PLOOOH-MONDAY. 



PLUTO. 



5*4 



rilsanril The manure, bring distributed in the deep furrow*, U 

 covered l-y tin- plough right and left, or at one <>|>rniti<>ii l>y a |.l..ni:h 

 with a turn-furrow on each aide, i\-hirh .lm.l.-> the ridg.- and lay* half 

 of it in each contiguous furrow. Thin plough i usually called a double 

 in..uld U>.ird plough, and U extremely iweful in many ojwrations of 

 husbandry. 



In order to lave hand* and expedite the tillage of the land, pinion 

 have bean contrived which make two or more furrow* at once. Wh.-n 

 they are well constructed, they an very useful in light soils. If it is 

 not required to go deep, and two hones can draw a double plough, 

 there la a decided saving of power; but if it require* four hone*, 

 nothing i* gained. The double ploughs ore therefore not much in use. 

 But than are instruments which cultivate the earth, stirring and 

 pulverising it much more speedily than the plough. Some of these 

 will stir the ground to the depth of seven or eight inches, going over a 

 width of Bve or six feet at once. Such an instrument in preferable to 

 the plough, after the ground has already had a certain degree of 

 stirring, and is become mellow and crumbling; but to break up pasture 

 or clover-lea, there is nothing so efficacious as the plough, which cut* 

 regular slices and lays them over, BO that all the grass shall rot, and 

 the roots, bring exposed to the air, shall decay, and thus furnish food 

 for other crops. 



The instruments which have been invented to save the time and 

 laboxir required by repeated ploughing* are very numerous. Some of 

 the most useful have been noticed before. [ARABLE LAND.] New 

 one* are daily invented, and some are supported by wheels, which 

 render them both lighter and more convenient. They are easily raised 

 out of the ground, when not intended to work, and the depth to which 

 they are let down i* more easily regulated. 



Deep ploughing is generally acknowledged to accord with the best 

 husbandry, where the subsoil is dry naturally, or has been artificially 

 drained ; but some inconvenience may arise from bringing a barren 

 subsoil to the surface, in trench-ploughing by two ploughs following 

 each other in the same furrow. It has therefore been suggested to 

 take off the turn-furrow from the plough which follows the first, so as 

 to stir the subsoil without bringing it to the surface. [ARABLE LAND.] 

 This idea has been improved upon by constructing a subsoil-plough of 

 great strength, which will go very deep into the ground and stir the 

 subsoil a foot or more below the bottom of the usual furrow. Mr. 

 Smith of Deanstone has invented one made entirely of iron, and Sir 

 E. Stracey ha* constructed another with a small wheel in front very 

 strongly put together, although the beam is of wood. Mr. Read, of 

 Regent Street, London, has since manufactured another wholly of iron ; 

 and, in its turn, this has been greatly improved by the Marquess of 

 Tweeddale, and is, made by Mr. Slight of Edinburgh. This plough 

 requires four horse* in the most favourable soils, and six in tenacious 

 clay*, to keep up with the common plough, which always should 

 precede it. Sometime* however the subsoil-plough may be used alone, 

 where the surface is already mellow and crumbling. 



Many different ploughs have been invented for the purpose of saving 

 labour in draining land. As they all cut out a slice from the bottom 

 of a furrow and raise it up to the surface of the ground, they are of 

 little use in crumbling soils, and in the most tenacious require the 

 assistance of much manual labour to complete the work. They act on 

 the principle of the carpenter's tool by which a groove is formed in the 

 edge of planks or deals, when they are intended to be joined closely as 

 in a floor. This instrument is also called a plough ; but the uniform 

 tenacity of the wood allows a narrow chisel to cut an even regular 

 groove. In the draining-plough the two sides of the drain are to be 

 cut obliquely downwards and the bottom scooped out evenly. The 

 plough requires to be often adjusted, and the deep furrows to be kept 

 cleared from loose earth by means of spades and scoops. In this way, 

 drains may be made from 15 to 18 inches deep, in which loose stones 

 or tile* may be laid to form a channel for the water. The expense is 

 much less than when the drains are made with the spade. 



When grass-land lie* low and wet on a very tenacious subsoil, a 

 plough is sometimes used which 'consists of a cylinder of iron pointed 

 at one end, and connected with a strong beam by a thick plate of iron 

 which is sharp on the side nearest the point of the cylinder, and ocU 

 u a coulter. This instrument is forcibly drawn horizontally through 

 the stiff subsoil at a depth of 18 inches to 3 or 4 feet, so as to leave a 

 round channel like a pipe where the cylinder has passed. This has 

 been called a mole-plough, the passage made by it under ground 

 resembling the workings of a mole. It is most effectively drawn by 

 steam power, but though easy and expeditious, it U only as a means of 

 temporarily draining land that it can be approved. 



Various ploughs have been constructed with the intention of 

 diminishing the draught, or improving the form of the turn-furrow ; 

 but it may suffice to name a* the moat distinguished manufacturers of 

 the present day Messrs. Kansome of Ipswich; Messrs. Howard of 

 Bedford, and Messrs. Hornsby of Qrantham. In the application of 

 steam to the impulsion of the plough, the effect sought to be produced 

 is the same, the difference is in the power, and various patents have 

 been obtained for steam-ploughs. 



