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pint of water; this when cold becomes a frifF jelly. Whisk up fome of this jelly into a froth with a little of the wine in- tended to be fined, then ftir it well among the reft in the cask, and bung it down tight; by this means the wine will become bright in eight or ten days. Shaw's Lectures, p. 208. This method however is found to be beft fuited to the white wines ; for the red ones the wine coopers commonly ufe the whites of eggs beat up to a froth, and mixed in the fame manner with their wines. The method by which thefe vif- cous bodies aft in the operation is this ; they entangle them- felves among the flying lee or light fseculencies, that float in the wine, and thus forming a mafs Specifically heavier than the wine, they fink thro* the body thereof like a net ; carry- ing down all the foulnefs it meets in the way to the bottom j but when the wine is extremely rich, fo that its fpecific gravi- ty is greater than that of the mafs formed by the ingredients ufed in fining and the dregs or lee, this mafs then rifes up- ward, and floats at the furface of the wine, which will in this cafe alfo draw off fine.
FINIRE, in law, was ufed to fine, or pay a fine upon compo- fition and making fatUfaclion. It is the fame with fincm fa- cere, mentioned in Leg. Hen. 1. c. 53.
FINITO, in the Italian mufic, a canon or fugue is faid to be Jinito, when 'tis not perpetual ; but when at fome certain places all the parts join or unite, after having followed one another for fome time. Brofs. Mufic. Diet, in voc. See Canon, Cyd. and Suppl.
FINN1KIN, the name of a particular fpecies of pigeon called by Moore the columba in gyrumjleclens. It is of the fhape and tize of the common pigeon. The crown of its huad has fomething of the refemblance of a fnake's head, and it is gravel eyed, and has a tuft of feathers on the hinder part of its crown, which runs down its neck, not unlike a horfes main. It is not fea- ther leg'd, and is in colour always either a black or blue pied. Moore's Columb. p. 49.
They have their name from their Angular manner of courting the female, which is always by rifing over her, and making three or four turns, flapping the wings, and then turning as many times round the other way.
Were a gentleman in the country to frock a pigeon houfe with this fpecies alone, their antic geftures would make people be- lieve he kept an inchanted caftle. Some people disapprove thefe pigeons, as apt to fpoil the hens, by making them fquat with thefe antic geftures But this is a ground left fear.
FINOCHIA, in gardening, the name of a plant which has of late years been introduced into the Englifh gardens, and cul- tivated as a fall.d herb. It is a fpecies of fennel, and is called by authors Faniculum duke azoricum. The fweet fennel of the Azores iflands. It is a high delicacy with fome in England, though in general it is not liked ; it feems however to be gain- ing more and more ground among us, and probably will in a little more time be a commonly elreemed herb. The culture of it is this.
Good feeds muft be fir ft procured from Italy, for thofe of Eng- lifh ripening are very apt to degenerate. In February fome of thefe fhould be fuwed for the firiicrop, on a light dry foil, and in a warm fituation. The manner of fowing thefe feeds is firft to rake the bed very fmooth, then draw a fmall riii along it, and in this fcatter them pretty thin ; for .the plants are not to ftand nearer than fix inches to one another; cover this with half an inch of earth, and at the diftance of fixteen inches, make another rill, and fo on throughout the bed. In about a month the plants will come up, and they mult be then cleared of weeds, and cut up to four inches diftance ; a month after this, they muft be rhin'd to fix or feven inches diftance; the ftalks will now begin to Iwell to a large bulk juft above the ground, this part muft be earthed up in the manner of celeri, about a fortnight before it is ufed, which will make it eat very tender and crifp.
A fecond crop mould be fown three weeks after the firft; and in that manner till July; every three weeks or month a new crop fhould be fown, to keep a conftant fupply for the table. The crops fown in the hotter weather fhould be water'd and {haded from the great heats. Miller's Gardener's D.dt.
FINSCALE, an Englifh name for the river hfh, more ufually called the rudd, the ruttlus latior, or rubellio jiwuiatilh of au- thors. IVtlhugbby's Hift. Fife. p. 252. See Rubellio.
F1NTO, in the Italian mufic, fignifies a feint, or an attempt to do fomething, and not to do it; as cadenza finta^ is when hav- ing done every thing proper for a true cadence, inftead of fal- ling on the right final, another note, either higher or lower, is taken, or perhaps a paufe brought in. Brofs, Muf. Diet. in Voc.
FIR.- tree, abies, in botany the name of a genus of trees, the characters of which are thefe. The flower is of the amenta- ceous kind, being compofed of a number of ftamina; this is only a male or barren flower however, the embryos being li- tuated between the leaves ofa fpike, placed in fome other part of the tree. Thefe finally become foliated (eeds, which are hid under a feries of fcales affixed to a central axis, which together conftitute the fruit or cone, as it is called of the fir ;
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for this is no other in reality than the fpike of embrios grown thicker and larger. To this it is to be added, that the leaves grow fingly, not more than one out of the time theca as thofe of the pine.
