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FESSENDEN

658

FIBER

value. The wise farmer buys his own raw materials and mixes them in proportion to suit his own crops and conditions. Commercial fertilizers are applied to fields dry, being spread broadcast and worked in or drilled in. The amount usually applied is from 400 to 600 pounds per acre. Ten pounds of nitrogen per acre furnished by a fertilizer are the least amount that will give satisfactory results; likewise 15 pounds of soluble phosphoric acid; and 20 pounds of potash. Such fertilizer is applied in gardens and lawns, either dry or in solution. The following complete fertilizer is recommended: J pound nitrate of soda, one pound of acid phosphate, \ pound muriate of potash, for every 100 square feet of garden. Lime acts principally to change physical conditions, compacting sandy soils and making stiff clay-soils loose. It also exerts some chemical influence. For barn-yard and green-cropping manures see MANURES, NITROGEN-GATHERING CROPS and ROTATION OP CR.OPS. See Robert's Fertility of the Land, Snyder's Chemistry of Soils and Fertilizers and bulletins of state experiment-stations and the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Fes'senden, William Pitt, an American statesman, was born at Boscawen, N. H., on Oct. 16, 1806. He was elected in 1832 to Maine's legislature as a Whig, and in 1854 the Whigs and free-soil Democrats elected him to the United States senate. He became one of the leaders of the newly organized Republican party, and was a member of the peace congress in 1861. He was secretary of the treasury from 1864 till his resignation in 1865, when he again entered the senate. He was ranked among the first lawyers of the United States, and had few superiors as a debater. He died at Portland, Me., on Sept. 1869.

Fetich (fe'ftsh), an article of worship capable of being appropriated by an individual. It is not strictly an idol, but the dwelling-

Elace of a spirit. Flints, shells, claws, gathers, earth, sand, plants, trees, mountains may become fetiches, provided the belief exists that a spirit is lodged within them. They are attached to individuals, families and tribes. Crooked sixpences, horseshoes and four-leaved clovers, as used for "luck," are very much like the fetiches of savages. The worship of fetiches is called ^ fetichism. See A. B. Ellis' Tshi-Speaking People of the Gold Coast.

Feu'dal System in the middle ages formed the connecting link between early society and the modern reign of law and order. It was based on the holding of land, and the result of the system was the establishment of the various great European powers on the ruins of the Roman empire. The feudal theory was that the king was the absolute owner of all the land in the kingdom; the chief lords held their lands from him on the

condition of military service. Such was the principle of the system that prevailed over Prance and Germany at the time of the Norman conquest. William I introduced feudalism into England, where it prevailed in some form or other until the restoration of Charles II. The remains of the feudal system may be seen on the banks of the Rhine better than anywhere else. There are the castles of the feudal baron, the villages of his dependents and the church whose priest was his tenant. See Seebohm's The English Village Community.

Fez, the second capital of Morocco, is situated in a valley on the northwestern side of the Atlas Mountains. The city is surrounded with walls from 30 to 40 feet high, and with towers at intervals for cannon. The streets are narrow and unpaved, and the houses low, but their interiors often are very beautiful. There are large palaces for the sultan, and n large mosques, one, the mosque of Karubin, being of immense size, with 800 pillars. Tanning, weaving, pottery, fez-caps and morocco leather, particularly the red, are among the manufactures. The university, founded in 859, is one of the oldest and largest in North Africa, and at present has about 700 students with 40 professors. The population is estimated at about 140,000, made up of Arabs, Berbers, Jews and negroes. Fez was founded in 808, and has for many years been the sacred city of the Mohammedans. See De Martiniere's Morocco (English translation).

Fezzan (fez'zdn'), a province of the Turkish empire, attached to Tripoli. It extends 390 miles north and south and 300 miles east and west. Its area is about 150,200 square miles. The inhabitants of the province number about 50,000, and are a mixed race. They are frivolous yet honest, and are notorious for their immorality., The principal town is Murzuk, having a population of about 6,500. Fezzan belongs to the desert-region of North Africa. See Earth's Travels in Central Africa.

Fiber, a substance resembling a thread or bundle of threads, which is either of animal or vegetable origin, except asbestos, the only mineral fiber known. Fiber is used in manufactures, and its value depends upon the structure, strength, elasticity, length, fineness and ability to absorb colors, as in dyeing. Human hair and horsehair, which are fibers, are not very useful in manufactures, because they are too smooth to hold together when twisted into a yarn. Fibers of wool, silk, cotton and flax have projections seen only under a microscope; or they will twist and curl, so that when made into yarn (or thread) they will not untwist. Among animal fibers used in the arts are wool, fur and silk. Vegetable fibers come from different parts of plants.