Ferm - A farm.

Fermentation - The breakdown of organic substances by the action of Enzymes, usually secreted by living organism such as Bacteria and Yeast. Heat and gas (e.g., carbon dioxide) are usually evolved. The principle of fermentation is used in the making of Silage, wine, vinegar, etc.

Fermented Milk - Also known as cultured buttermilk. Milk seeded with cultures of lactic acid bacteria to bring about souring and to cause changes in texture, aroma and taste. A refreshing beverage.

Ferret - An albino variety of the polecat, half tamed and used to catch or unearth rabbits and rats.

Ferruginous Soil - Soil having large amounts of iron minerals, especially limonite and hamatite. It is characterized by the colour or shades of yellow and brown.

Fertile - 1. A descriptive term for plants or animals able to reproduce successfully, as distinct from being sterile. Also those able to produce offspring prolifically. Used also to describe eggs capable of producing a chick, or seeds capable of Germination.
2. A descriptive term for land or soil, rich in nutrients, and capable of producing good crops.

Fertilization - I. The enrichment of soil by the application of Fertilizer.
2. The union of male and female gametes in reproduction to produce a zygote.

Fertilizer - In general terms anything added to the soil to increase the amount of plant nutrients available for crop growth. Normally applied to inorganic chemicals and non-bulky organic substances (i.e., excluding Compost, Farmyard Manure, etc., which are commonly called Manures). Fertilizers basically provide the major plant nutrients (i.e., Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potash), either individually (Straight Fertilizer) or as a combination of two or three (Compound Fertilizer)., sometimes together with Trace Elements.

(a) The nitrogenous fertilizers include Ammonium Nitrate, Nitrate of Soda, Sulphate of Ammonia, Anhydrous Ammonia, Urea, Ammonium Phosphate and Liquid Nitrogen Fertilizers. (b) The phosphatic fertilizers may be quick acting (water soluble)) or slow acting (water insoluble) and include Ammonium Phosphate, Superphosphates, Bone Flour, Bone Meal, Fish Guano and Reddzlaag. (c) The Potash fertilizers include Muriate of Potash, Sulphate of Potash, Kainit and Nitrate of Potash. Fertilizers applied to the soil usually quickly dissolve in the Soil Water and are taken up by plant roots or absorbed by soil colloids (Cation Exchange). Excess fertilizer may be leached through the soil into the Ground-Water. Fertilizers now-a-days are mostly produced in easily stored granulated form but powders and crystals, and also less concentrated liquids are available. Inorganic chemicals such as Limestone and Gypsum applied to correct such soil conditions as acidity and salinity may also be considered as fertilizers.

Fertilizers Distributors - Machines which distribute Fertilizer on the land usually by broadcasting if in a solid form (i.e., crystals, granules or powders), or by spraying if in liquid form, and sometimes by injection into the soil (e.g.,Anhydrous Ammonia). Broadcast types comprise a hopper which feeds the fertilizer to a spreading mechanism, the most popular being either a spinning disc or oscillating spout, which distribute fertilizer in swaths of variable width. These machanisms are less accurate than the 'full width' distributors such as the once popular 'plate and flicker' type or the more modem agitator or pneumatic type spreaders. Fertilizers can also be applied by a Combine Drill, Placement Drill, and by aircraft as top dressing, particularly to cereals.

Fertiliser Grade - An expression indicating the percentage of plant nutrients in a fertilizer e.g., a 12-5-5 grade of fertilizer means 12 per cent nitrogen, 5 per cent phosphoric acid (P2P5) and 5 per

cent potash (K2 O).

Fertilizer Ratio - Referring to the relative proportion of three major plant nutrients, keeping the percentage of nitrogen as one in the ratio. Thus a 6-12-6 fertilizer mixture having 6 per cent nitrogen, 12 per cent available P2P5 and 6 per cent soluble potash has a nurtrient ratio 1 :2: 1.

Fertilizer Requirement - The quantity of particular plant nutrients required, in addition to those already contained in the soil, to increase crop growth to a desired optimum.

Fertility Gradient - Means the variation in nature fertility in any direction across an area of ground.

Fertility (Soil) - Means the ability of a soil to supply all the essential nutrients in optimum amount in a form that is readily available to plants.

Fetlock - The tuft of hair which grows above a horse's hoof or the part of the leg where it grows.

