PEAT PEEL. 



157 



generally tapers towards the stem, the base of which 

 is not sunk in a cavity, as in the apple. The tree is 

 ordinarily about 20 feet high, but has been known to 

 grow as high as 60 feet. By a dwarfing process of 

 grafting much smaller trees, known as dwarf pears, 

 are produced. The wood is very hard and close- 

 grained, and, dyed black, has been used as a substitute 

 For ebony._ The fruit has not the firmness of the 

 apple, but is sugary and melting, with hard concretions 

 near the core composed of indurated cells. 



The pear is a native of temperate Europe and the 

 Caucasus, and was cultivated at an early date, many 

 varieties being known in Pliny's time. At the present 

 day more than 3000 varieties are enumerated in the 

 catalogues, though of course very few of these are in 

 practical cultivation. It is a long-lived tree, one speci- 

 men in England being about 400 years old. One in 

 New York planted by Peter Stuyvesant in 1648 was 

 still bearing fruit 200 years afterward. It is cultivated 

 as a standard tree, by grafting on pear seedlings, and 

 as a dwarf, by using the thorn, mountain ash, or quince 

 as a stock for grafting. The quince is generally used. 



The pear needs a strong, dry soil, and is subject to 

 many insect enemies, which attack the leaves and bark. 

 Its worst foe, however, is the "blight," which is prob- 

 ably produced by a minute fungus, which rapidly 

 spreads and is destructive to branch and tree alike if 

 not quickly eradicated. 



Of pears grown for sale only a few of the many 

 varieties are widely cultivated. A general favorite 

 among these is the Bartlett, which is notable for its 

 size, lusciousness, and abundant bearing. It is esti- 

 mated that 90 per cent, of the pears grown for profit 

 in the United States are of this variety. Another 

 favorite is the Seckel, a small fruit, but of unsurpassed 

 flavor. This is traced to a single tree in the suburbs 

 of Philadelphia. As a rule pears are better if picked 

 when just mature and ripened in the house. Many 

 varieties which are excellent thus ripened are worth- 

 less if left to ripen on the tree. 



The pear has a wide range of distribution. Unlike 

 the apple and the peach, it flourishes in the sea-coast 

 country of the .South Atlantic, while it is equally at 

 home in the highlands of the interior. The three 

 States in which it is most largely produced are Georgia, 

 Florida, and California. The latter seems particularly 

 adapted to its culture, and produces it in vast quanti- 

 ties and of extraordinary size. Very many of these 

 pears are shipped to the East, while great quantities 

 are preserved by canning, a process to which the p_ear 

 lends itself excellently, retaining much of its original 

 flavor. (c. M.) 



PEAT is found in the United States towards the 

 northern border from New England to Dakota, but more 

 extensively in Canada and Newfoundland. It consists 

 of partially decomposed vegetation, and forms only in 

 cold, moist cHmates. As fuel it has never attained any 

 prominence in America, though it is so used through- 

 out Northern Europe, where several varieties, dtstin- 

 gui.-hed partly by color, are known. The best is the 

 dark-brown or black, which is the most free from 

 earthy matter. This mineral matter varies greatly ; 

 some peats, when burnt, leave chiefly carbonate of 

 lime, others the sulphate, while silica, phosphates, etc. , 

 also occur. 



PECAN, Carya olivcefermix. is a tree belonging to 

 the walnut family (Juglanditcnr) and to the hickory 

 genus, of the several species of which it produces the 

 most palatable fruit. It is a handsome, lofty, North 

 American tree, growing to a height of 70 feet, with a 

 slender, straight trunk, and compound leaves with 

 petioles 12 to 18 inches long, with 13 to 15 sessile leaf- 

 lets. It is found on river banks from Illinois south- 

 ward to Mississippi; and will bear in gardens and shel- 

 tered places as far north as the banks of the Hudson. 

 It was introduced into France many years ago. The 

 pecan is the most rapidly growing of the hickories, 

 and yields a coarse-grained but heavy and durable 



wood, which is stronger and more elastic than the white 

 ! ash. Its bark, as in all the hickories, contains yellow 

 dye principles, from which an olive dye may be made 

 by the addition of copperas, and a green by the addition 

 of alum. 



