Page:EB1911 - Volume 11.djvu/385

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FÜRSTENWALDE—FURZE
367

advocating the freedom of the press. He was not less distinguished by his large charities: among other foundations he established a hospital at Donaueschingen. For the industrial development of the country, too, he did much, and proved himself also a notable patron of the arts. His palace of Donaueschingen, with its collections of paintings, engravings and coins, was a centre of culture, where poets, painters and musicians met with princely entertainment. He died on the 14th of September 1869, and was succeeded by his son Karl Egon II. (1820–1892), with the death of whose son, Karl Egon III., in 1896, the title and estates passed to Prince Maximilian Egon, head of the cadet line of Fürstenberg-Pürglitz.

See Münch, Gesch. des Hauses und des Landes Fürstenberg, 4 vols. (Aix-la-Chapelle, 1829–1847); S. Riezler, Gesch. des fürstlichen Hauses Fürstenberg bis 1507 (Tübingen, 1883); Fürstenbergisches Urkundenbuch, edited by S. Riezler and F.L. Baumann, vols. i.-vii. (Tübingen, 1877–1891), continued s. tit. Mitteilungen aus dem fürstlich. Fürstenbergischem Archiv by Baumann and G. Tumbült, 2 vols. (ib. 1899–1902); Stokvis, Manuel d’histoire (Leiden, 1890–1893); Almanach de Gotha; Allgemeine deutsche Biographie.

2. The second Fürstenberg family has its possessions in Westphalia and the country of the Rhine, and takes its name from the castle of Fürstenberg on the Ruhr. The two most remarkable men whom it has produced are Franz Friedrich Wilhelm, freiherr von Fürstenberg, and Franz Egon, count von Fürstenberg-Stammheim. The former (1728–1810) became ultimately vicar-general of the prince-bishop of Münster, and effected a great number of important reforms in the administration of the country, besides doing much for its educational and industrial development. The latter (1797–1859) was an enthusiastic patron of art, who zealously advocated the completion of the Cologne cathedral, and erected the beautiful church of St Apollinaris near Remagen on the Rhine. He was a member of the Prussian Upper House in 1849, collaborated in founding the Preussisches Wochenblatt, and was an ardent defender of Catholic interests. His son, Count Gisbert von Fürstenberg-Stammheim (b. 1836), was in 1909 head of the Rhenish line of the house of Fürstenberg.


FÜRSTENWALDE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, on the right bank of the Spree, and on the railway from Berlin to Frankfort-on-Oder, 28 m. E. of the former city. Pop. (1905) 20,498. Its beautiful cathedral church contains several old monuments. The industries are important, including, besides brewing and malting, manufactures of starch, vinegar, electric lamps and gas-fittings, stoves, &c., iron-founding and wool-weaving. Fürstenwalde is one of the oldest towns of Brandenburg. From 1385 it was the seat of the bishop of Lebus, whose bishopric was incorporated with the electorate of Brunswick in 1595.


FÜRTH, a manufacturing town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, at the confluence of the Pegnitz with the Regnitz, 5 m. N.W. from Nuremberg by rail, at the junction of lines to Hof and Würzburg. Pop. (1885) 35,455; (1905) 60,638. It is a modern town in appearance, with broad streets and palatial business houses. Of its four Evangelical churches, the old St Michaeliskirche is a handsome structure; but its chief edifices are the new town hall, with a tower 175 ft. high and the magnificent synagogue. The Jews have also a high school, which enjoys a great reputation. There are besides a classical, a wood-carving and an agricultural school and a library. Fürth is the seat of several important industries; particularly, the production of chromolithographs and picture-books, the manufacture of mirrors and mirror-frames, bronze and gold-leaf wares, pencils, toys, haberdashery, optical instruments, silver work, turnery, chicory, machinery, fancy boxes and cases, and an extensive trade is carried on in these goods as also in hops, metals, wool, groceries and coal. A large annual fair is held at Michaelmas and lasts for eleven days. The earliest railway in Germany was that between Nuremberg and Fürth (opened on the 7th of December 1835).

