410 



PAULLINIA PEACH. 



border, they must be well guarded from frost in 

 winter. 



PAULLINIA (Schumacher). A genus of tro- 

 pical American evergreen climbers, bearing 1 octan- 

 drous flowers, and belonging to the natural order 

 SapindacecB. Generic character : calyx- of live sepals, 

 imbricated, and persisting ; petals four clawed, with 

 scales at the base ; two or four glands between the 

 petals and stamens ; stamens unequal ; anthers ob- 

 iongr, fixed by the back, and two-celled ; style thickish, 

 short, and connivent ; capsule pear-shaped, three- 

 sided, and three-celled. The species thrive in our 

 stoves in light soil, and are propagated without diffi- 

 culty. 



PAUSSID^E. A very extraordinary family of 

 coleopterous insects, placed by Latreilie amongst the 

 Xylophagotts Tetramem, but having a nearer relation 

 to some of the aberrant Necrophaga. In this family 

 the antennae are of a very large size and singular 

 form. In some of the genera they are composed of 

 only two or three joints, the last being nearly as 

 large as the rest of the body, and very irregularly 

 constructed. The body is of small size, and de- 

 pressed ; the palpi are large, the maxillary having 

 the second joint greatly dilated ; the maxillary and 

 labial are of unequal size ; the elytra are square at 

 the tips ; and the tarsi short, and not bilobed. These 

 insects are exceedingly rare in collections, and highly 

 prized on account of the singularity of their form. 

 They are exclusively confined to the old world, and 

 are found in tropical Africa, at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, in the East Indies ; and more recently a species 

 has been discovered on the Balcan mountains, which 

 is described in the last part of the Transactions of the 

 Academy of Hungary. Nearly thirty species (being 

 about twice the number previously known) are 

 described in a memoir published in the sixteenth 

 volume of the Linnasan Transactions, and about a 

 dozen additional species are intended for publication 

 in the forthcoming number of the Entomological 

 Transactions. They constitute several very well- 

 marked genera, varying either in the structure of the 

 mouth or the number of joints in the antennae. The 

 type of the family is the Pamsus microcephalies of 

 Linnaeus, about one-third of an inch long, and an 

 inhabitant of Guinea. 



PEA is the Pisum sat'wwn of Linnasu?. A well- 

 known leguminous plant, extensively cultivated both 

 in the garden and field. The garden varieties are 

 very numerous, and the earliest crops, appearing at 

 table about the beginning of May, are highly valued. 

 Peas are sown once or twice in every month, from 

 October to the beginning of July, yielding pods from 

 the first of May till the middle of November. The 

 latest crops are, however, precarious, and only valued 

 in high cookery. 



PEACH is the Persica vulgaris of Miller, a well- 

 known wall-fruit, and one of the most esteemed in 

 our desserts. It is difficult to state, with certainty, 

 whether the peach, with its variety, the nectarine, are 

 natural, or only accidental creations. They cannot 

 be reproduced from seed with certainty ; for, although 

 all our best varieties have been obtained from seed at 

 different times, and in different countries, yet no 

 dependence can be placed on raising good peaches 

 from their kernels. In this respect they are like our 

 orchard fruits, and require to be budded on plum- 

 stocks to perpetuate the best varieties. 



In raising peach trees for bearing, very much 



depends (Hi a proper choice of stocks. This is part 

 cularly the nurseryman's business, who, for his <>\v 

 credit, will take care to place the different sorts upo 

 the most congenial stocks. 



Next to the necessity of choosing proper stocks 

 the preparation of the border to receive the yonn 

 trees, either in the first, second, or third year aft< 

 they have been budded. A fresh mellow loam, on 

 perfectly dry subsoil, is most suitable for the peac 

 and nectarine ; and, when planted, the next stop i 

 importance is the manner of pruning and training t.li 

 trees in order to render them healthy and constant! 

 fruitful. In this the utmost skill of the gardener 

 required ; because, as they are to be trained to a wa 

 or trellis, the natural form of the head cannot 1 

 allowed ; and therefore the natural vigour of a youn 

 healthy tree must be so far subdued, that a mdderal 

 habit of growth be induced, in order that it may 1 

 compelled to be content with a limited space of wa! 

 unnatural form of head, and yet, at the same time, lj 

 prolific. 



This snbduction of the natural vigour can only 1 

 accomplished by the manner of training. If all tl 

 branches were trained perpendicular] v, the growt 

 would be extraordinarily luxuriant, and, if luxurian 

 they would be certainly unfruitful ; because the grov 

 ing principle neutralises the productive one stron 

 shoots, numerous laterals, and large leaves, are pr< 

 duced instead of those of moderate growth, plei 

 ished with flowers. To prevent, this unfruitti 

 waste of vegetable strength, the branches must I 

 trained out of their natural position : a part i 

 them must be laid horizontally, or even desccndin! 

 rather than upright, in a sinuous direction rather tha 

 directly straight. By these means a moderate motic 

 of the sap is induced, a partial stagnation promotd 

 and a fruitful rather than a barren habit acquired. 



Practitioners have had recourse to different metho< 

 of training to accomplish this moderate habit of growt! 

 One is to train the stem quite naked to a conside 

 able height (six or eight feet), and then allowin 

 branches to diverge in all directions over the face < 

 the wall. The distance between the root and tli 

 branches being a lengthened course for the sap to I 

 invited or propelled upwards, moderates, and, as soni 

 imagine, elaborates it in quality, and therefor" fiis 

 to flow into the branches for the purpose of fruit fu 

 ness. Others think that a single stem concentrate 

 the current of the sap too much, and therefore advis 

 the stem to be divided into principal arms near tli 

 ground, and these trained; first horizontally, an 

 afterwards zig-zagly upwards, allowing lateral secom 

 ary branches to be produced and trained right an 

 left from the principals, and whence the bearin 

 shoots of ever}' year are ejected. Another met ho 

 is to train, radiating upwards, a dozen or more prii 

 cipal branches, and extended as far as there is roon 

 or convenient, they should grow in right line 

 These are called mother-branches ; because a regi 

 lated birth of young shoots are annually produce 

 from them, which, being laid in the intervals, yield th 

 flowers and fruit of the next year. This system < 

 training and pruning the peach is much practised i 

 France, and by a few English gardeners, and is highl 

 commended. 



The methods generally practised, however, i 

 British gardens, is that called fan-training, that i 

 training a principal part of the leading shoots in a 

 directions from the crown of the root. Young bearin 