The pecan tree is particularly esteemed for its fruit, 

 which is the most delicious of all the hickory nuts. It 

 is sweet and of an agreeable flavor, and has a thin, 

 easily broken, yellowish-brown shellj without the in- 

 ternal partitions of the ordinary hickory nut. The 

 pecan is raised extensively for commercial purposes in 

 the Southern States, Texas alone exporting annually 

 over $50,000 worth of its nuts. 



PECK, WILLIASI DANDRIDGE (1763-1822), ento- 

 mologist, was born in Boston, graduated at Harvard 

 College in 1782, and became professor of natural his- 

 tory there in 1805. He published a catalogue of 

 American and Foreign Plants in 1818. For his other 

 work see AGRICULTURE, Chap. IX. at end. 



PEDRO II., DE ALCANTARA, DOM, Emperor of 

 Brazil, was born at Rio de Janeiro, Dec. 2, 1825. He 

 was the son of Dom Pedro I. and of Leopoldina, arch- 

 duchess of Austria. His father had renounced the 

 throne of Portugal in 1826 in favor of his infant 

 daughter, Donna _Maria de Gloria, and in 1831, weary 

 of the struggle with the revolutionary tendency of the 

 Brazilians, abdicated in favor of his son, then five years 

 old. He had appointed Andrada e Sylva, the exiled 

 chief of the democratic party, tutor of the child. The 

 tutor accepted the position in good faith, but two years 

 later was driven from the palace by a mob. A council 

 of regency then administered the government until 

 July, 1840, when Pedro II. was declared of age, though 

 not yet fifteen years old. The country still suffered 

 from agitation, and in 1842 a dangerous insurrection 

 was quelled by Gen. Caxias. Thenceforth the internal 

 peace of the empire was not disturbed. In 1843 Dpm 

 Pedro was married to the Princess Theresa Christina 

 Maria, daughter of Francis I. , King of Naples. Of 

 their four children, only one daughter still lives. She 

 was married in 1864 to the Comte d'Eu, grandson of 

 Louis Philippe, of France, and has three sons. 



The emperor is remarkably well educated, and con- 

 verses fluently in English, Irench, German, Spanish, 

 Italian. Well versed in science and literature, he is 

 liberal in promoting them in his dominions. In 1852 

 he assistea in the overthrow of the dictator Rosas in 

 the Argentine Republic, and thereby acquired for 

 Brazil an enlargement of territory and the free navi- 

 gation of the Rio de la Plata. In 1860 he made ex- 

 tensive travels in all parts of his dominions. In 1865 

 Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentine Republic were com- 

 pelled to unite in repressing the wild ambition of Lo- 

 pez, the dictator of Paraguay. The war was only 

 ended by the death of the savage dictator in 1 870. A 

 complication with the Argentine Republic ensued, but 

 the matter was finally compromised in October, 1872. 

 Meantime Dom Pedro had visited Paris, giving special 

 attention to its scientific institutions. He also travelled 

 in Spain, and in 1876 he made a tour in the United 

 States and then visited Europe again. Everywhere he 

 left the most favorable impressions of his courtesy, 

 energy, scientific zeal, and public spirit. His reign 

 has been signalized by the abolition of slavery. In 

 1831 the African slave-trade was prohibited, but prac- 

 tically it did not cease till 1853. Still more important 

 was the decree for the abolition of slavery, issued Aug. 

 25, 1871. By its terms all slaves on the imperial 

 estates were at once emancipated, and all the children 

 of slaves of private owners, born thereafter, were de- 

 clared free. 



PEEL, ARTHUR WELLESLEY, Speaker of the Brit- 

 ish House of Commons, was born in 1829, being the 

 youngest son of the famous Sir Robert Peel. He was 

 educated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford, and 

 entered Parliament in 1865 as member for Warwick, 

 which he still represents. He was parliamentary secre- 

 tary to the Poor Law board in 1868-71 ; secretary ot 



