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certainty. In general, we may always be certain, that if a quanti-ty of vapour is accumulated in any place, no intense frost cansubsist in that place for any length of time ; and by whatevercauses the vapouns are driven from place to place, by the samecauses the frosts are regulated throughout the whole world. SeeVapour . Frost, being derived from tiie atmosphere, naturallyproceeds from the upper parts of bodies downwards, as the waterand the earth : so, the longer a frost is continued, the thicker thelee becomes upon the water in ponds, and the deeper into the earththe ground is frozen. In about lb or 17 days frost, Mr. Boylefound it had penetrated 14 inches into the ground. At Moscow ,>n a hard season, the frost will penetrate two feet deep in the ground;and Capt. James found it penetrated 10 feet in Char.lton island,and the water in the same island was frozen to the depth of sixfeet. Scheffer assures us, that in Sweden the frost pierces two cu-bits or Swedish ells into the earth, and turns what moisture it findsthere into a whitish substance, like ice ; and standing waters tothree ells, or more. The same author also mentions sudden cracks*n the ice of the lakes of Sweden , nine or ten feet deep, and manyleagues long ; the rupture being made with a noise not less loudthan if many guns were discharged together. By such means,however, the lishes are furnished with air ; so that they are rarelyfound dead. The natural history of frosts furni;h very extraordi-nary effects. The trees are often scorched and burnt up, as withthe most excessive heat, in consequence of the separation of waterfrom the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost in1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, &c. were miserably splitand cleft, so that they' might be seen through, and the cracks of-ten attended with dreadful noises like the explosion of tire-arms,f’hilos. Trans. Number l(i5. The close of tiie year 1708, and thebeginning of 1709, were remarkable throughout the greatest part°f Europe , for a severe frost. Dr. Derham says, it was the jgreatest in degree, if not the most universal in the memory of man ;extending through most parts of Europe , though scarcely felt in |Scotland or Ireland . In very cold countries, meat may be pre-served by the frost six or seven months, and prove tolerably goodeating. See Captain Middleton’s observations made in Hudson’s“ay. in the Philos. Trans. Number 4(1:3, sect. 2. In that climate\he frost seems never out of the ground, it having been found bardfrozen in the two summer-months. Brandy and spirits, set out in jfhe open air, freeze to solid ice in three or four hours. Lakes and Istanding waters, not above 10 or 12 feet deep, are frozen to the jGround, in winter, and all their fish perish. But in rivers where*be .current of the tide is strong, the ice does not reach so deep, |a nd the'fish ar e preserved. Id. ib.

FROTH-SPIT, or CUCKOVV-SPJT, aname given to a whitefroth, or spume, very common in spring and the first months'ofsummer, oh the leaves of certain plants, particularly on those of*ue common white field lychnis, or catchily, thence called by somes Patling-poppy. It is formed by a little leaping animal, called bysome the tlea-grasshopper, by applying its anus dose to the leaf,a, jd discharging thereon a small drop of a white viscous fluid,' v nich, containing some air in, it, is soon elevated into a smallbubble : before this is well formed, it deposits such another drop ;®r>d so on, till it is every way overwhelmed with a quantity of‘hese bubbles, which form the white froth which we see. Withinfj"s spume it is seen to acquire four tubercles on its back, wherein‘he wings are inclosed: these bursting, from a reptile it becomesa "inged animal; and thus rendered perfect, it flies to meet itsj n ate, and propagate its kind. It has an oblong obtuse body ; aar ge bead with small eyes; four external wings, of a dusky brown'•dour, marked with two white spots: the head is black. It is as l>ecies of Cicada.

ERUCTESCF.NTIA, [from/rtrcfw, I .at. fruit,] m botany, li-erally signifies the growth of the fruit, but is used ellipticallv for. . precise time in which, after tiie fall of (he flowers, the fruitsarr 've at maturity, and disperse their seeds. In general, plants^hlch flower in spring ripen their fruits in summer, as rye ; those^pfich tlower in summer have their fruits ripe in autumn, as (heV !le ; the fruit of autumnal flow-el's ripens in winter, or the follow-' n ? spring, if kept in a stove or otherwise defended from excessive- ,r .°sts. These frosts, says M. Adanson, are frequently ko perni-C1 . 0l 's and violent, as to destroy the greatest part of the perennial.Pants of Virginia and Mississippi , that are cultivated in trance,

Ven before they have exhibited their fruit. ’1 he plants which flowervol u.— no. 89.

during our winter, such as those of the Cape of Good Hope ,ripen their fruit iu spring, in our stoves.

