PEE-TSEE. 



local pecks, which are extremely various : thus 

 the Lancashire peck contains six gallons ; but 

 in other counties it is much less. 



PEE-TSEE. A species of water chestnut, 

 which grows in the southern provinces of 

 China, in shallow rivers and ponds, with leaves 

 like a bulrush, and hollow like the stalk of an 

 onion. Its fruit is in the capsule of the root, 

 like the husk of a chestnut. 



PENNYROYAL (Mentha pulegium). Eng- 

 lish pennyroyal. This well known perennial 

 plant is found growing wild in England on wet 

 commons, and about the margins of small 

 brooks. It has a strong acid, and very pecu- 

 liar smell, and is stimulant and tonic, but less 

 grateful than peppermint. The stems are 

 somewhat procumbent, or quite prostrate. 

 Leaves ovate, scarcely half an inch long, full 

 of pellucid dots. Flowers whorled. Flower- 

 stalks purplish, clothed entirely with very short, 

 dense, hoary pubescence. 



Pennyroyal is cultivated in Europe for its 

 use in culinary and pharmaceutical prepara- 

 tions. There are two varieties the trailing, 

 which is usually cultivated, and the upright. 

 These plants are best grown on a tenacious 

 soil : even a clay is more suitable to them than 

 a light silicious one. It should be moderately 

 fertile, entirely free of stagnant moisture, and 

 consequently on a dry subsoil, or well drained. 

 A wet soil makes them luxuriant in summer, 

 but insures decay in winter. 



They are propagated by parting the roots in 

 February or March, September or October, and 

 by slips or offsets at the same season. The 

 mints likewise may be increased, by cuttings 

 of the annual shoots in May or June, as well 

 as by cuttings of the roots either in spring or 

 autumn. For production of green tops through- 

 out the winter and early spring, the spearmint 

 is often planted in a hot-bed ; and more rarely 

 pennyroyal, every three weeks during October 

 and three following months. 



The pennyroyal indigenous to North Ame- 

 rica is the Hedeoma pulegioides, an aromatic an- 

 nual plant, very different in its habits from the 

 European pennyroyal. It grows in all parts 

 of the country, preferring dry grounds and 

 pastures, where it often scents the air to a con- 

 siderable distance. (Flora Cestrica.') 



PEPPER-BRAND. A disease in grain. 

 See MILDEW. 



PEPPER-GRASS (Lepidium sativum). 

 Tongue-grass. A kind of cress, possessing 

 very pleasant and refreshing qualities, and 

 generally cultivated in the United States for 

 the table. The Virginia lepidium, or wild pep- 

 per-grass, is an annual commonly found in 

 fields and along road-sides. One or two other 

 species are known in the United States. '(Flora 

 Cestrira.) 



PEPPERIDGE. An appellation improperly 

 applied by the descendants f the Dutch in 

 New York, to the tupelo or L.ack-gum. The 

 name more appropriately belongs to the com- 

 mon barberry. 



PEPPERMINT (Mentha piperita). This 

 species differs from the common spear or green 

 mint chiefly in the intensity of its taste and 

 dark colour of its foliage. It is only cultivated 

 for distillation; the essential oil or distilled 

 112 



PERRY. 



water enters into various cordial and medical 

 i preparations. 



PEPPERS. See CAPSICUM. 



PEPPER-SAXIFRAGE (Cnidum, the an- 

 cient name of orach). These are worthless 

 herbaceous plants. 



The meadow pepper-saxifrage (C. snails') is 

 an indigenous perennial species, with smooth 

 dark-green herbage. The root is spindle- 

 shaped; stem erect, furrowed, solid, tough, 

 from 1 to 2 feet high. Flowers yellowish or 

 greenish-white, blowing in August and Sep- 

 tember. The whole plant being fetid when 

 bruised, is supposed, in some parts of Norfolk, 

 Eng., to give a bad flavour to milk and butter; 

 but cattle certainly do not eat it, except acci- 

 dentally or in small quantities. When this 

 herb abounds in pastures, it may be found par- 

 tially cropped, though generally left almost 

 entire. 



PEPPER, THE WALL. See STOWECIIOP. 



PEPPERWORT (Lcpidiitm, from Icj.is, a 

 scale, in allusion to the shape of the pods, 

 which appear like little scales). Most of these 

 plants are uninteresting, and none of them are 

 pretty. L. sativum is the well-known garden 

 cress. There are, in England, four indigenous 

 species. 



PERCH. In land measure is the fortieth 

 part of a rood, or equal to 30$ square yards. 

 Perch is also sometimes used as a denomina- 

 tion of long measure, when it signifies the 

 same thing as a rod or pole, being 5^ yards or 

 16$ feet. 



PERENNIALS (Lat. perennes, lasting 

 throughout the year). In botany, those herba- 

 ceous plants, the roots of which remain alive 

 more years than two, but whose stems flower 

 and perish annually. Gardeners generally call 

 them herbaceous plants. 



PERIWINKLE (Vinca, probably from vin- 

 ntlnni, a band ; in allusion to the suitableness 

 of the shoots for making bands). These plants 

 are well adapted for covering naked ground in 

 shady situations. Any common soil suits them, 

 and they are readily increased by separating 

 the rooted trailing shoots. The two species 

 indigenous to England are called the greater 

 and the lesser periwinkles. 



PERRY. A pleasant and wholesome liquor 

 made from the juice of pears, by means of 

 fermentation somewhat in the same manner as 

 cider from apples. 



The best pears for perry, or at least the kinds 

 which have been hitherto deemed the fittest for 

 making this liquor, are so excessively tart and 

 harsh, that no one can think of eating them as 

 fruit; for even hungry swine will not eat them. 



It is observed by Mr. Knighc, that in making 

 this liquor, the pears are ground and pressed in 

 exactly the same manner as apples in the ma- 

 nufacturing of cider; but that it is not usual 

 for the reduced pulp to be suffered to remain 

 any length of time without being pressed. 



The after-management is in all respects so 

 nearly similar to that of cider, that no further 

 description is necessary here. 



On the whole, the pear furnishes a less po- 

 pular but a very superior liquor to that afforded 

 by the apple. The tree is capable of being 

 grown on a greater variety of soil, and is more 

 4F 889 



