FAG 
pots and placed under a frame in the winter, and the 
following fpring fhaken out of the pots, and planted 
in a warm border, they will come early to flower, 
and thereby ripe feeds may be more certainly ob- 
tained. 
The other tv/o forts may be treated in the fame way; 
for as thefe feldom flower the Aril year from feeds, fo 
the plants fnould be either kept in pots, and fheltered 
under a frame in winter, or placed in a warm border, 
where they may be fheltered with mats, or fome other 
covering, to preferve them from the froft ; and the 
following fummer the fecond fort will flower and pro- 
duce ripe feeds, but the third has not perfected any 
feeds as yet in England. 
FAGOPYRUM. See Helxine. 
FA-GUS. Tourn. Infh R. H. 584. tab. 351. Lin. 
Gen. Plant. 951. [fo called from Gr. be- 
caufe fuppofed to be the food of the firft race of man- 
kind.] The Beech- tree ; in French, Hetre. 
The Characters are, 
It hath male and female flowers on the fame tree ; the 
male flowers are colleffied into globular heads ; thefe have 
no petals , but have fever al ftamina included in an em- 
pakment of one leaf. \ which are terminated by oblong fum- 
mits. The female flowers have a one-leaved empalement 
cut into four parts , but have no petals ; the germen is 
fixed to the empalement , fupporting three ftyles , crowned 
by reflexed ftigmas. 'The germen afterward becomes a 
roundifh capfule , armed with foft fpines , opening in 
three cells , each containing a triangular nut. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the eighth fec- 
tion of Linnmus’s twenty-firft clafs, which in- 
cludes thofe plants that have male and female 
flowers on the lame plant, and the male flowers have 
many ftamina. To this genus he has joined the 
Chefnut ; but as the male flowers of the Chefnut 
are collected in long katkins, and thofe of the Beech 
are globular, and the fruit of the latter being trian- 
gular, there is fufficient reafon for keeping them fe- 
parate. 
We know but one Species of this genus, viz. 
Facets ( Sylvatica ) foliis ovatis obfolete ferratis. Hort. 
Cliff. 447. Fagus. Dod. Pempt. 832. The Beech-tree 
with oval fazved leaves. 
There are fome planters, who fuppofe there are two 
diftinbt fpecies of this tree ; one they call the Moun- 
tain Beech, which they fay is a whiter wood than the 
other, which they diftinguifh by the title of Wild 
Beech ; but it is certain, that this difference in the 
colour of the wood arifes from the difference of the 
foils in which they grew, for I have not feen any fpe- 
cific difference in the trees. There have been feeds 
of a Beech-tree brought from North- America, by the 
title of Broad-leaved Beech, but the plants which 
were raifed from them proved to be the common fort ; 
fo that we know of no other variety, excepting thofe 
with ftriped leaves, which is accidental ; and when 
the trees are in vigour, the leaves become plain again. 
This tree is propagated by fowing the mail ; the 
feafon for which is any time fromO&ober to February, 
only obferving to fecure the feeds from vermin when 
early lowed ; which, if carefully done, the fooner they 
are fown the better, after they are full ripe : a fmall 
fpot of ground will be fufficient for raifmg a great 
number of thefe trees from feed, but you mull be 
very careful to keep them clear from weeds ; and if 
the plants come up very thick, you Ihould not fail to 
draw out the ftrongeft of them the autumn following, 
that thofe left may have room to grow ; fo that if you 
hufband a feed-bed carefully, it will afford a three 
years draught of young plants, which Ihould be 
planted in a nurfery ; and, if defigned for timber 
trees, at three feet diftance row from row, and 
eighteen inches aftinder in the rows. ’ 
But if they are defigned for hedges (to which the 
tree is very well adapted) the diftance need not be fo 
great ; two feet row from row, and one foot in the 
rows will be fufficient. In this nurfery they may re- 
main two or three years, obferving to clear them from 
F E N 
weeds, as alfo to dig up the ground between the row% 
at ieaft once a year, that their tender roots may the 
better extend themfelves each way : but be careful not 
to cut or bruife their roots, which is injurious to all 
young trees ; and never dig the ground in fummer, 
v/hen the earth is hot and dry ; which, by letting in 
the rays of the fun to the roots, is often the deftruc- 
tion of young trees. 
