PEE-TSEE. 



PHOSPHATES. 



local pecks, which are extremely various : thus 

 'he Lancashire peck contains six gallons; but 

 4 n 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, 

 hue 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, h'oary 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 mofe 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 Hedeorn -, 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 (Lcpidium 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 

 Cestrica.} 



PEPPERIDGE. An appellation improperly 

 applied by the descendants of the Dutch in 

 New York, to the tupelo or black-gum. The 

 name more appropriately belongs to the com- 

 mon barberry. 



PEPPERMINT (Meniha 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 



water enters into various cordial and medical 

 preparations. 



PEPPERS. See CAPSICUM. 



PEPPER-SAXIFRAGE (CmWwm, the an- 

 cient name of orach). These are worthless 

 herbaceous plants. 



The meadow pepper-saxifrage (C. si/arts) 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 STOXECROP. 



PEPPER WORT (Lepidhtm, from lepis, 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 

 ilir.'U','hoiit the year). In botany, those herba- 

 lants, 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 inn- 

 rulmn, 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 

 arid the lesser periwinkles. 



PERSIMMON (Diopyros Vir^ntana). This 

 American tree grows in the Southern and Middle 

 States to the height of 60 or 70 feet. The 

 French call it Plaquemimer. It produces an 

 abundance of excellent fruit, abounding in sugar. 

 and somewhat resembling the date. 



PHLEUM PRATENSE. See Cat's-tail. 



PHOSPHATES. Substances in which phos- 

 phoric acid is united with some other matter, such 

 as lime, magnesia, potash, soda, iron, &c. See 

 ACIDS. Within a few years past, a class of manures 

 in which phosphate of lime is the most active 

 fertilizing agent, have acquired very great agri- 

 cultural importance. It includes bones, and the 

 superphosphate of lime prepared from them, 

 urate, guano, &c., among organic substances, 

 and a mineral called apatite. Phosphoric acid is 

 found in some soils but not in others, its deii- 

 I ciency corresponding with different degrees of 

 sterility. In three specimens of soil analyzed 

 by Mr. Gyde, he detected in 1000 parts of one 

 fertile without manure, 4| parts; in another 

 fertil with manure only 1 parts, whilst in tho 

 4 F 889 



