356 , F I C 
and their pollen diffipated : befides, he adds, what they 
may have brought on ilieir wings mud be nibbed away, 
in.the little aperture which they would form for thcin- 
felves. At Malta, where there are feven or eight varie¬ 
ties of the donteffic fig, this operation is only performed 
on thefe which ripen latch : the former are of a proper 
fize, fine flavour, and in great abundance without it ; io 
that Jte thinks the caprification only hadens tlie ripening. 
big-trees are propagated in England, either by the 
fuckers, which are fent out from their roots, or by layers, 
-made by laying down their branches, which in one year 
will put out roots fufficient to be removed, or by plant¬ 
ing cuttings, which, if properly managed, will take root: 
the firft of thefe is a bad method, becaufe all tliofe trees 
which are raifed from fuckers, are very fubjedt io fend 
out great quantities of fuckers again from their roots ; 
arid the branches of the fuckers are not fo compadt as 
thole of the layers, but are fuller of fup, and in greater 
danger of being injured by the fro ft ; thofe plants which 
are propagated by layers are the bed, provided the layers 
are made from the branches of fruitful trees: lor thofe 
which are made from the fuckers, or (hoots, produced 
from old dools, being very foft and full of lap, are in 
danger of fuffering by the frod, and thele will dioot 
greatly into wood, but will not be very fruitful ; for, 
when trees have acquired a vicious habit while young, it 
is feldont they ever are brought to be fruitful afterwards ; 
therefore the dioots which are laid down diould be fuch 
as are woody, compadt, and well ripened, not young dioots, 
full of ftp, whofe veffels are large and open. 
The bed time for laying down the branches is in au¬ 
tumn ; and if the winter diould prove very fevere, if they 
are covered with fome old tan, or any other mulch, to 
keep the frod from penetrating the ground, it will be of 
great fervice to them ; by the autumn following thefe 
will be fufficiently rooted for removing, when they diould 
be cut off from the old plants, becaufe at that feafon the 
brandies not being fo full of fap as in the fpring, will 
riot bleed fo much as when cut off at that feafon. If the 
place is ready to receive them, the layers diould be tranf- 
planted in autumn where they are to remain ; but if it is 
not, then the layers may remain till the fpring, provided 
they are feparated from the old plants in autumn. As 
thefe plants do not bear tranfplanting well when they are 
large, it is the better way to plant them at fird in places 
where they are to remain; and after they are planted, the 
furface of the ground about their roots diould be covered 
with mulch to keep out the frod ; and if the winter diould 
prove very fevere, it will be proper to cover the branches 
with reeds, peafe-haulm, draw, or fome other light co¬ 
vering ; which will prevent their tender ends being killed 
by the frod, which frequently happens where this care 
is wanting. 
The other method of propagating thefe trees is by 
cuttings, which diould be taken from the trees in autumn, 
for the reafon before given : thefe mud be chofen from 
fuch branches as are compact, whofe joints are near each 
other; and they diould have a part of the former year’s 
wood at their bottom, and the top of each diould be 
left entire, not fliortened, as is ufually pradtifed with other 
cuttings; then they diould be planted eight or nine inches 
deep, in a bed of loamy earth, in a warm fituation, cover¬ 
ing the furface of the ground, three or four inches thick, 
with old tanners’ bark, to keep out the frod; and in fe¬ 
vere frod, their tops diould be covered with draw, peafe- 
haulm, fern, or other light covering, to protect them from 
frod : thefe diould be removed in the fpring ; hut the tan 
may remain, for that will prevent the drying winds of 
the fpring, ana the fun in fummer, from penetrating ,the 
ground, and will be of great ufe to fecure the cuttings from 
injury; thefe cuttings will be rooted fufficiently by the 
following autumn, when they diould be tranfplanted, and 
treated in the fame manner as the layers. If fruitful 
‘branches of thefe trees are cut off, and planted in pots, 
or tubs, filled with good earth, and thefe are plunged into 
F I D 
a good hot-bed of tanners’ bark in the dove, they will 
put out fruit early in the fpring, which will ripen in the 
middle of May. 
The other lorts are preferved in feveral curious gardens; 
they are eafily propagated by cuttings during the fummer 
feafon. When the cuttings are taken from the plants, 
they diould be laid in a dry fliady 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 diould have their wounded 
part healed over and hardened before they are planted ; 
after which they diould be planted in pots filled with 
Tandy light earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed, 
where they diould be diaded from the fun, and two or 
three times a-w.eek gently refrefhed with water, if the 
feafon is warm ; but they mud not have too much moif- 
ture, for that v/ill infallibly deftroy them. When the 
cuttings have taken root fufficient to tranfplant, they 
vffiould be each planted into a feparate fmall pot filled 
with light undunged earth, and plunged into the hot-bed 
again, being careful to fiiade them until they have taken 
fiedi root; then they diould have a large (hare of free air 
admitted to them at all times when the weather is favour¬ 
able, to prevent their drawing up weak, and to give them 
drength before the cold comes on. In autumn the pots 
diould be removed into the dove, and plunged into the 
tan-bed, where they diould condantly remain, and mud 
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. See Carica, Cecropia, Mesem- 
bryanthemum, Cactus, Musa, and Argenion. 
FID,/, \_fitta, Ital.] In gunnery, a little oakham put 
in the touch-hole of a gun, and covered with a piece of 
lead, powder dry. Among failors, a pin of iron or wood 
to open the drands of ropes. 
ITD-HAM'MER,/. A tool with a fid at one end, and 
a hammer at the other. 
FI'DA, a fmall ifiand of Scotland, in the mouth of 
the Forth, two miles and a half north-wed of North 
Berwick. 
FIDA'RI, a river of European Turkey, which runs 
into the fea : eight miles north ot Patras. 
FID'DES (Richard), a divine of the church of Eng¬ 
land, born at Hunmanby in Yorkdiire, in 1671. His edu¬ 
cation he received at .Oxford,- where he was at fird ad 
mitted at Corpus Chridi, and afterwards at Univerfity 
college. His progrefs in academical dudies appears to 
have been commendable; and his addrefs and manners 
procured him many friends in the univerfity. In 1712 
he came to London, and was introduced by dean Swift 
to the earl of Oxford, who made him one of his chap¬ 
lains, and obtained for him, from queen Anne, the ap¬ 
pointment of chaplain to the garrifon at Hull. In 1714, 
he publidied a Prefaratory Epidle concerning fome Re¬ 
marks on Homer’s Iliad, occafioned by the Propofals of 
Mr. Pope towards a new Englifh Verfion of that poem, 
121110. In 1717, he publilhed Remarks on the State 
Anatomy of Great Britain, &c. in anfwer to a piece of 
John Toland, under the name of Patricoia ; and, in 1718, 
Theologia Speculativa, or the fird Part of a Body of Divi¬ 
nity, wherein are explained the Principles of Natural and 
Revealed Religion, folio. In the year lad mentioned, 
the univerfity of Oxford honoured him with the degree 
of dodtor in divinity; and the members of it were libe¬ 
ral in their fubferiptions to the fird part of the Body of 
Divinity, as well as to the fecond part, which appeared 
in 1720, under the title of Theologia PraBica, £?c. folio. 
The fame patronage was extended to his volume of Fifty- 
two Practical Dilcourfes, on feveral Subjects, in folio ; 
which was alfo publilhed in 1720. His next publication 
was entitled, A general Treatife of Morality, formed 
upon the Principles of Natural Reafon only ; in anfwer 
to two elfays publidied in the Fable of the Bees, and 
1 fome 
