PRU 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL ; 



PSI 



417 



mows the herbage will take off the shoots. If pastured, cattle 

 and sheep will gnaw them to the quick, when they have no 

 woodland left to brouze. It is, however, advisable always in 

 this case to sweep the ground over with the scythe in the 

 course of summer, to remove whatever the animals may have 

 left. In the second year the shoots will rise, but are weak ; 

 and the roots themselves, which seldom survive the third 

 year, will in a few years after be found quite rotten. After a 

 thicket or border, where the sward is nearly lost, has been 

 treated in this manner, rubbish of every kind should be 

 raked off, a few grass-seeds scattered on, and the surface 

 run over with the roller, as a preparation for the scythe. 

 After headlands or borders are grubbed, they should be 

 planted with potatoes, or some other cleansing crop that is 

 well hoed, till the Blackthorns and other shrubs and hedge- 

 weeds are totally eradicated, before they are laid down to 

 grass. Thus pursued, grubbing more effectually answers the 

 purpose than mowing. These modes of extirpation (for it 

 abundantly propagates itself) apply not only to the Black- 

 thorn, but to all kinds of shrubs and trees, except the Furze 

 and Bramble. 



23. Prunus Aspera. Flowers solitary, terminating; leaves 

 ovate, serrate, rough. The upper surface of the leaves of this 

 tree is so hard, that in Japan, where it is a native, they 

 are employed in polishing. 



24. Prunus Japonica. Peduncles solitary ; leaves ovate, 

 acuminate, smooth; branches unarmed. Native of Japan. 



25. Prunus Glandulosa. Peduncles solitary ; leaves ob- 

 long, glandular-serrate ; branches unarmed. Native of Japan. 



26. Prunus Incisa. Peduncles solitary ; leaves ovate, gash- 

 serrate, villose ; branches unarmed. Native of Japan. 



27. Prunus Tomentosa. Peduncles solitary ; leaves ovate, 

 tomentose underneath. Native of Japan. 



28. Prunus Prostrata. Peduncles in pairs; leaves ovate, 

 unequally serrate, without glands, tomentose underneath; 

 stem prostrate. Native of the mountains, and Mount Liba- 

 nus. It approaches the habit of the Almond. 



29. Prunus Serotina. Flowers in loose racemes; leaves 

 deciduous, simply serrate ; lowest serratures glandular. 

 Native of North America. 



30. Prunus Dasycarpa. Flowers sessile ; leaves ovate, 

 acuminate, doubly serrate; petioles glandular. Native of 

 North America. 



31. Prunus Semperflorens; Ever-flowering Cherry. Flow- 

 ers in racemes; calices serrate; leaves ovate, serrate, glan- 

 dular at the base. This is suspected to be a mule, preserv- 

 ing its difference in our gardens. 



32. Prunus Pigmsea : Pigmy Plum. Umbels sessile, 

 few-flowered ; leaves elliptic, acute, biglandular at the base, 

 smooth. Native of North America. 



33. Prunus Cerasifera; Myrobalan Plum. Peduncles 

 solitary; leaves elliptic, smooth; fruits pendulous, on 

 branches almost destitute of prickles. This has been generally 

 considered as a variety of the Common Plum. The branches 

 are very smooth, but somewhat thorny. Native of North 

 America. 



34. Prunus Chicasa. Buds aggregate, biflorous ; pedicels 

 very short ; calix glabrous ; segments obtuse ; leaves oblong- 

 oval, acute, or acuminate-serrulate ; fruit subglobose ; 

 branches spinescent, very glabrous. Grows in Virginia and 

 Carolina, and flowers in April and May. This tree is known 

 by the name of the Chicasaw Plum. The fruit is yellow, and 

 agreeably tasted. It is mentioned in Michaux's Flora, that it 

 was introduced by the Indians. This probably may be the 

 case, as it generally only occurs where ancient camps of 

 Indians have been. 



a genus of the class Icosandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, bell-siiuped, five-cleft, permanent; segments ovate. 

 Corolla: petals five, ovate, concave, spreading, inserted 

 into the calix. Stamina : filamenta numerous, shorter than 

 the corolla, inserted into the calix; anther* small. Pistil: 

 germen roundish, inferior; style awl-shaped, very long; 

 stigma simple. Pericarp : berry oval, very large, crowned 

 with the calix, one or many celled. Seeds : numerous, very 

 small, nestling. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: five- 

 cleft, superior. Petals: five. Berry: one-celled, many- 

 seeded. The species are, 



1. Psidium Pyrifenim; White Guava. Leaves elliptic, 

 pubescent underneath ; peduncles one-flowered. In its wild 

 state this tree grows to the height of seven or eight, some- 

 times of twelve, feot. In the gardens of the West Indies, 

 where the soil is good, it equals a middle-sized Apple-tree, 

 the trunk being six feet high, a-nd a foot and a half in circum- 

 ference. The wood is very hard and tough, used for ox- 

 yokes and similar purposes, and very well adapted for fuel. 

 'Ihe fruit is smooth, having a peculiar smell: on the out- 

 side it is yellow, whitish, or sulphureous, and is roundish, or more 

 oblong, the size of a hen's egg, or bigger, according to the 

 soil : the rind is a line or two in thickness, brittle, and 

 fleshy: the pulp rather firm, full of bony seeds ; it is flesh- 

 coloured, sweet, aromatic, and pleasant. It is eaten with 

 avidity, not only by the natives, but by Europeans, though it 

 is apt to flux the latter; yet Jacquin declares, that when he has 

 been thirsty on a journey, he has eaten to satiety of it without 

 any inconvenience. It is eaten raw in the desert places, 

 though the seeds are scarcely separable ; and is also pre- 

 served in sugar. Native of both Indies, Cochin-china, and 

 the southern provinces of China ; becoming a large tree when 

 cultivated, but much smaller and of an irregular growth, 

 with distorted branches, in a wild state. In the Caribbee 

 Islands it frequently overruns the pastures; and one tree in 

 a garden will suffice to fill the whole, for the seeds pass 

 through the bodies of men and animals without losing their 

 vegetative quality. This plant, with all its congeners, is 

 propagated by seeds, which must be procured from the 

 country where they naturally grow. If they were brought 

 over in the fruit, gathered full ripe and kept entire, they 

 would be more certain of succeeding. They should be sown 

 in pots filled with rich kitchen-garden earth, and plunged 

 into a hot-bed of tanners' bark, giving them water from time 

 to time as the earth dries. If the seeds are good the plants 

 will appear, and must have free air admitted to them in pro- 

 portion to the warmth of the season. When they have 

 acquired strength enough to bear removal, let them each be 

 transplanted into a small pot filled with the same earth, and 

 plunged into a fresh hot-bed, shading them from the sun 

 until they have taken new root ; then they should have a 

 large share of free air admitted to them every day in warm 

 weather, to prevent their drawing up weak: they should also 

 be frequently refreshed with water in the summer. \Vhen 

 the plants have filled these small pots with their roots, they 

 should be taken out, and their roots parted, and put into 

 larger pots filled with the same kind of earth, and plunged 

 into the hot-bed again, where they should remain till autumn, 

 and then be plunged into the tan-bed in the dry-stove. 

 During the winter they should have a moderate warmth, and 

 not too much water, and in summer they will require plenty 

 of wet, and in hot weather a great share of air: under this 

 management they will produce flowers and fruit in the third 

 year, and may be continued a long time. 



2. Psidium Pumilum ; Dwarf Guava. Leaves lanceo- 



