriant 

 vegetation that it will cease to yield remuner- 

 ating returns. Ashes are among the best of 

 fertilizers for Onions; a handful to the hill 

 before corn is hoed will give good returns. 

 They are also excellent for top dressing grass- 

 land, and as there is no danger of their con- 

 taining weed-seeds they are valuable for top 

 dressing lawns. The quantity used should 

 be about the same as bone dust, which see. 



NITKATE OF SODA, and SULPHATE OF AM- 

 MONIA, are both powerful fertilizers, are used 

 to a considerable extent, and are deemed es- 

 pecially valuable to grain crops. Nitrate of 

 Soda cannot be kept too dry as it attracts mois- 

 ture the same as common Salt does and may be 

 applied at the rate of about two and one-half 

 hundred weight to the acre as a top dressing 

 in moist weather or just before rain. Owing 

 to its nature it is more suited to hot dry soils 

 than Sulphate of Ammonia, which, though 

 not so quick in its action, is more lasting in 

 its effects, and is often used as a supplement- 

 ary top dressing to the former. 



POTJDKETTE is the name given to a commer- 

 cial fertilizer, the composition of which is night 

 soil and dried swamp muck or charcoal dust 

 as an absorbent. It is sold at about $12 to 

 $15 per ton, and at that price may be equal in 

 value, if too much of the absorbing material 

 is not used, to Bone Dust at $40 per ton. 



SALT has little or no value as a fertilizer, ex- 

 cept as a medium of absorbing moisture. For 

 experience shows that soils impregnated by a 

 saline are no more fertile than those inland 

 out of the reach of such an atmosphere. See 

 Manures. 



Fe'rula. Giant Fennel. From/erio, to strike, 

 the stems are used as rods. Nat. Ord. Um- 

 bellifercB. 



A genus of very showy, hardy herbaceous 

 plants, relatives of southern Europe, north- 

 ern Africa, and central and western Asia. 

 They are admirable plants for growing near 

 water, or on banks, or margins of lawns, 

 where their deep green elegant foliage is 

 shown to the best advantage. The two most 

 showy species are F. communis, and F, Tingi- 

 tana. They are propagated by seeds, or by 

 divisions of the root. 



Fescue Grass. See Festuca. 



Festu'ca. A genus containing some of the best 

 pasture grasses. F. glauca is a very hand- 

 some ornamental grass, which, though hardy, 

 is very suitable for the green-house and the 

 sitting-room. 



Fetid Horehound. See Ballota, 

 Fetticus. See Valerianella. 



Fever Bush. A local name of the Lindera; 

 given for the supposed medicinal properties 

 of the shrub. 



Feverfew. See Pyrethrum Parthenium. 



Fever Tree, or Fever G-um-Tree. Eucalyptus 



globulus. 

 Fever Weed. Gerardia pedicularia. 



Fibre, Elementary. That thread which is 

 turned round the interior of the tubes that 

 are called spiral vessels, or of any similar 

 kind of tissue. 



FIL 



Fibrous. Containing a great proportion of 

 woody fibre, as the rind of a Cocoanut ; com- 

 posed of fibres. 



Fica'ria. Fig-wort. Fromjicus, a fig ; in refer- 

 ence to the fig-shaped little tubers of the root. 

 Nat. Ord. Ranunculacece. 



A hai'dy herbaceous perennial with bright 

 yellow flowers, closely resembling the Ranun- 

 culus, to which it is allied, the only difference 

 being in the shape of the petals. It is one of 

 the earliest spring flowers in the English 

 woods or waste places. 



Ficoi'deaee. A large natural order of small 

 shrubs, under-shrubs, or herbs, containing 

 over 400 species, natives chiefly of tropical 

 and sub-tropical regions. Tetragonia (the New 

 Zealand Spinach) and Mesembryanthemum are 

 the best known genera ; indeed, the order is 

 called MesembryanthemaceoB by some botanists. 



Fi'cus. Fig-tree. The Fig-tree has nearly the 

 same name in all the European languages, and 

 is supposed to be derived from the Hebrew 

 name/ey. Nat. Ord. Urticacece. 



A genus of trees, some of which require to 

 be grown in the hot-house. It contains sev- 

 eral valuable species, especially the India 

 Rubber tree (F. elatttica), and the Banyan tree 

 (F. Indica) ; the foliage of all of them is very 

 imposing, and their culture is of the easiest 

 description, requiring heat and plenty of water 

 in their growing season. F. elastica, if culti- 

 vated in a humid atmosphere, such as that of 

 an Orchid-house, will emit roots from its stem 

 and branches, and attach itself to any contig- 

 uous object, such as a wall, in the manner of 

 an epiphyte. This is the India Rubber tree 

 of commerce. It is much valued as a decora- 

 tive plant for rooms. A very effective variety 

 with golden-edged leaves has been lately 

 introduced, the golden band about an inch 

 wide, contrasting beautifully with the glossy 

 green of the center of the leaf. F. Parcelli 

 has bright-green serrated leaves, irregularly 

 blotched with dark green and ivory white. It 

 forms a very neat and ornamental decorative 

 plant. F. Carica, the cultivated Fig, is sup- 

 posed to be a native of Caria, in Asia. It has, 

 however, been so long under cultivation 

 throughout southern Europe that its nativity 

 is lost sight of. The fruit can be grown here 

 without artificial heat, an ordinary pit alone 

 being sufficient protection in winter; or the 

 plants can be laid down and covered up with 

 six inches of soil in November and uncovered 

 in April, and will thus- withstand our severest 

 northern winters. The Fig is generally hardy 

 south of Washington. Propagated by cuttings 

 or layers. 



Fiddle-Wood. See Citharexylum. 



Fig Marigold. See Mesembryanthemum. 



Fig-Tree. The genus Ficus, which see. 



Adam's. Musa pnradixiaca. 



Balsam, of the West Indies. Several species 

 of Clusia. 



Creeping. Ficus stipulata. 



Devil's, or Infernal. Argemone Mexicana. 



Mangrove. Rhizophora Mangle. 



Sacred. Ficus religiosa. 



Fig-wort. The genus Scrophularia ; also Ficaria, 

 which see. 



Cape. Phygeliua capensis. 

 Filamentose. Thready. 