Fibre - A constituent of animal Feedingstuffs consisting mainly of Cellulose and Lignin, which aids digestion by stimulating muscular activity in the digestive tract. It also facilitates the digestion of concentrates by opening them up to the action of the digestive juices. All farm animals require a certain amount of fibre except when very young and oil a liquid diet. Ruminants require the most fibre and derive energy from it by bacterial digestion in the rumen. Cows require adequate fibre to produce milk with a high percentage of Butterfat. Sheep and horses require less fibre than cattle but more than pigs. Excess fibre in the diet can prevent an animal eating sufficient food to derive adequate essential nutrients. Hay and and Straw are characterized by a high fibre content.

Ficundity of Insects - The average numbers of eggs laid by an insect has been from 100-200 but in some particular cases, especially the social insects, there may be more than this, e.g., a queen may lay 2,000 eggs a day; a queen termite may lay 60 eggs a minute with total of several millions.

Fiddle - A small portable device carried on the shoulders for broadcast sowing, especially grass and clover seeds in hilly areas. It comprises a hopper which slowly drops seed on to a ribbed disc which the operator causes to rotate and throw the seed by pushing and pulling an attached 'bow'. Very rarely used.

Field - An area of land, usually enclosed by a ditch, fence, hedge, etc., for cultivation or grazing purposes. Fields are usually sown to a single crop at one time. In recent years the trend has been the removal of field divisions (e.g., hedges) to facilitate cultivation and increased efficiency, and the larger fields created are sometimes termed management units. Such larger fields also allow cropping flexibility and sometimes several different crops are grown in the field at the same time.

Field Capacity - The state of soil when all the soil moisture that is able to drain away freely has done so. The remaining moisture is held by the forces of surface tension around soil particles and in capillary pores (Capillary Water).

Field Capacity Zone - Buffer zone on which water has been held against gravity under free drainage. It is this zone which does not allow the moisture and consequently the salts from moving in a vertically upward direction.

Field Crops - Herbaceous plants which are grown in cultivated field under more or less extensive system of culter.

Field Duty of Water - Quantity of water which is given to individual fields or orchards under an irrigation project. It has been expressed in terms similar to those for farm duty of water.

Field Efficiency (Plough) - Refers to the ratio of effective field capacity, and theoretical field capacity. It is expressed in percentage.

Field Irrigation Requirement of a Crop - Means water which is required by crops exclusive of rainfall and contribution from soil profile.

Field Moisture - Refers to the per cent moisture content in a field sample of soil at anyone time.

Field Moisture Deficiency - Quantity of water needed to restore the soil moisture content to field moisture capacity.

Field Moisture Equivalent- Minimum moisture content which is expressed as a percentage of the weight of the oven-dried soil at which a drop of water kept on a smoothed surface of the soil will not immediately be absorbed by the soil but will spread out over the surface and give it a shiny appearance.

Field Waste - That portion of the irrigation water which has not been absorbed or evaporated as it passed over the irrigated land.

Field Room - The time needed for a crop stooked (Stock) in a field to dry sufficiently for stacking.

Field Sports - Sports carried out in the countryside such as foxhunting, hare coursing, horse racing, etc.

Fieldman - A farmworker, the major part of whose work is in the fields, as distinct from around and in the farm buildings.

Filbert - The nut of the cultivated Hazel.

Fill - 1. The contents of the digestive tract of an animal.
2. The space between the shafts of a cart in which a horse stands when harnessed, the horse itself being the filler.

Filler - A tree temporarily growing in between fruit trees in an orchard until they mature and require the space.

Filly - A young female horse between 1 and 4 years of age.

Filly Foal - A female horse up to 1 year of age.

Film Yeast - Type of yeast (microscopic fungs) growing on the surface of certain nutrient liquids and producing heavy folded films. Such yeasts are widely distributed in nature. They are generally found in fermentation process on the surface of sugar containing solutions, pickle brines, or other acid and sugar containing liquids. These yeasts generally grow in very high concentrations of salt, acid, and sugar.

Filter (Bacterial) - The term used for a special type of filter through which bacterial cells fail to pass. A filter is used for separating microorganism from a gas or liquid in which they become dispersed. Filtration is a convenient method to sterilise heat labile liquids and solutions which cannot be autoclaved. This is carried out merely by passing the virus free liquid through a suitable filter.

Filterable Virus - Microorganism which is capable of passing the pores of microbiological filters (or a bacterial filter).

Fingers - Units with flat faces (known as ledgers projecting from and bolted to the cutter bar of a Binder, Mower or Combine

Harvester, across which the knives slide backwards and forwards and cut the grass blades or crop against the fingers.

Finish - An Open Furrow being the last one ploughed in a fieid.

Finished - A term applied to animals, particulary beef cattle which have been carefully fattened and are ready for sale at market, having an acceptable degree of fat cover. Finished animals are expected to produce good quality carcases.