This tree will grow to a confiderable ftature, though 
the foil be ftony and barren as alfo upon'the declivi- 
ties of hills, and chalky mountains, where they will 
refill the winds better than moll other trees ; but then 
the nurferies for the young plants ought to be upon 
the fame foil ; for if they are raifed in good foil and 
a warm expofure, and afterwards tranfplanted into a 
bleak barren fituation, they feldom thrive, which holds 
true in molt other trees ; therefore I would advife the 
nurfery to be made upon the fame foil where the plan- 
tation is intended, but of this I fhall fay more under 
the article of Nursery. 
The tree is very proper to form large hedges to 
furround plantations, or large wildernefs quarters.; 
and may be kept in a regular figure, if Iheared twice 
a year, efpecially if they fhoot ftrong ; in which cafe, 
if they are neglebled but a feafon or two, it will be dif- 
ficult to reduce them again. The fihade of this tree 
is very injurious to molt forts of plants which grow 
near it, but is generally believed to be very falubrious 
to human bodies. 
The timber is of great ufe to turners for making 
trenchers, difhes, trays, buckets ; and likewife to 
the joiner for ftools, bedfteads, coffins, &c. The 
mail is very good to fat fwine and deer ; it alfo af- 
fords a fweet oil, and the nuts have in fcarce times 
fupported fome families with bread. 
This tree delights in a chalky or ftony ground, where 
it generally grows very faft ; and the bark of the 
trees in fuch land is dear and fmooth ; and although 
the timber is not fo valuable as that of many other 
trees, yet as it will thrive on fuch foils and in fuch 
fituations where few better trees will fcarce grow, the 
planting of them fhould be encouraged ; efpecially as 
the trees afford an agreeable fhade, and the leaves make 
a fine appearance in fummer, and continue green as 
long in autumn as any of the deciduous trees : there- 
fore in parks, and other plantations for pleafure, this 
tree deferves to be cultivated among thofe of the firft 
clafs, efpecially where the foil is adapted to it. 
The two forts with variegated leaves may be pro- 
pagated by budding or grafting them upon the com- 
mon Beech, obferving not to plant them in a good 
earth ; which will caufe the buds or cyons to fhoot 
vigorouflv, whereby the leaves will become plain, 
which often happens to moft variegated plants. 
FARINA FCECUND ANS is the impregnating 
meal or duft on the apices or fummits of flowers ; 
which, being conveyed into the uterus or vafculum 
feminale of plants, fecundates the rudiments of the 
feeds in the ovary, which otherwife would decay and 
come to nothing. See Generation of Plants. 
FEA T H E R F E W, or F E A V E R F E W. See 
Matricaria. 
FENCES. In hotter climates than England, where 
they have not occafion for walls to ripen their fruit, 
their gardens lie open, where they can have water 
fence and profpefts ; or elfe they bound their gardens 
with groves, in which are fountains, walks, &c. 
which are much more pleafing to the fight than a 
dead wall : but in colder countries, and in England, 
we are obliged to have walls to flicker and ripen our 
fruit, although they take away much from the plea- 
fant profpebl of the garden. 
Since therefore we are under a neceffity to have walls 
to fecure our gardens from the injury of winds, 
as well as for the conveniencv of partitions or inclo- 
fures, and alfo to ripen our fruit, brick walls are ac- 
counted thewarmeft and beft for this purpofe : and thefe 
walls being built pannel-ways, with pillars at equal 
diftances, will fave a great deal of charge, in that 
the ■ 
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