156 



PEALE PKAK. 



oik, but the most abundant crops are obtained from 

 land of moderate fertility. It will also prosper on 

 clayey and calcareous soils, but too high manuring is 

 injurious to the fruit It bean early, sometimes in 

 the second year after planting, hut as a rule the or- 

 chard peach is short-lived. The tree has many 

 enemies, tin- most destructive being a borer (jEgeria 

 enV/owi), which is difficult to handle, (See "Peach- 

 tree Borer" under AuRin I.TI UK. Chap. IX.) The 

 tree is also subject to a disease known as the "yel- 

 lows," which attacks the leaves. These natural 

 in niics in connection with the fact that the blossoms 

 are very liable to injury by late frosts, render the 

 i crop a very precarious oni-. yet it is sufficiently 

 lucrative to overcome these disadvantages. (r. M.) 



1'KALK. CIIARI.KS WILSON. (1741-18S7), painter, 

 was born at Chestertown, Md., April 17, 1741. After 

 the death of his father. Rev. Charles Peale, in 1750, 

 the family removed to Annapolis. Hen 1 Charles was 

 apprenticed to a saddler and followed that trade for 

 some years. But being attracted to portrait-painting, 

 he obtained some instruction from Hcsselius and after- 

 ward from Copley at Boston in 1768. Thence he went 

 to London, studied painting under Benjamin West, 

 and learned also engraving, miniature-painting, and 

 wax-modelling. Returning to Maryland he executed 

 many portraits, among them one of Washington in the 

 uniform of a Virginia colonel. In 1776 he went to 

 Philadelphia and as captain of volunteers fought at 

 Trenton and Germantown. In 1 779 he was elected to 

 the Pennsylvania Legislature. For fifteen years he 

 was the only portrait-painter of note in North Amer- 

 ica. His portraits of the prominent revolutionary 

 officers were the chief attraction in the picture-gallery 

 which he afterwards formed. This was indeed but an 

 adjunct to a museum of natural history, which he 

 opened at Philadelphia in ISOii, being incited thereto 

 by the discover}' of a fossil mammoth in Ulster co., 

 Alter various ineffectual efforts, from 1791 on. 

 he assisted in founding the Pennsylvania Academy of 

 Fine Arts, to whose exhibition* he contributed for 

 seventeen years. He was noted for his mechanical in- 

 genuity and was the first Ameriean to manufaeture ar- 

 tificial teeth. He published some essays on bridges, 

 health, and other topics. He painted fourteen por- 

 traits of Washington, the last in 1793. His last work, 

 now in the Philadelphia Academy, was a full-length 

 portrait of himself at the age of 83. He died at 

 Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1827. He had been thrice 

 married. 



His son, REMBRANDT PEALE (177H-1860), also a 

 painter, was born in Bucks CO., Pa., Feb. 22, 177S. 

 and was trained by his father. He painted a portrait 

 of Washington in 1795, and practised his art in 

 Charleston, S. C. In 1801 he went to Europe, studied 

 under West in I/union, and while in Paris painted 

 many jxirtraits of distinguished persons for his father's 

 museum. After his return in 1809 he was busilv en- 

 gaged as a portrait-painter. He also executed the 

 targe pictures of The Roman Daughter and The Court 

 of IVuth. which were exhibited in several cities. He 

 published a /iiot/nt/ihy of his father ; Notet on Itnli/ 

 (1831); Rfrtfobo <>f <\n Artltt (1839); Rcminigccncet 

 f Art mill Artixts. In 1859 he Icetured in several 

 cities on the portraits of Washington. Me died at 

 Philadelphia. Oct. 3, I860. Peale's Museum, which 

 from an extensive addition of Chinese curiosities came 

 to be called the Chinese Museum, \va.s destroyed by 

 fire in 1851. Several other members of the Peale 

 family devoted themselves to art. 



PEANUT, Am i-li u hji)i<if/cen, the pea, ground, or 

 earth nut, is a herbaceous annual, of the pulse family, 

 of the natural order Li^imninmur. It has a branching 

 Rtem nine to eighteen inches high, with hairy pinnate 

 leaves, having four broad, l.lunt leaflets in pairs. The 

 flowers are papilionaceous, of yellow color, and pro- 

 duced singly in the axils of the leaves. This plant 

 has the peculiar habit, after the decay of the petals of 



the lower blossoms which alone bear fruit, ot bending 

 downward the flower-stalk and insinuating the ovary 

 into the earth to the depth of several inches. I Li- 

 the fruit develops and ripens. The seeds are borne in 

 aii oblong pod 1 to 1J inch long, contracted in the 

 middle, and with a reticujated surface of yellowish 

 color. It contains ordinarily two seeds, of irregular 

 ovoid form, with thick cotyledons and a straight 

 radicle. 



This plant is a native of Africa or South America. 

 It was not known till the discovery of America, but 

 seems equally prolific in both countries. It is now 



Peantiis. 



cultivated throughout the tropics and to a considerable 

 {extent in the temperate regions of North America, its 

 large, sweet, pleasant-tasted seeds In-mir widely used as 

 food. It succeeds best in a warm, light, loamy soil, 

 [deeply plowed and well pulverized, ami yields a quick 

 and abundant return, fifty bushels per acre being pro- 

 duced in good, well-cultivated soil. It is generally 

 grown in Brazil, the West Indies, India, and parts of 

 Africa, and in several of the Atlantic States of Amer- 

 ica, its tropical character hindering its successful cul- 

 ture in the Northern and Middle States. The plant 

 is killed by the first frost, the nuts then maturing. 

 The peanut was formerly largely imported into the 

 Tinted States, but a sufficient supply is DOW yielded 

 by Virginia and the Carolinas. The use of the seeds 

 as food is very considerable, New York city alone ab- 

 sorbing more than half a million bushels annually. 

 They are very nutritious and form an important addi- 

 tion to the food-supply of the world. 



The seeds contain much oil, yielding under pressure 

 over 20 per cent, of a fixed, non-drying oil, which is 

 said to be in no way inferior to olive oil for table use. 

 It is used principally as a lubricant and in soap manu- 

 facture, and to some extent in woollen-factories lor 

 cloth-dressing. In lamps it is better than sperm oil, 

 hut thickens in cold weather. (See OILS.) In addi- 

 tion to these uses the peanut is also a good fodder- 

 plant. The vines and leaves somewhat n-.-emble clover. 

 When ripe the vines are pulled from the ground, the 

 nuts adhering tenaciously and requiring to be removed 

 by hand. (c. M.) 



!'!'. \K, l'i/nii commintix, is a near relative Imtani- 

 *, v . TVm cally of the apple, and the fruit, while 



445 (> 456 r l u ' t *' distinct in sensible qualities, is 



Am Rep ) closely similar to the apple in botanical 



characters. The flowers are of the type 



of the Rtwtcttr, to which family the pear belongs, and 



are pure white in color, with purple anthers. The fruit 



