FEN
Femoris fextus, in anatomy, a name given by Spigelius and others to a muicle, now generally called the iliacus internus. See Iliacus.
FfiMORis <b. See O: Femoru.
FEM OWL, an Englifl, name ufed in Shwpfliire, and fome other coiinties for the caprimulgus, a goat-fucker, called alfo the chum-owl. It is a very beautiful bird, and more refem- blt^ the cuckow than the owl kind. Rafs Ornitholog. p. 70. See Caprimulgus.
FEMUR moventium fextus, in anatomy, the name given by Ve- fabus and fome others, to the mufcie now called the pfoas rnpgnus. See Psoas.
FENCES {Cyrf.) — The inclofures of grounds are in fome places made by duches full of water, and in others by walls cither of Hones alone, or of {tones and earth. Where the fe materials are in plenty, they make very good fences, but in other places, the common method is by quick hedges. To raife thefe, a ditch is dug and a bank thrown up, and on this the youns trees are regularly planted. The white thorn is the beft of all trees to plant for a fence, being a tolerable quick grower, and lafting a long time, and making a very handlbme fence. It will fucceed on any foil where a ditch and new bank are made, except it be wholly of gravel or fand, and even in this cafe it will thrive, if there happen a rainy feafon after the planting of it.
Some raife it by feeds, and others by young plants ; the latter is the raoft expeditious way, for the feeds lie two years in the ground before they moot, hut they grow very fall: after two or three years. Some prepare the haws, or fruit of the white thorn, by tying them up in a hair bag, and foaking them all winter; after this if they are fown in February or March, they will come up the firft year, and grow better than any other way.
Where fets are fcarce, it is a good way when the underwoods are fcll'd, or rather the year before, to fow haws and floes in them, and they will furnifli a fupply of young plants for hedges, without doing the woods any harm, beraule they may be drawn before they come to be too large. The white thorn is alfo of confiderable value in fome fort of works; its root becomes very beautifully vein'd when old, and elegant boxes and combs are made of it. It is ufed by fome alfo, in the bufinefs of enlaying, and would be more fo, if its beauty were more known. The crab and the floe-tree, or black thorn, come next in value to the white thorn, for quicks for fences. Mortimer's Husbandry, p. 7.
The crabs are to be fown by kernels pulp and all, and they will come up the fir ft year ; and a fet of young crabs planted thick enough, make an excellent fence. The black thorn is not fo much approved, becaufe it is not fo fure of growing, and if it does, its roots fpread, and it's apt to run in too much upon the land. The bufbes of black thorn are however the beft of any for dead hedges, and for mending of gaps; and they have an- other advantage over the white thorn, which is, that cattle are not fo apt to crop them. The black thorn will grow on any foil that the white will, but the richer the mould is, the better it will thrive.
Holly is another excellent llirub for a. fence; it is indeed great- ly the beft of all the fence bufbes, but it grows fo flow, and is fo uncertain, that the farmers are afraid of waiting for it, or of trufting to it; but where it fucceeds, it makes amends for the delay in its thicknefs, ftraitnefs and ffren<>"th It is to be raifed like the white thorn, either by fets or berries, and the berries in the fame manner lie two years in the ground before they come up. It will grow on any foil, even on the drieft gravel, or among ftones and rocks. It delights moft in light grounds. If it be raifed in plants, they fliould be a- bout the thicknefs of a man's thumb, and planted in a moift feafon, either in fpring or autumn: they muft be fhaded well with ftraw or halm after they are fet, and muft be carefully watered, as foon as they begin to fhoot, otherwife they will all perifh.
If any of them feem to perifh, they muft be cut off clofe at the roots, and they will often fprout out vigoroufly thence again. The ground muft be dug up all about them at times, which very greatly promotes their growth ; and the farmer muft keep his fheep from them, for they are very fond of cropping the young fprouts.
Field mice are apt to gnaw the roots of the holly in hard win- ters, and many of thefe trees are fuppofed to be killed by the froft, when the teeth of thofe little vermin have really done the mifchief.
The beft way of raifing a fence of thefe trees, is to plant them with the quick or white thorn, four plants of that to one of holly, thefe will thrive very well together, and while the white thorn grows very fpeedily, the holly will take its time; as this grows large, the white thorn may be pulled up between by degrees, till at length, there is only the holly left ; and if this is found not thick enough, the boughs of it which grow neareft the ground, may be laid down and covered with earth, and they will fend up innumerable fuckers, which will fill up all the gaps.
Befide thefe there are very good fences made of furz, of alder, Suppi. Vol. I.
