S36‘ F E R 
four or five men take to themfelves about two thoufand 
plants, and when feveral myriads of roots are thus pre¬ 
pared, the whole company return home. 
In about forty days, or towards the end of May, the 
parties return to the mountain, arriving there at day¬ 
break. The implements which they employ are, a (harp 
knife for cutting the root; a broad and flat iron fcoop, 
for fcraping oft' the dried juice; a fmall pan faftetied to 
the thigh for receiving the contents of the fcoop ; and a 
double b.ifket, fufpended at each end of a pole, which is 
flung acrofs the (boulders, in order to carry the whole 
crop when they return home. They now uncover the 
root, remove the earth to-a little depth from the top, 
and with the knife they cut off a fmall tranfverfe ft ice. 
The root, in which the juice that has been colledting for 
forty days, has been made to ftagnate by the previous 
' operation of dripping off the boughs, now bleeds copiouf- 
ly ; and it is immediately again covered with the umbrella 
of leaves as before, taking care that thefe do not aflually 
touch the furface of the root, and rub off the juice. On 
the enfuing day it is fufficiently concreted to be feraped off, 
after which another very thinflice is cut off.from the fur- 
face of the root, which bleeds afrefii, and is allowed time 
to concrete as before. This procefs is performed onlialf 
the roots on alternate days, that the employment of the 
gatherers may be more uniformly divided. After this 
colieeftion has been twice made from each root, a third 
dice is cut off, the root is covered with its umbrella, and 
the whole company leave the mountain, bringing home 
their firft harveft, which to each party of five or fix men 
is about fifty pounds weight of afta-foetida. This firft: 
gum is reckoned of rather inferior ftrength to the fubfe- 
quent crop, and is called sjiir. 
In about ten days the company again return to the 
mountain, making their third excurfion, and they find on 
the top of each cut root a quantity of very fine and pure 
afTa-fcetida, which having had time to concrete very /low¬ 
ly, is efteemed the bed: and mod powerful, and is called 
pifpaas, and fells at a much higher price than the sjiir. 
This latter, however, appears chiefly to owe its inferiority 
to a quantity of earth, with which the gatherers adulterate 
it while yet in a very foft and femifluid (late, whereas the 
pifpaas, being concreted into a bard gum, is not liable to 
this abufe. After this latter is collected, two more fuc- 
cefTive incifions are made, the juice is feraped off as be¬ 
fore, the root is again cut and covered over, and the com¬ 
pany return home. 
The fourth and la ft excurfion is made after an interval 
only of three days, for the root, which is exhaufted by 
fo many repeated bleedings, is now on the point of perifli- 
ing. The pifpaas, or firft fcraping, is again collected, and 
the root will bear about two or three more incifions, after 
which it is quite exhaufted, and is left to die by the heat 
of the fun, which happens in a fingle day. Each root of 
the four-year-old plants will bear ten or eleven fucceffive 
cuttings, but the large roots of twenty years (landing or 
upwards, fuch as are fometimes found in the lefs accellible 
parts of the mountains, will yield the gum much oftener, 
though not with fuch eafe, fo that the harveft from thefe 
is not finifhed till about the end of December. 
The ufes and virtues of alfa-fcetida are very confidera- 
ble. In many parts of Arabia and Perfia it forms an im¬ 
portant article of the materia medica, and is employed 
largely as a condiment for food. In its native country, 
the common people refort to it as a fovereign remedy for 
dropfy, flatulent and colicky pains in the bowels, and even 
as an external application to wounds. In the above dif- 
orders, its ftrongly ftimtilant and antifpafmodic power 
renders it peculiarly valuable ; but the foetor which tran- 
fpires from the bodies and evacuations of thofe that ufe 
it is fo exceflive, as to be almoft intolerable even to the 
-organs of the natives. The Banian Indians (who, not 
ufing animal food, have always recourfe to the ftrongeft 
and molt acrid condiments) employ afta-fostida liberally 
I E R 
in their cooking, and even rub their mouth with it before 
meals to (Emulate their appetite. Another ufe common 
to this, as to all other (Emulating and heating fubftances 
in the eaft, is to excite the venereal appetite. With us, 
afta-feetida is confidered as a mod powerful nervine, anti- 
fpalmodic, carminative, and anthelmintic, though the 
potency of its odour, in which probably confifts a large 
proportion of its medical virtue, prevents its ufe in a va¬ 
riety of cafes in which it might prove highly beneficial. 
