F I L 
leaves are of a lucid green, and the under fide is of a 
gray, or fea-green colour, they are of a thick fub- 
ftance, and very fmooth ; this grows naturally in 
India, from whence it was brought to the gardens in 
Holland. 
The tenth fort grows naturally in the Weft-Indies, 
where it rifes twenty feet high, fending out many fide 
branches, which are covered with a white bark, and 
garnimed with oblong heart-fihaped leaves, ending 
in acute points •, they are about three inches long, and 
one inch and a half broad, near the bafe •, of a lucid 
green on their upper fide, but of a pale green on 
their under, Handing upon very long foot-ftalks. The 
fruit comes out from the fide of the branches, toward 
their ends ; they are about the ftze of large gray Peas, 
and of a deep purple colour, fitting clofe to the 
branches ; thefe are not eatable. 
The eleventh fort grows naturally at La Vera Cruz, 
from whence it was fent me by the late Dr. Houftoun ; 
this rifes with many fhrubby ftalks to the height of 
twelve or fourteen feet, and divides into many fmaller 
branches, which are garniflied with oval ftiff leaves, 
which are obtufe •, they are four inches long, and three 
broad, of a light green, and ftand upon very Ihort 
foot-ftalks, which are joined to a cup, in which the 
fruit fits ; this is globular, and the fize of a middling 
nutmeg, of a deep yellow, when ripe, but is not eat- 
able. 
The fecond fort, I believe, is not in England at pre- 
fent ; I raifed two or three of thefe plants from feeds 
in the year 1 736, which were deftroyed by the fevere 
froft in 1740, fince which time I have not been able 
to procure any of the feeds. The other forts are pre- 
ferved in feveral curious gardens ; they are eafily pro- 
pagated by cuttings during the fummer feafon. When 
the cuttings are taken from the plants, they fhould be 
laid in a dry fhady place for two or three days, that 
the wounds may be healed over, otherwife they are apt 
to rot , for all thefe plants abound with a milky juice, 
which flows out whenever they are wounded; for which 
reafon, the cuttings fhould have their wounded part 
healed over and hardened before they are planted ; 
after Which they fhould oe planted in pots filled with 
fandy light earth, and plunged into a moderate hot- 
bed, where they fhould be fhaded from the fun, and 
two or three times a week gently refreihed with wa- 
ter, if the feafon is warm; but they muft not have too 
much moifture, for that will infallibly deftroy them. 
When the cuttings have taken root fufficient to tranf- 
plant, they fhould be each planted into a feparate fmall 
pot filled with light undunged earth, and plunged into 
the hot-bed again, being careful to fnade them until 
they have taken frefh root ; then they fhould have a 
large fhare of free air admitted to them at all times 
when the weather is favourable, to prevent their draw- 
ing up weak, and to give them flrength before the 
cold comes on. In autumn the pots fhould be re- 
moved into the ftove, and plunged into the tan-bed, 
where they fhould conftantly remain, and muft- be 
treated in the fame manner as other tender plants from 
the fame countries ; for although two or three of the 
forts may be treated in a hardier manner, yet they will 
not make much progrefs. 
FICUS INDICA. See Opuntia. 
F I L A G O. There are feveral fpecies of this genus, 
fome of which grow naturally upon barren land in 
moil parts of England. They are called byfomeCot- 
tonweed, by others Cudweed, their leaves being white, 
and, when broken, have cottony threads. Thefe 
have been ranged under the genus of Gnaphalium by 
moft botanifts, and one of the fpecies which is ufed in 
medicine, ftands in the lift of fimples by that appel- 
lation. As thefe plants are not cultivated in gardens, 
I fliall not trouble the reader with a farther account 
of them. 
FILBERT. See Corylus. 
F I LI P E N D U L A. See Spiraea. 
FI LI US ANTE PAT REM [i. e. the fon be- 
fore the father] an expreffion which botanifts apply 
to plants, whofe flower comes out before their leaves ; 
2 
' ■ F I R 
or thofe plants which fend forth fide branches of 
flowers, which advance above the middle. 