The fpecies of fir enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe: I. The yew-leav'dyfr, with the fruit pointing upwards. 2. The narrower leaved fir, with the fruit pointing downward. 3. The long leaved fir, called bv fome the pinafter like fir 4.The fmall Virginian fir, with peflinated leaves, and fmall round* lib fruit. Ttmrn. Inff. p. 585.
The manner of propagating fir, pines, and other trees of that kind from feeds is this. '1 he ripe cones of thefe trees are to be either expoled to a gentle heat, or (baked for twelve hours in warm water ; after which the feveral cells will opal, and the feeds fall out. F
Thefe feeds fbouJd never be taken out till the time of fowing them, which is March. The ground they are to be fown in, muft be carefully turned feveral times to deftroy the roots of weeds. For a large plantation, this is beft done by ploughing feveral times; after this, the eaith is to be levelled with a. fpade in fmall fpots at every fix feet fquare; in each of which fpots, ten or twelve feeds are to be fown, and covered with fome of the fame mould broken fine but not fitted ; then they are to be covered with a furze bufh or other fuch covering ; and this is to remain for fome time after the plants are come up, but they muft not be covered too clofe by it ; when this covering is taken off, a little loofe earth is to be drawn about the ftems of the plants, and a little furze ftuck about them, to keep off the too great heat of the fun. Ufually from twelve feeds there are eight plants or thereabout, and thefe may be left ftanding togeiher, till the third year. In March or Apiil the third year after fowing, the plants are to be removed to the place where they are to ftand, and planted at eight foot fquare diftance, or greater, if defired. Two plants fhould however be left in the plantation in each clufter, and great care taken not to injure the roots of thefe. The others alfo muft be taken up with as much earth about their roots as pofiibie. When they are fet in the new plantation, there muft be flakes fixt near them to tie them to, that the wind does not blow them down, and the roots muft be covered with litter, and they muft have a gentle watering to fettle the earth to their roots. If the weather prove very dry, this may be repeated two or three times, but a little at a time ; over watering kills all new fet trees, and the cutting any of the heads or branches of thefe of the refinous kind is a very dangerous thing. The Scotch pine delights in a chJky foil on the lidc of a hill> but will alfo grow in gravel, and in any ground that is not too wet.
The common fir loves a loamy ftrong foil, and is a native of low flat grounds; and moft of the American firs and pines, love a loofe moift foil. The filver fir, and the manured pine, love a dry fituation, but muft have a deeper foil than the Scotch pine, and muft be ffielter'd from the north winds. The two trees left in each fpot of the place where they were fown, may be left together feven years, then the leaft flouriftiing tree is to be carefully removed. Miller's Card. Diet.
FIRDFARE. See Ferdfare.
FIRDWITE. See Ferd wit, Cyd.
FIRE (Cyd.) - By the general name of fire, men feem to un- derftand a certain fcnlation or complex notion of light, heat, burning, melting, &c. but this notion fhould be refolved, to lie what p^rts of it are eiTenrial, what arbitrary. We frequently find the effecls of yW'pruduced where no fire is vifible ; thus the fingers may be burnt by an iron much lefs than red hot- therefore the eye is no judge of fire; nor is the touch, for that give us no fenfation ot heat below the natural warmth of the body, nor of any fo great as to deftroy the organ. It this method of rejection be purfued to the utmoft, we ftiall per- haps find no criterion of fire, but that of a general motion ftruggling among the fmall parts of bodies,and tend ng to throw them off at the furface; and in this cafe motion is the form or effence of fire. But we have mere light into this, by find- ing that all bodies are expanded by fire; that the inflammable matter of fuch is oil : that no fuel will confume without the ad million of frtfh air, and that flame exifts only in the fur- face of fuel. Shaw\ Lectures, p. 26. See the articles Ex- pansion, Oil and Fuel.
The chemifts in all ages have been ufed to talk of the degrees of fire, they ufually divided them into four; but very little certainty was to be found on this head, till the way was found of applying the excellent thermometer of Farenheit to mea- fure the progrefsof heat by certain and invariable rules. On this bafis Boerhaave has eftabliihed the chemifts doflrine "of the power of fire of different ftrength, and divided it into fix degrees, and thefe are the degrees of fire which our chemifts allude to, when they now mention the force of fire in their operations. The firft degree of heat, is that whereby nature performs the office of vegetation in plants, and bv which che- miftry imitates and does the like. This commences from the higheft degree of cold, which in Farcnheit's thermometer is marked by 1, and ends at eighty degrees; fince in this
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