368 THE COMPLETE GARDEN 



Parasitic Plants: 



Plants growing on or deriving nourishment from other plants; e. g., 

 mistletoe. 



Paring and burning: 



This operation consists of paring off the sod containing foul or objec- 

 tionable growth to a depth of about two inches and after allowing it 

 to dry burning it and spreading the ash over the ground. 



Peat: 



Decayed organic matter of vegetable origin naturally deposited under 

 still water, hence found in the form of bogs. As it has been deposited 

 under water and is usually found still under water, nitrifying bacteria 

 are not present and peat is unavailable as plant food until mixed with 

 soil in which nitrifying bacteria are present. Peat varies in colour 

 from a pale brown or yellowish brown to almost black and in texture 

 varies from a fibrous substance, containing particles easily recognized 

 as plant remains, to a compact mass of fine particles which when still 

 wet resemble clay except in colour. 



Perennial: 



Plants growing year after year. Properly includes trees and shrubs; 

 but in practice the term is limited to those plants which have no per- 

 sistent stem above ground, but do nevertheless grow year after year, 

 merely dying back to a crown bud each fall and sending out new stems 

 each spring. Perennial herb is the proper term to express this meaning. 



Piedmont: 



A region lying at the base of a mountain range. 



Pleached Alice: 



A way framed on either side by symmetrical rows of closely planted 

 trees or shrubs, so maintained that the branches of the continuous walls 

 of close-growing foliage arch and interweave across the top of the 

 way at a height of not less than seven or eight feet. 



Pocket-planting : 



The planting of trees and shrubs in a pocket of fertile soil formed by 

 digging a large hole in a more or less unfertile soil and refilling with 

 fertile soil; frequently adopted to save expense of preparing beds and 

 also to save unnecessary washing of an area of loose soil on slopes. 



Pollard: 



v. To remove the crown of a tree, usually at a point below the lowest 

 branches, for the purpose of promoting a dense head of foliage or for re- 

 juvenating the tree. 



