PALMS. 



PAPAW. 



spongy consistence being rotted out, or de- 

 voured by worms, it makes excellent trunks 

 or conduits for draining off water, being almost 

 incorruptible under ground. These shafts also, 

 split in two, and set upright in the ground, 

 make strong and durable palisades ; and we 

 are informed that they answered a very good 

 purpose in South Carolina, at the time of the 

 revolutionary war, particularly at Sullivan's 

 Island. The ramparts of the fortifications be- 

 ing lined with the trunks of the cabbage tree, 

 split in two, and set upright against the wall ; 

 their smooth, firm, and elastic surface, together 

 with their spongy interior, united to repel the 

 shot of their assailants. 



The stems are also used in Charleston, S. C., 

 for the facing of wharfs, as the salt-water worm 

 never touches them. Pieces of the spongy part 

 of the stem afford a very good substitute for 

 scrubbing-brushes, and are even preferred for 

 whitening floors. 



The leaves of the smaller species afford ex- 

 cellent and durable thatch for covering barns 

 and out-houses; and the younger leaves of the 

 cabbage tree are manufactured by the negroes 

 into beautiful, light, and durable hats, called 

 Bermudian hats. The repent caudex of the 

 saw-palmetto, being torn from the surface of 

 the earth, cut into proper lengths, dried, and 

 burned to ashes, produce the greatest quantity 

 of potash of any known vegetable. And the 

 drupes, or large berries of this species, which 

 are of the size and figure of dates, and as 

 sweet, afford good and nourishing food to the 

 Indians and hunters. They are not palatable 

 to white people till they become accustomed 

 to them. 



PALMS. A natural order of arborescent en- 

 dogens, chiefly inhabiting the tropics ; distin- 

 guished by their fleshy, colourless, six-parted 

 flowers, enclosed within spathes ; their minute 

 embryo lying in the midst of albumen, and re- 

 mote from the hilum; and rigid plaited or pin- 

 nate inarticulated leaves, sometimes called 

 fronds. 



Palms is a common name for the male flow- 

 ers of the willow. 



PALSY. In the horse this nervous disease 

 is usually confined to the hinder limbs. Old 

 carriage-horses, and horses of draught of every 

 kind, although not absolutely paralyzed, have 

 often great stiffness in their gait, and difficulty 

 of turning. These are evident injuries of the 

 spine. Bleeding, physicking, antimonial me- 

 dicines, and stimulating embrocations are the 

 most likely means of cure for palsy. See 

 SHEEP, DISEASES OF. 



PAMBINA. A species of North American 

 bush cranberry, discovered on the Columbia 

 river. 



PAN. A term applied to the bed or flooring 

 upon which the cultivated soil lies or is placed. 

 See Moon HAND PAX. 



PANIC-GRASS (PamVttw). This is a very 

 extensive genus of large, coarse grasses, most- 

 ly annual in Europe, of no agricultural use: 

 the inflorescence spiked or panicled; the seeds 

 in some instances used for food. There are 

 three indigenous species: the rough, the green, 

 and the loose panic-grass (P. rcrtici'ilaturn, 

 viridc, and Crus-galli). See MILLET GRASS. 

 870 



PANICLE. In botany, a form of inflores- 

 cence in which the primary axis developes 

 secondary axes, which themselves produce 

 tertiary; or, in other words, a raceme bearing 

 branches of flowers, in place of simple ones. 



PANNAGE. An old manorial term applied 

 to the food which swine consume in woods, as 

 acorns, and the mast of beech. It also signi- 

 fies the money taken by the king's agistors, 

 for the privilege of feeding hogs in the king's 

 forest. 



PANSY. A term applied chiefly to the gar- 

 den varieties of Viola tricolor, and others which 

 are usually cultivated under the name of heart's- 

 ease. See VIOLET. 



PAPAW (Jlnona triloba). An American 

 plant, which, though most frequently appear- 

 ing in the form of a shrub, sometimes attains 

 the size of a tree of the third order. By the 

 French of Upper Louisiana the papaw is called 

 Assiminier. It is not found north of the Schuyl- 

 kill river, in the vicinity of Philadelphia ; and 

 it appears to be unknown, or extremely rare, 

 in the low and maritime parts of the Southern 

 States. "It is not uncommon," says Michaux, 

 " in the bottoms which stretch along the rivers 

 of the Middle States ; but it is most abundant 

 in the rich valleys intersected by the western 

 waters, where, at intervals, it forms thickets 

 exclusively occupying several acres. In Ken- 

 tucky, and in the western part of Tennessee, 

 it is sometimes seen also in forests where the 

 soil is luxuriantly fertile; of which its presence 

 is an infallible proof. In these forests it attains 

 the height of 30 feet, and the diameter of 6 or 

 8 inches, though it generally stops short of 

 half this elevation. 



" The leaves are borne on short petioles, and 

 are alternate, 5 or 6 inches in length, and of an 

 elongated form, widening from the base to the 

 summit. They are of a fine texture, and the 

 superior surface is smooth and brilliant. The 

 flowers, which are attached by short peduncles, 

 are pendent, and of a purple hue. 



" When the fruit is ripe, which takes place 

 towards the beginning of August, it is about 3 

 inches long, and 1 inches thick, of a yellow- 

 ish colour, and of an oval form, irregular and 

 swelling into inequalities. Its pulp is soft, and 

 of an insipid taste, and it contains several 

 large, triangular stones. It is never brought 

 into the markets, and is sought in the woods 

 only by children. At Pittsburgh some persons 

 have succeeded in making from it a spiritu- 

 ous liquor; but, notwithstanding this experi- 

 ment, very feeble hopes can be entertained of 

 cultivating the tree with profit for this pur- 

 pose. 



" The trunk of the papaw is covered with a 

 silver-gray bark, which is smooth, and even 

 polished. The wood is spongy, extremely soft, 

 destitute of strength, and applicable to no use 

 in the mechanical arts. I have noticed that 

 the cellular integument of the bark, and par- 

 ticularly that of the roots, exhales in summer 

 a nauseous odour, so strong as to occasion 

 sickness if it is long respired in confined air. 

 (Mirhavx's Jim. Sylva.) 



The papaw belongs to the custard-apple genus, 

 which in the tropics produces several kinds of 

 fruit highly esteemed. Among these is the 