FRUC TIDOR, [i. e. the fruit-month, from fructus, Lat.] thename of the 12th mouth, in the late French Revolutionary Calen-dar . It began Aug. 19, and ended Sept. 16.

FRUC TIFICATION OF PLANTS, is defined by Linnarusto be the temporary part of a vegetable appropriated to genera-tion, terminating the old vegetable, and beginning the new. SeeBotany .

FRUIT , in its general sense, includes whatever the earth pro-duces for the nourishment of animals, expressed by the Latins un-der the namefri/ges, as herbs, grain, hay, corn, &c.

Fruit, in botany, called by the Greeks, xajv©', in the Linnxausystem, is one of the parts of fructification, and is distinguishedinto three parts, viz. the pericarpium, seed, and receptacle, or re-ceptaculum seminum. See Botany . Fruit, more properly, sig-nifies the production of a tree, or plant, for the propagation of itskind, in which sense the word takes in all kinds of seeds, with theirfurniture.

Fruits, in commerce, are distinguished into recent or fresh,and dry.

J. Fruits, Dry, are those dried in the sun, or by the fire,with other ingredients sometimes added to make them keep ; im-ported chiefly beyond sea, and sold by the grocers. Such are rai-sins, currants, figs, capers, olives, cloves, nutmegs, pepper, andother spices; winch see in their order. Under tiie denominationof dry fruits are also frequently included apples, pears, almonds,id herds, See.

2. Fruits, 1’r.esh, or. Recent, are those sold just as they aregathered from the tree, without any farther preparation ; as aremost of the productions of our gardens and .orchards, sold by thefruiterers.

Fruit, Preservation of. In thePhilosophicalTraiisactions,No. 237, we have a receipt for preserving fruit and flowers for awhole year, which is as follows. Take saltpetre, one pound ;bole armoniac, two pounds; common clean sand, three pounds:mix them together; and, in dry weather, take fruit or flowers ofany sort, not fully ripe, each with its stalk, and put them singly in-to an open glass, till it be full; cover it close with oil-cloth; andin a dry cellar, put each of these glasses four fingers-deep underground, so that quite round above, as well as below, there may re-main two fingers-thick of the mixture. One of the most easy me-thods of preserving fruit, is that of depositing it in ice-houses,where it may remain in a frozen state for a considerable time.And, if the fruit lie afterwards gradually thawed, by covering itwith melted ice, or immersing it in cold spring-water, it will Josebut little of its flavour, provided it be consumed on the same day.Fruit may also be preserved, by keeping it in pits dug in a dry-soil, or in dry cellars, or even in barns, if the temperature be be-tween 32° and 48° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer; that is, such aswill neither induce frost nor vegetation. These pits or maga-zines, however, ought to be covered with such materials as arecalculated to repel heat, and to absorb any accidental putrid exha-lations, and thus retard the progress of putrefaction. Hence Dr.Darwin recommends the fruit to be covered first with pulverizedcharcoal, one or two inches thick, over which is to be laid a stra-tum of saw-dust, and over the latter, a thick, impenetrable thatchof straw : thus, seeds and fruits may be stored up for ages, withoutvegetating or decaying. H e likewis^ mentions another mode ofpreserving fruit, by heat. As fermentation will not commence inthe heat of boiling water, or 212°; and, as that degree of tempera-ture can be easily procured by steam, or by the vicinity of ves-sels containing boiling water, he is of opinion, that such fruits asare used for culinary purposes throughout the year,' may be keptin a fresh state, by putting them into bottles, and exposing themto the wasted steam of engines; or, by immersing them in thehot water that flows from such steam when condensed; or, byplacing the bottles near the boilers which are fixed beside kitchen-iires.

FRUITERYj a place for the keeping of fruit; a fruit-house orfruit-loft. A fruitery should be inaccessible to any thing of mois-ture, and should lie as much as possible so, even to frost.

FRUIT-TREES, are such as bear fruit, namely, Apple , Cher-ry, Rear-trees, &c. With regard to fruit-trees it may be observed,1. Tiie cutting or pruning them when young hinclers their bear-6 O ing.