It is of the greateft fervice in hypochondriac affections, 
in which the date of the bowels is always torpid, and di- 
geftion liable to be deranged. For the true tympanites, 
a clyfter of two drams of afia-feetida dilfolved in water, 
thrown up once or twice a-day, is an excellent remedy. 
Dr. Millar introduced the ufe of this gum, with great 
effedt, againft the fpafmodic afthma, and the fpafmodic 
date of hooping-cough. The dofe of the foliltion, even 
to children, fiiould be large; and it is worthy of remark, 
that the difgttft excited by fo (bo gly foetid a remedy, is 
much fooner fufmounted than mighbat firft be imagined, 
nor, when it is in the ftomach., dc.es it ever excite (icknefs. 
The flatulent colic attending by ft eric affections is much 
relieved by this gum, exhibited either by the mouth or ira 
clyfters. On account of its heating quality, it (hould be 
avoided when general fever is prefent. The vermifuge 
property of this gum appears to be very confiderable. 
Kaempfer relates, that the leaves and (talk of the frefh 
•plant in Perfia, are laid in the channels through which 
.the .water runs for irrigating gardens, and that fruit-trees 
and plants are thus preserved from all kinds of vermin. 
Probably its penetrating odour much incommodes thefe 
animals ; and it has long been known bo r h in the eaft and 
in Europe as a very powerful anthelmintic, efpecially 
when combined with the ftronger purgatives, or given in 
the form of clyfter,-and followed by them. 
Propagation and Culture. All the Peru Is have roots 
which will continue feveral years; thefe have thick ftrong 
fibres, which run deep in the ground, and divide into 
many fmaller, fpreading to a confiderable diftance every¬ 
way : the ftaiks are annual, and decay foon after they 
have perfected their feeds. As thefe plants fpread very 
wide, fo they fiiould have each four or five feet room; 
nor (hould they (land near to other plants, for their roots 
will rob whatever plants grow near them of their nourifti- 
ment. They are all propagated by feeds, which (hould 
be Town in autumn ; for if they are kept out of the ground 
till fpring, they frequently fail, and thofe which fucceed 
reniain a year in the ground, fo that much time is loft. 
The feeds may be Town in drills, by which method the 
ground may be eafier kept clean ; but they muft not be 
nearer than a foot row from row, and the feeds may be 
fcattered two or three inches afunder in the drills ; when 
the plants come up, they muft be kept clean from weeds ; 
and where they are.too clofe together, they fiiould be 
thinned, to allow them room to grow, for they will not 
be ftrong enough to remove till they have had two years 
growth ; then in the autumn, fo foon as their leaves de¬ 
cay, the roots fiiould be taken up with great care, fo as 
not to cut or injure the tap or downright root, and then 
planted in the places where they are defigned to remain, 
for after this tranlplanting they (hould not be removed. 
They delight in a foft, gentle, loamy, foil, not too wet, 
and are very rarely injured by the hardeft froft. Sec 
Bueon and Peucedanum. 
FERULA'CIOUS, adj. in botany, growing like the 
fennel-giant; refembling the growth of the ferula. 
FER'U L.?E,y. in furgery, the fplinters applied to broken 
or difiocated bones, to keep them in their proper places, 
PERULA'GO, f. in botany. See Festuca. 
To FE'RULE, v. a. To chaftife with the ferula. 
FER'VOUR, f. [ fervor, Lat. fervour, Fi\] Heat $ 
warmth : 
Like bright Aurora, whofe refulgent ray 
Foretells the fervour of enfuing day } 
And 
