FITCHES, in Husbandry, a sort of pulse, more generally known by the name of chick-pea. Fitches are cultivated either for the purpose of feeding cattle or improving the land. They are a wholesome and nourishing food, whether given in the straw or thrashed out. When sown only to improve the soil, they are ploughed in just as they begin to blossom, by which means a tough clay soil is much enriched.