PLA 



PLA 



thinned, by catting away all but those 

 shoots which are intended to be used ei- 

 ther as stakes, or the other work of the 

 plashing; the ditch is to be cleaned out 

 with the spade : and it must be now dug, 

 as at first, with sloping 1 sides each way ; 

 and when there is any cavity on the bank, 

 on which the hedge grows, or the earth 

 has been washed away from the roots of 

 the shrubs, it is to be made good by fac- 

 ing it, as they express it, with the mould 

 dug from the upper part of the ditch : all 

 the rest of the earth dug out of the ditch 

 is to be laid upon the top of the bank. 



In plashing the quick, two extremes 

 are to be avoided ; these are, the laying 

 it too low, and the laying it too thick : 

 this makes the sap run all into the shoots, 

 and leaves the plashes without sufficient 

 nourishment ; which, with the thickness 

 of the hedge, finally kills them. The 

 other extreme of laying them too high, is 

 equally to be avoided; for this carries up 

 all the nourishment into the plashes, and 

 so makes the shoots small and weak at 

 <he bottom, and, consequently, the hedge 

 thin. 



PLASMA, in mineralogy. The colour 

 of this mineral is intermediate between 

 grass and leek green, and of different de- 

 grees of intensity. It is marked with 

 ochre yellow dots, and whitish spots. It 

 occurs in angular pieces ; internally it is 

 glistening ; fracture perfectly flat con- 

 choidal. It is hard, brittle, easily frangi- 

 ble ; not very heavy. It has been found 

 in Italy, Germany, and Turkey, but chief- 

 ly among the ruins of Rome. It is said 

 that it was formerly worn by the Romans 

 as a part of ornamental dress. 



PLASTER, in pharmacy, is defined to 

 be an external application, of a harder 

 consistence than our ointments ; these 

 are to be spread according to the differ- 

 ent circumstances of the wound, place, 

 or patient, either upon linen or leather. 

 See PHARMACY. 



PLASTER, among builders, &c. The 

 plaster of Paris is a preparation of seve- 

 ral species of gypsums, dug near Mont 

 Maitre, a village in the neighbourhood of 

 Paris ; whence the name. See MORTAR. 

 PLAT ANUS, in botany, plane tree, a 

 genus of the Monoecia Polyandria class 

 and order. Natural order of Amentaceje. 

 Essential character : male, calyx ament 

 globular ; corolla scarcely apparent ; an- 

 thers growing round the filament: fe- 

 male, calyx ament globular ; corolla ma- 

 ny -petalled ; stigma recurved : seeds 

 roundish, mucronate with the style, pap- 

 pose at the base. There are two species, 



viz. P. orientalis, oriental plane tree, and 

 P. occidentalis, American plane tree ; 

 these are very large, handsome, and lof- 

 ty trees. The first sort, or eastern plane 

 tree, grows naturally in Asia ; the stem is 

 tall, erect, and covered with a smooth 

 bark, which annually falls oil'; it sends 

 out many side, brandies, and are general- 

 ly a little crooked at their joints ; the 

 leaves are placed alternate, on foot-stalks 

 an inch and a half long ; the flowers come 

 out upon long peduncles, hanging down- 

 ward, each sustaining five or six round 

 balls of flowers ; the upper, which are 

 the largest, are more than four inches in 

 circumference : these sit very close to 

 the peduncle ; the bristly down surround- 

 ing the seeds helps to transport them to a 

 great distance. 



PLATALEA, the spoonbill, in natural 

 history, a genus of birds of the order 

 Grallre. Generic character : bill long, 

 broad, flat, and thin, the end widening 

 into a roundish form ; nostrils small at the 

 base of the bill ; tongue short and point- 

 ed ; feet four-toed and semi-palmated. 

 There are three species. 



P. leucerodia, or the white spoon-bill, 

 inhabits Europe, Asia, and Africa, and 

 subsists on frogs and fishes, snakes and 

 grass. It is of the size of a heron ; it 

 frequents the sea coasts, near which it 

 builds in the highest trees,and in the breed- 

 ing- season, is nearly as clamorous as the 

 rook. These birds are migratory, and 

 withdraw to warm regions on the ap- 

 proach of winter. Their flesh has a strong 

 resemblance in taste to that of a goose. 

 See Aves, Plate XII, fig. 4. 



P. ajaja, is somewhat less than the 

 above, and its plumage is nearly through- 

 out of an exquisite rose colour. It is sel- 

 dom found further north than Georgia, 

 feeds on small crabs, fish and moluscous 

 animals, in pursuit of which it wades and 

 occasionally dives. 



The scarlet spoonbill, a variety, or 

 more probably the young of the last, is of 

 the colour from which it is named, which, 

 however, it does not attain till its third 

 year. It is of the same size as the last, 

 and found in Jamaica and Mexico. 



The dwarf spoonbill is of the size of a 

 sparrow, and inhabits South America. 



PLATE, in heraldry, is a round flat 

 piece of silver, without any impression ; 

 but, as it were, formed ready to receive 

 it. 



PLATE is also a term used by our 

 sportsmen, to express the reward given 

 to the best horse at our races. 



PLATES, in gunnery. The prize plates 