Fürth was founded, according to tradition, by Charlemagne, who erected a chapel there. It was for a time a Vogtei (advocateship) under the burgraves of Nuremberg, but about 1314 it was bequeathed to the see of Bamberg, and in 1806 it came into the possession of Bavaria. In 1632 Gustavus Adolphus besieged it in vain, and in 1634 it was pillaged and burnt by the Croats. It owes its rise to prosperity to the tolerance it meted out to the Jews, who found here an asylum from the oppression under which they suffered in Nuremberg.

See Fronmüller, Chronik der Stadt Fürth (1887).


FURTWÄNGLER, ADOLF (1853–1907), German archaeologist, was born at Freiburg im Breisgau, and was educated there, at Leipzig and at Munich, where he was a pupil of H. Brunn, whose comparative method in art-criticism he much developed. He took part in the excavations at Olympia in 1878, became an assistant in the Berlin Museum in 1880, and professor at Berlin (1884) and later at Munich. His latest excavation work was at Aegina. He was a prolific writer, with a prodigious knowledge and memory, and a most ingenious and confident critic; and his work not only dominated the field of archaeological criticism but also raised its standing both at home and abroad. Among his numerous publications the most important were a volume on the bronzes found at Olympia, vast works on ancient gems and Greek vases, and the invaluable Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture (English translation by Eugénie Strong). He died at Athens on the 10th of October 1907.


FURZE, Gorse or Whin; botanical name Ulex (Ger. Stechginster, Fr. ajonc), a genus of thorny papilionaceous shrubs, of few species, confined to west and central Europe and north-west Africa. Common furze, U. europaeus, is found on heaths and commons in western Europe from Denmark to Italy and Greece, and in the Canaries and Azores, and is abundant in nearly all parts of the British Isles. It grows to a height of 2-6 ft.; it has hairy stems, and the smaller branches end each in a spine; the leaves, sometimes lanceolate on the lowermost branches, are mostly represented by spines from 2 to 6 lines long, and branching at their base; and the flowers, about three-quarters of an inch in length, have a shaggy, yellowish-olive calyx, with two small ovate bracts at its base, and appear in early spring and late autumn. They are yellow and sweet-scented and visited by bees. The pods are few-seeded; their crackling as they burst may often be heard in hot weather. This species comprises the varieties vulgaris, or U. europaeus proper, which has spreading branches, and strong, many-ridged spines, and strictus (Irish furze), with erect branches, and slender 4-edged spines. The other British species of furze is U. nanus, dwarf furze, a native of Belgium, Spain and the west of France; it is a procumbent plant, less hairy than U. europaeus, with smaller and more orange-coloured flowers, which spring from the primary spines, and have a nearly smooth calyx, with minute basal bracts. Furze, or gorse, is sometimes employed for fences.

Notwithstanding its formidable spines, the young shoots yield a palatable and nutritious winter forage for horses and cattle. To fit it for this purpose it must be chopped and bruised to destroy the spines. This is sometimes done in a primitive and laborious way by laying the gorse upon a block of wood and beating it with a mallet, flat at one end and armed with crossed knife-edges at the other, by the alternate use of which it is bruised and chopped. There are now a variety of machines by which this is done rapidly and efficiently, and which are in use where this kind of forage is used to any extent. The agricultural value of this plant has often been over-rated by theoretical writers. In the case of very poor, dry soils it does, however, yield much valuable food at a season when green forage is not otherwise to be had. It is on this account of importance to dairymen; and to them it has this further recommendation, that cows fed upon it give much rich milk, which is free from any unpleasant flavour. To turn it to good account, it must be sown in drills, kept clean by hoeing, and treated as a regular green crop. If sown in March, on land fitly prepared and afterwards duly cared for, it is ready for use in the autumn of the following year. A succession of cuttings of proper age is obtained for several years from the same field. It is cut by a short stout scythe, and must be brought from the field daily; for when put in a heap after being