FAR 



storing" its fertility, and rendering it pro- 

 ductive. It is the most expeditious, be- 

 cause it is completely done in the course 

 of one season ; whereas several years of 

 culture, and a great additional quantity of 

 manure, would be requisite, were any 

 other less effectual mode of tillage adopt- 

 ed. It is the most effectual, because the 

 farmer has it in his power to destroy every 

 weed, to turn over and expose the soil to 

 the influence of the weather in the differ- 

 ent seasons, and also to level and straight- 

 en the ridges, drain the land, and remove 

 every obstruction to the introduction of 

 better modes of husbandry, none of which 

 could be so conveniently or effectually 

 performed between the harvest of one 

 year and the seed time of the next. Fal- 

 lowing- is also the least expensive method 

 by which the fertility of land greatly ex- 

 hausted can be restored, and the only one 

 that can be adopted with a certainty of 

 success, for the removal of every obsta- 

 cle to the introduction of more perfect 

 agriculture. Manure operates more pow- 

 erfully, when applied to a field that has 

 heen properly summer-fallowed, than 

 when laid on one that has been long- under 

 an improper course of cropping. The re- 

 turns, after fallowing*, will be to a certainty 

 greater ; and therefore, although the ac- 

 tual expense of fallowing is considerable, 

 yet the crop that succeeds is so much 

 greater as to counterbalance that ex- 

 pense, while those that follow, if pro- 

 perly adapted to the soil, will yield the 

 farmer a proper compensation for his 

 extra trouble and expense. Such is the 

 opinion of Mr. Donaldson, to which Mr. 

 A. Young does not assent ; he thinks 

 every advantage is to be obtained by 

 judicious cropping. See AGRICULTURE. 



FALSE imprisonment,ii\la.w. To con- 

 stitute the injury of false imprisonment, 

 two points are necessary ; the detention 

 of the person, and the unlawfulness of 

 such detention. Every confinement of 

 the person is imprisonment, whether in 

 a common prison, or a private house, 

 or even by forcibly detaining one in the 

 streets. 



FLAX, in anatomy, a process of the 

 dura mater, placed between the two hem- 

 ispheres of the brain, and resembling a 

 reaper's sickle. 



FAMES, canina, an excessive appetite. 

 See BULIMY. 



FAMILY, denotes the persons that live 

 together in one house, under the direction 

 of one head or chief manager. It also 

 signifies the kindred or lineage of aper- 



VOL. V. 



son, and is used by old writers for a hide 

 or portion of land sufficient to maintain 

 one family. 



FAMILY, in natural history, a term used 

 by authors to express any order of ani- 

 mals, or other natural productions of the 

 same class. 



FAN, an instrument used in winnowing 

 corn. 



FARINA, a term given to the pulveru- 

 lent and glutinous part of wheat and 

 other seeds, obtained by grinding and 

 dressing. See FJECULA. 



FARINA, fcecundans^ among botanists, 

 the impregnating meal or dust on the 

 apises or anthers of flowers, which, be- 

 ing received into the pistil or seed-vessel 

 of plants, fecundates the rudiments of the 

 seeds in the ovary, which otherwise would 

 decay and come to nothing. The manner; 

 of obtaining the farina of plants for micro- 

 scopical observation is this : gather the 

 flowers in the midst of a dry sun-shiny 

 day, when the dew is perfectly off'; then 

 gently shake off the farina, or lightly 

 brush it off with a soft hair pencil, upon 

 a piece of white paper ; then take a single 

 talc of isinglass between the nippers, and, 

 breathing on it, apply it instantly to the 

 farina, and the moisture of the breath will 

 make the light powder stick to it. If 

 too great a quantity is found adhering to 

 the talc, blow a little of it off; and if 

 there is too little, breathe upon it again, 

 and take up more. When this is done, 

 put the talc into the hole of a slider, and 

 applying it to the microscope, see whe- 

 ther the little grains are laid as you desire, 

 and if they are, cover them up with ano- 

 ther talc, and fix the ring, but care must 

 be taken that the talcs do not press upon 

 the farina in such a manner as to alter the 

 form. 



FARM. See AGRICULTURE. 



FARRIER, is the designation of the 

 smith who devotes his attention chiefly to 

 shoeing horses, and to curing them of all 

 kinds of diseases. Perhaps it would be 

 difficult to quote any profession, which 

 could compete with this in self-suffici- 

 ency and ignorance ; nor would it be 

 easy to estimate the damage done by this 

 tribe, who, having a technical jargon pe- 

 culiarly appropriated to their presump- 

 tuous quackery, continue to deceive a 

 large portion of the community, and ge- 

 nerally hold a very improper intercourse 

 with grooms, &c. whence not only ex- 

 pensive jobs are unnecessarily created, 

 but the constitutions of the unfortunate 

 animals which are committed to their 





