PIN 



PIC 



PHYSIOLOGY. The investiga- 

 tion of the properties and functions 

 of plants and aniniais. 



PHYTOGKArilY. Descriptive 

 botany. 



PIA MATER. The delicate mem- 

 brane covering the brain. 



PIAZZA. An arcade. 



PICAMAR. A bitter substance 

 found in tar. 



PICID.E, PICE. The family of 

 woodpeckers. 



PICK. A pickaxe. 



PICKLING. The preservation of 

 vegetables or meats in vinegar or 

 brine. 



PICllOMEL. Sugar of bile: bilin, 

 changed by the action of acetic acid, 

 &,c. 



PICROTOXIA. A poisonous al- 

 kaloid in Cocculus Indicus. 



PIE. A mould, or rounded mass 

 of earth, compost, &c._ 



PIER. In architecture, the solid 

 between the openings of a building, 

 or that from which an arch springs. 

 An abutment pier, in a bridge, is that 

 next the shore. 



PIG. See Hog. 



PIGNUT. See Hickory. 



PIGEON. Birds of the genus Co- 

 lurnba ; the young are tender, and 

 used as food, to some extent. The 

 dung is a choice manure, and collect- 

 ed with great care and expense in 

 the East for melons : it is the same 

 as poultry dung. The full-grown 

 birds are tough, but may be ren- 

 dered tender by cooping for 10 days or 

 more, and feeding with Indian meal. 



PIGGERY. See Hog-sty. 



PILASTER. A square pillar sit- 

 uated in a wall, usually projecting not 

 more than one fifili or one sixth of 

 its widtli. Pilasters are subject to 

 the same rules of proportion as col- 

 umns. 



PILCHARD. A small kind of her- 

 ring. 



PILE. The hair on furs. 



PILES. Timbers driven into a 

 marshy soil to afford a better founda 

 tion. In surgery, enlargement of the 

 veins of the rectum. 



PILEL'S. Tlie cap of a mush-mom. 



PH.OSE. Hairy, set with hairs. 

 C c c 



PIMENTO. Myrtus fimcnla. All- 

 spice. The aromatic berries of an 

 evergreen tree of Jamaica and the 

 tropics of America. 



PIMPERNEL. Aiiagallis arvensis. 

 A pretty, indigenous annual. 



PIND.\RS. Arachis Injpogaa. The 

 ground pea. The following, from 

 Mr. M'Caughan, of Mississippi, is 

 worthy of the attention of Southern 

 I)lanters : 



" I planted, the 18th of February 

 last, three acres in pindars, in rows 

 five feet apart, the peas about 12 

 inches apart, in a common small fur- 

 row made with a bull-tongue plough, 

 on level ground, having first broken 

 up and harrowed it well. The weath- 

 er afterward, in March, was very cold, 

 wet, and unfavourable, and killed 

 many of the peas which had sprout- 

 ed, so that I had a very poor stand ; 

 they, however, grew finely, and in- 

 terlocked across the rows, and cov- 

 ered the ground pretty well. On the 

 27th of October I began digging (for 

 fear of frost) by loosening the ground 

 a little round the bunch with an iron 

 fork with three prongs, each above 13 

 inches long, and then pitched the fork 

 under the tap root and pressed it up ; 

 a hand follows and lifts up the bunch, 

 most of the pease adhering to it, and 

 shakes the sand (dirt we have none) 

 all of!' and lays it out straight to cure 

 like hay ; when sufficiently cured, tie 

 up in bundles the proper size for a cut- 

 ting-box, and stow away for winter 

 food for horses, cows, &c., than 

 which there can be nothing better or 

 more nutritious. The pindars that 

 are torn from the vine are partly left 

 on the top of the ground, and can ea- 

 sily be picked up after a rain ; I then 

 turn the hogs in, and they gather the 

 balance, and fatten as finely on them 

 as on corn. Our poorest land will 

 yield 50 to 80 bushels of the pease, 

 and over a ton of hay per acre, and 

 altogether I regard it as one of the 

 finest crops the Southern farmer can 

 raise. If we could aflbrd to give an 

 entire crop to the land, I am persua- 

 ded it would be quite as good as a 

 crop of your best red clover to fer- 

 tilize it. There has been a mistaken 



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