FAL 



FAL 



So difficult was it, however, to meet with 

 that coincidence of circumstances, ne- 

 cessary to produce this great discrimina- 

 tion, tractability, courage, and obedience, 

 that the price of a well-trained cast of 

 these birds was extremely high, and is 

 recorded, in one instance, to have been 

 no less than the immense sum, in those 

 days, of a thousand pounds. The ladies 

 partook in this interesting sport with the 

 keenest relish, notwithstanding its fa- 

 tigues and dangers. The cultivation of 

 this island has long been so far improved 

 as to preclude the continuance of this 

 diversion, which requires for its purpose 

 a large tract of uninclosed country ; in 

 some parts of Europe it is still in use ; in 

 China it is practised, occasionally, for the 

 Emperor's amusement, and conducted 

 with all the form and splendour charac- 

 teristic of Oriental manners. In England 

 the goshawk is to be seen very rarely ; in 

 Scotland it is comparatively frequent ; in 

 France and Germany, and Siberia, it is far 

 from uncommon. 



Various other species of the falcon 

 were in use formerly for the diversion 

 above noticed, especially the jer-falcon, 

 and the kestrel, belonging to the class of 

 the long-winged hawks, and tbe sparrow- 

 hawk, which belonged to the short-wing- 

 ed class, a class less active and rapid than 

 the former. The sparrow-hawk is the 

 terror of pigeons, partridges, and poultry, 

 and commits its depredations with the 

 most astonishing boldness. The male 

 weighs only five ounces, and the female 

 nine, presenting the strongest known 

 case of this sexual difference. 



For the stone-falcon, see Plate VII. 

 fig. 2. 



FALCONRY, the art of training all 

 manner of hawks, but more especially the 

 larger sort, called falcons, to the exercise 

 of hawking. 



F.ALKIA, in botany, so called in ho- 

 nour of J. P Falk, professor at Peters- 

 burgh, a genus of the Pentandria Digynia 

 class and order. Natural order of Cam- 

 panaceae. Borraginese, Jussieu. Essen- 

 tial character : calyx bell shaped, five- 

 cleft: corolla bell shaped; stigmas or- 

 bicular peltate : seeds four-arilled. There 

 is but one species, viz. F. repens, creep, 

 ing Falkia. 



FALL, in the sea-langusge, that part 

 of the rope of a tackle, which is hauled 

 upon. 



Also when a ship is under sail, and 

 keeps not so near the wind as she should 

 do, they say she falls off; or when a ship 

 is not flush, but hath risings of some 



parts of her decks more than others, it is 

 called falls. 



FALLlNG-STAtt, in meteorology, a 

 phenomenon that is frequently seen, and 

 which has bee n usually supposed to de- 

 pend on the electric fluid. Mr. Davy, in 

 a lecture delivered a few weeks since at 

 the Royal Institution, gave many reasons 

 against this opinion : he conceives that 

 they are rather to be attributed to falling 

 stones. It is observable, that when their 

 appearance is frequent they have all the 

 same direction ; and it has been remark- 

 ed that they are the forerunners of a 

 westerly wind in our country. 



FALLOPIAN tubes, two canals of a 

 tortuous figure, but approaching to a 

 conic form, joined to the fundus of the 

 uterus, one on each side. See ANA- 

 TOMT. 



FALLOWING, in agriculture, the 

 practice of preparing lands by repeated 

 ploughing, harrowing, &.c. so as to 

 render them fit for the growth of grain. 

 Though by the frequent turning of land, 

 and exposing new surfaces of the soil to 

 the operation and influence of the atmos- 

 phere, various changes are effected in the 

 earthy particles, yet one great purpose in 

 fallowing is, to destroy more effectually 

 the weeds, which, in consequence of pre- 

 vious mismanagement, and of over-crop- 

 ping, have increased to such a degree as 

 to render cultivation for grain no longer 

 profitable. Land being allowed to rest 

 for a season from yielding a crop, and be- 

 ing repeatedly ploughed, the soil expos- 

 ed to the influence of the different sea- 

 sons, and at the same time completely 

 pulverized, its fertility is again somewhat 

 restored, so that, by the application of a 

 smaller portion of manure than would be 

 otherwise necessary, it is rendered fit 

 for again producing valuable crops of 

 grain or grass. It is universally acknow- 

 ledged, that all soils, even those naturally 

 the most fertile, are capable of being 

 rendered unproductive by constant and 

 severe cropping, and that the more im- 

 proper the modes of cropping are, the 

 sooner, and the more certainly, will a com- 

 parative barrenness ensue. Hence the 

 propriety of fallowing, where imperfect 

 modes of culture are adopted. Fallowing, 

 in what may be called the infancy of im- 

 provements in agriculture, is also essen- 

 tially necessary. If land be greatly ex- 

 hausted, no matter by what sort of pre- 

 vious mismanagement, fallowing is the 

 most expeditious, the most effectual, and, 

 every thing considered, the least expen- 

 sive method that can be adopted, for re- 



