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their fructification on the back of the fronds or leaves. They are usually found in humid soil, sometimes grow epiphytically on trees, and in tropical climates often attain a gigantic size.

ss; abundance of resources; fertile invention; quickness; readiness; as, the fertility of soil, or of imagination. "fertility of resource." E. Everett. And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps Corrupting in its own fertility. Shak. Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy waste More rich than other climes' fertility. Byron.…

upply with nourishment for plants; to make fruitful or productive; as, to fertilize land, soil, ground, and meadows. And fertilize the field that each pretends to gain. Byron.

y that makes it fester. South. Hatred . . . festered in the hearts of the children of the soil. Macaulay.

superior such duties and services as belong to military tenure, etc., the property of the soil always remaining in the lord or superior; a fief; a fee.

Foul matter; anything that soils or defiles; dirt; nastiness.

To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.; as. to fine the soil. L. H. Bailey.

Light; superficially thin; not penetring deep, as soil. [Prov. Eng.] Mortimer.

The process by which small particles of fine soils and sediments aggregate into larger lumps.

ge, as a healthy growing plant; a thrive. A tree thrives and flourishes in a kindly . . . soil. Bp. Horne.

To soil with flyspecks.

To defile; to soil. [Obs.]

To raise, or pitch with a fork, as hay; to dig or turn over with a fork, as the soil. Forking the sheaves on the high-laden cart. Prof. Wilson. To fork over or out, to hand or pay over, as money. [Slang] G. Eliot.

arts. The meanest plant can not be raised without seed, by any formative residing in the soil. Bentley.

rse. Dryden. -- Foster earth, earth by which a plant is nourished, though not its native soil. J. Philips. -- Foster father, a man who takes the place of a father in caring for a child. Bacon. -- Foster land. (a) Land allotted for the maintenance of any one. [Obs.] (b) One's adopted country. -- Foster lean Etym: [f…

To make filthy; to defile; to daub; to dirty; to soil; as, to foul the face or hands with mire.

earing results; prolific; fertile; liberal; bountiful; as, a fruitful tree, or season, or soil; a fruitful wife. -- Fruit"ful*ly, adv. -- Fruit"ful*ness, n. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Gen. i. 28. [Nature] By disburdening grows More fruitful. Milton. The great fruitfulness of the poet's fancy. A…

Knowledge of the earth, ground, or soil, obtained by inspection. Chambers.

Turf; soil; ground; sod. Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine. Milton.

rious senses; excellence; virtue; kindness; benevolence; as, the goodness of timber, of a soil, of food; goodness of character, of disposition, of conduct, etc.