FILIX, Fern. There are great varieties of this 
plant in the different parts of the world, but particu- 
larly in America, as may be feen in the Natural Hif- 
tory of Jamaica, publifhed by Sir Hans Sloane, Bart, 
and in Plumier’s American Ferns : but as they are 
plants which are feldorn propagated in gardens, I 
fliall pafs them over in this place. 
FILM, that woody fkin which feparates the feeds in 
the pods of plants. 
FIMBRIATED [of Fimbria, Lat. a fringe] a 
term relating to the leaves of plants when they are 
jagged on the edges, having, as it were, a fringe 
about them ; thefe are often called furbelowed leaves. 
FIRE. However foreign, at the firft view, this article 
may feem to our prefent purpofe, yet I am of opinion, 
that a tolerable acquaintance with its nature, as far 
as it can be attained, and its effeds, will contribute 
no fmall aftiftance in forwarding the work of vegeta- 
tion. And though the theory of fire is indeed philo- 
fophical, yet the,confideration of its effeds, and how 
it operates on vegetables, will be of no fmall ufe in 
the culture of them. 
That which beft defines and diftinguiihes fire from 
every thing elfe, is its heating ; and fo it may be de- 
fined, Whatfoever warms or heats bodies. 
Heat is fomething, the prefence of which is beft per- 
ceived by the dilatation of the air or fpirit in the 
thermometer. So then, fire is a body, and a body in 
motion too. The motion of it is proved by its ex- 
panding the air, and that it is a body by experiment. 
Pure mercury, being inclofed in a phial with a long 
neck, and kept in a gentle heat for the fpace of a 
year, will be reduced into a folid, and the weight al- 
io will be increafed confiderably ; which increafe can- 
not proceed from any thing elfe but the acceffion of 
fire. 
The nature of fire is fo obfcure and wonderful, that 
it was held by many of the ancients as a deity ; and 
feveral authors of prime note have taken great pains 
to difcover the myftery of it, without having been able 
to explain many of the principal effeds thereof. The 
learned Herman Boerhaave has ufed no lefs induftry 
in making a new fet of experiments, in order to corhe 
to a clearer knowledge of them ; and having laid 
down a new dodrine of fire, in a courfe of public lec- 
tures, I fhall briefly take notice of fuch of them as I 
apprehend may be of ufe. 
“ Fire (fays he) in effed, appears to be the general 
“ inftrument of all the motion in the univerfe. The 
“ conftant tenor of a great number of experiments 
“ leaves no room to doubt, but that, if there were no 
“ fire, all things would inftantly become fixed and 
<c immoveable. Of this there are inftances every win- 
“ ter ; for while froft prevails, the water, which be- 
“ fore was fluid, by a mere privation of heat, becomes 
cc folid, i. e. hardens into ice, and fo remains till dif- 
“ folved again by fire. Thus, were a man entirely 
“ deftitute of heat, he would immediately freeze into 
“ a ftatue ; and thus the air itfelf, which is found in 
“ continual motion, being always either expanding 
“ or condenfing, would, upon the abfence of fire, con- 
“ trad itfelf, and cohere into a firm rigid mafs ; fo 
<c alfo animals and vegetables, all oils, falts, &c. 
“ would, upon the like occafion, immediately con- 
“ geal.” 
Although this dodrine of fire, here laid down by 
Boerhaave, feems new and extraordinary, at leaft to 
thofe who have been ufed to confider fire in the light 
that it has been fet in by the Lord Bacon, Mr. Boyle, 
and Sir Ifaac Newton ; and though we ought to pay 
great veneration to thofe illuftrious authors, yet, in 
the judgment of themlelves, we fhould be in excu- 
fable, if we fhould abfolutely acquiefce in what they 
have done, and fhut the door againft fartherand bet- 
ter information. 
It may reafonably be fuppofed, that Dr. Boerhaave 
has had an opportunity of going beyond them ; in that, 
befides all the experiments and obfervations that they 
have 
/ 