FEN
and even of elder, in fome places on proper foils. SeelKCIo*
SURE.
FEN-cricht, a name given by fome people to the gryllotalpa. See Gryllotalpa.
FENGELD, in our antient writers is ufed for a tax or impofi- tioi] raifed for repelling of enemies. Blount. It comes from the Saxon fund an enemy, mi geld, money.
ri-NNEL giant, in botany. See Ferula.
/%Finnel. Sec Peucedanum.
Siveet Fennel. See Finochia.
FENS (Cycl) —What the farmers callow at fenny lands, are of two kinds. Firfl, thofe which are only drowned by upland floods and great rains, and are very large and lie upon the levels, fo that the water cannot run off from them, but muft be there till the hot weather and winds dry it off; and, fecondly, thofe that are conftantly wet, only that in dry times they are thai- lower covered with water than in others. In draining of thefe forts of lands, which is the only means of making them ul'eful to the world, two things are to be confidered, full the laying them perfectly dry, which can only be efftaed by the making cuts and drains for the carrying off the water from their low- eft parts, and thence from the whole. Or fecondly, the taking off fiom them the great addtional wetting they have from land floods, and long continued rains. The firft me- thod makes a perfect cute, the other is only a temporary re- lief, and makes the lands more ferviceable in dry tunes, and leaves lels for the fun to dry up.
Whatever is attempted in regard to the draining of fins, the lowed: part of the ground is to be found out firft, and the overflowing from great rains, and from land floods muft be provided for, in the carrying off that way ; tor fliould this be neghcted all the labour and coft employed on the other prin- ciple would be thrown away. If it is found that this can be done, there muft afterwards be cut a large drain through the middle of the land, and feveral fmaller drains from all parts communicating with this.
The great dtain muft be dug deep enough to drain the whole level, and this and all the others, mult be made narrowed at the head, and wider all the way to the mouth, where they muff b L wideft of all.
Thefe drains muft be all well cleanfed from mud and weeds every fpring and autumn, and the water from land floods muft be kept from coming in upon thefe lands, as much as'poffible, that there may be the lels to be drained off; the lower edges of the fen land muft be for this purpofe guarded with banks to turn the water into other channels. In Effex they have many lands that lie below the high water mark, and are above the low water mark, and have land floods or fleets run- ning through them, which make a fort of fmall creek. Thefe lands they have a very eafy way of draining, though they are naturally very moift when they firft enclofe them from the fea; they do it with a bank, which they extend from one fide of the land they defign to take in, to the other, excepting a fpace that they leave, where the creek or land floods, run in- to the fea. They then prepare a wooden frame, well plank- ed, and of confiderable thicknefs, fitted to the head of the creek, and capable of (hutting it wholly up ; in this frame they make feveral holes, in which are placed wooden troughs, made each of four boards, and fuited in fize and number to the quantity of water that is to be difcharged through them from the land floods. Each of thefe trunks is open toward the creek, but on the fea fide, it has a door or flap, which opens when the land flood preffes againft it, and gives it free paflage out, but when the fea water is rifen to the height of it and preffes it, it is fhut by the force, and no fea water is let in. When this head is prepared, they let it in, and flopping up the whole creek, they continue the banks on each fide till they meet it : thus all the land floods are let out at low water, and not a drop of fea water can be admitted, fo that the lands are kept dry and ufeful, which were before rendered ufelefs, by being drowned with fait water, at every high water mark. The frefh water of the creek is thus kept unmixed with the fea water, and therefore affords good drink for the cattle, which is commonly very difficult to be had in this fort of lands, the tides fpoiling what fiefh waters there are, every time they come up. Mortimer's Husbandry. The wet grounds called fens in Lincolnshire and elfewhere in England, bring many advantages to the inhabitants of thofe counties. Fowl and fifh are very plentiful in them. The pike and eels are large and eafily caught, but they are ufually courle. The duck, mallard and teal are in fuch plenty, as is fcarce to be conceived; they are taken in decoys, by pro- digious flocks at a time. They fend thefe fowl to London from Lincolnftiire, twice a week on hoifeback, from Micha- elmas to Lady-day, and one decoy will furnifh twenty dozen, or more, twice a week, for the whole feafon in this manner. The decoy-men contract with the people who bring them to London at a certain rate, and they are obliged to take the whole number that is catched off their hands. Two teal are ufually reckoned equal to one duck, and fix ducks and twelve teal are accounted a dozen of wild fowl ; and the ufual market price is about nine ihillings, for fuch a dozen. About Mid- 11 D fummstf'