PLOUUH-MOXUAY, the Monday next after Twelfth Day, fixed 

 upon by our forefather* as the period when the labour* of the plough 

 and other rustic toil* begin. In Derbyshire, and in some of the 

 northern counties, the young men formerly used to yoke themselves 



ami draw a plough alnmt with music c.n this day : one <>r two person*, 

 dUguuod in .-uitii- ilt.--.-.-. liti- jark-pin Mings, accompanying tin-in, and 

 going from .l..,n to d.xir, --h. il:n^ plough molu-i t.. provide drink. In 

 some places it was a CIIM..MI, if tin- pl.mghnmn, after that day's work, 

 came with hi* whip t.. the kitt hen h :it. h, and i ri. .1 " ('. -k in the pot," 

 before the maid could cry " Cock on the dunghill," he gained a cock 

 for Shrovo-Tuesday. Tusser, in his ' Five llun.lr.-d 1'oinU oi 

 bandry,' mention* Vl.. ugh Monday among the ploughman's feast . 



(Brand's Popular Antiq., edit, by Sir U. Ellw, v.J. i. ; Brady V < 

 Ca/m<faria, vl. i.t 



PLUM. The Pruinu dunutliea is generally considered as the species 

 which has given rise to the numerous varieties of this fruit ; but both 

 PntHW ixtitilia and P. ipinum have most probably contributed. These 

 species are indigenous to a great portion of the northern hemisphere, 

 Britain included. Their range may be stated to extend from Norway 

 to Barbary, and from Portugal to Cashmere, and even NepauL 

 Damascus was formerly celebrated for this fruit : branches of the 

 plum ore represented on Damascus medals ; and many of the varieties 

 now in cultivation still retain the name of this place, or it is eim 

 as a distinguishing prefix to a number of - : thus the I 



enumerate upwards of twenty varieties of Daman. In this country 

 the name of Damascene was given to those varieties which may be 

 supposed to have boon brought from Damascus, or to others similar ; 

 but the corruption of this to Dams'in has been long established. What- 

 ever region may be the origin of them, it is certainly to Fran> e tint. 

 we are indebted more immediately for the greater part of the v:;. 

 now actually cultivated. 



In the ' Catalogue of Fruits,' published by the Horticultural Society, 

 274 varieties arc named ; but the mussel, Orleans, and damsons are 

 those best fitted for orchard culture in England, among the purple 

 fruits; and the green-gage, especially in the southern parts, and the 

 bullace, a coarse but useful variety, everywhere, among the pale i 



The cultivation of the plum is not difficult. The tree is hardier 

 than the cherry-tree ; but the blossoms are equally tender. Th' 

 succeed in any free soil, not too dry, but by no means stiff or ol 

 Their roots extend horizontally, and are apt to throw up suckers, 

 which must be destroyed on their first appearance, otherwise th 

 the tree, and form protuberances on the roots. Too much manure 

 will actually kill the trees ; and at all times a medium state of vigour 

 should be aimed at. Excessive luxuriance is the forerunner of gummy 

 exudations; and, on the other hand, if the tree be stunted and the 

 vessels contracted by drought or other cruises, whereby the .a|i i-; 

 obstructed, gum is in that cose also induced. Pruning should be 

 applied to the plum in the same manner as to the peach ; and in the 

 management of standards care should be taken to destroy useless limbs 

 on their first appearance, instead of waiting till the shoots to be re- 

 moved become large branches. In training the plum the neu 

 should be cut away in winter, except those at the end of branches, and 

 these should be cut back to half their length. The varieties are pro- 

 pagated both by budding and grafting ; and for the latter, as the buds 

 push early, the cuttings should be taken off not later than February. 

 The wood-buds are easily distinguishable from the flower-buds by 

 being more pointed. 



PLUMBAGO. [CR.M-IIITI:.] 



PLUMBATES. [LEAD.] 



PLUMBETHYL. [OHGANO-METALLIC BODIES.] 



PLUMBITES. [LEAD.] 



PLUMBL1NE. When a heavy body suspended by a flexible string 

 is at rest, the line passing through the point of suspension aud the 

 ceutre of gravity of the weight is in the direction in which gravity 

 acts. The horizon is a plane perpendicular to this line, and the 

 is that point of the heavens marked out by the continuation of the 

 line upwards. If the string be perfectly flexible, it will coincide with 

 the theoretical line above described. 



The application of the plumbline to the arts does not require any 

 explanation here. Nor is it necessary to describe it in connection with 

 astronomical instruments, as in most coses it has been superseded by 

 the spirit level, or observation by reflexion. 



PLUTO (riAoi/Tuy), more frequently called by the Greeks Hades 

 ("AiSjjs), olid by the Romans Orcitt and />/*, was the son of Kronos 

 and Ithea, and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He was the deity 

 that presided over the region where the departed souls of men \v. n 

 placed : the Zeus of the infernal regions. Hades, which is also written 

 without an aspirate (Ades), is a word of uncertain etymology. I'luto 

 is supposed to be connected with the Qreek word signifying wealth 

 (wAoCroj), since the precious metals are found beneath the earth's 

 surface, below which the abode of Hades was generally placed, and he 

 alone was the possessor and the giver of them. The Latin Dis has the 

 same meaning. Orcus is probably connected with the words t'lpyu and 



areeo, and may signify " bound or restrained." 



Pluto is represented by the ancient writers as a gloomy deity, 

 inexorable to the prayers of mortals, and hated by the human race 

 above all the gods. (' II.,' ix. 159.) Whilst in his own kingdom he 

 was unaware of what passed on earth, or in Olympus ; but he some- 

 times ascended to Olympus. His wife was Persephone, called by the 

 Roman* Proserpina, whom he carried olf whilst she was gathering 

 flower*. 1 1'msi I-IIOXE.] 



In the ' Iliad ' (ix. 569 ; xx. 61 ; xxiii. 100), and in the ' Theogony ' 



