PIT 
drills about th^ee feet afunder, for lefs than half the 
quantity of feed will do for an acre, and being fet re- 
gularly, the ground may be ftirred with a hoe to deftroy 
the weeds, and earth up the Peas, which will greatly 
improve them, and the Peas may be much eafier cut 
in autumn, when they are ripe. The ufual time for 
fowing thefe Peas is about the middle of March, 
or the beginning of April, on Warm land, but on cold 
ground they fhould be fown‘ a fortnight or three 
weeks later. In the common way of fowing, they al- 
low three bufhels or more to an acre ; but if they are 
drilled, one bufhel and a half will be full enough. 
The Green and Maple Rouncivals require a ftronger 
foil than the White, and fhould be fown a little later 
in the fpring j alfo the drills fhould be made at a 
greater diftance from each other, for as thefe are apt 
to grow rank, efpecially in a wet feafon, they fhould 
be fet in rows two feet and a half or three feet afun- 
der •, and the ground between the rows fhould be 
ftirred two or three times with a hoe, which will not 
only deftroy the weeds, but, by earthing up the 
Peas, will greatly improve them, and alfo render the 
ground better to receive whatever crop is put on it' 
the following feafon. 
The gray Peas thrive beft on a ftrong clayey land ; 
thefe are commonly fown under furrow, but by this 
method they are always too thick, and do not come 
up regular ; therefore all thefe rank-growing plants 
fhould be fown in drills, where the feeds will be more 
equally fcattered, and lodged at the fame depth in the 
ground ; whereas in the common way fome of the 
feeds lie twice as deep as others, and are not fcattered 
at equal diftances. Thefe may be fown toward the 
end of February, as they are much hardier than either 
of the former forts, but the culture for thefe fhould 
be the fame. 
The beft method to fow thefe Peas is to draw a drill 
with a hoe by a line about two inches deep, and then 
fcatter the feeds therein ; after which, with a rake, 
you may draw the earth over them, whereby they will 
be equally covered, and this is a very quick method 
for gardens *, but where they are fown in fields, they 
commonly make a fhallow furrow with the plough, 
and fcatter the feeds therein, and then with a harrow 
they cover them over again. After this, the great 
trouble is to keep them clear from weeds, and draw 
the earth up to the plants ; this, in fuch countries 
where labour is dear, is a great expence to do it by 
the hand with a hoe ^ but this may be eafily effeded 
with a horfe-hough, which may be drawn through 
between the rows, which will entirely eradicate the 
weeds, and by ftirring the foil render it mellow, and 
greatly promote the growth of the plants. 
When any of the beft forts are intended for feed, there 
fhould be as many rows of them left ungathered, as 
may be thought neceffary to furnifh a fufficient quan- 
tity of feed ; and when the Peas are in flower, they 
fhould be carefully looked over, to draw out all thofe 
plants which are not of the right fort ; for there will 
always be fome roguifh plants (as the gardeners term 
them) in every fort, which, if left to mix, will dege- 
nerate the kind. Thefe muft remain until their pods 
are changed brown and begin to fplit, when you 
fhould immediately gather them up, together with 
the haulm ; and if you have not room to ftack them 
till winter, you may threfh them out as foon as they 
are dry, and put them up in facks for ufe ; but you 
muft be very careful not to let them remain too long 
abroad after they are ripe, for if wet fhould happen 
it would rot them ; and heat, after a fhower of rain, 
would caufe their pods to burft, and caft forth their 
feeds, fo that the greateft part of them would be 
loft *, but, as I have faid before, it is not advifable 
to continue fowing of the fame feed longer than two 
years on the fame ground, for the reafons there laid 
down, but rather to exchange their feeds every year, 
or every two years at leaf!:, whereby you may always 
exped to have them prove right. 
PISUM CORDATUM. °See Cardiospermum, 
PITTONIA. See Tournefortia, 
PLAN T A, a Plant, ds defined by the ingenious Mr; 
John Martyn to be an orgarucai body, deftitute of 
fenfe and ipontaneous motion, adhering to another 
body in fuch a manner, as 1 to draw from it its nou- 
rishment, and having power of propagating itfelf by 
feed. As to the parts of which a plant confifts, they 
are the root, (talk, leaf, flower, and fruit. 
Plant and vegetable are pretty near terms fynony- 
mous, all plants being vegetables. Dr. Boerhaave 
defines a vegetable to be a body generated of the 
earth, or fomething arifing of the earth, to which it 
adheres, or is conneded by parts called roots, through 
which it receives the matter of its nourifnment and 
increafe, and confifts of juices and veffels fenfibly 
diftind from each other ; or a vegetable is an organi- 
cal body, compofed of veffels and juices, every 
where diftinguifhable from each other ■, to which body 
grow roots or parts, whereto it adheres, and from 
which it derives the matter of its life and growth. 
This definition furniilies a juft and adequate idea of 
a vegetable for by its confifting of veffels and juices, 
it is diftinguifhed from a foffii ^ and by its adhering 
to another body, and deriving its nourifhment there- 
from, it is diftinguifned from an animal. 
A vegetable is defined an. organical body, becaufe 
confifting of different parts, which jointly concur to 
the exercife of the fame fundions, adhering by fome 
of its parts to another body •, for we know of no 
plant that is abfolutely vague and fluctuating, but has 
ftill a body it adheres to, though that body may be va- 
rious, e. g. Earth, as in our common plants ; ftone, 
as in rock plants ; water, as in fea plants ; and air, as 
fome mucilages. 
As to thofe few plants which appear to float in the 
water, their manner of growth is fomething anoma- 
lous. Monfieur Tournefort has fhewn that all plants 
do not arife ftridly from feeds, but that fome, inftead 
of femen, depofit or let fall a little drop of juice, which, 
finking in the water, reaches the bottom, or fome 
rock, &c. in its way, to which it flicks, ftrikes root, 
and fboots into branches ; fuch is the origin of coral. 
Add, that the root, of a plant may have any fitu- 
ation at pleafure, with refped to the body thereof, nor 
needs it either be loweft or higheft, &c. Accordingly 
in Aloes, Miileto, Coral, Moffes, Fungufes, &c. the 
root is frequently uppermoft, and its growth down- 
wards. 
The veffels or containing parts of plants confift of 
mere earth, bound or conneded together by oil, as a 
gluten, which being exhaufted by fire, air, age, or 
the like, the plant moulders, or returns again into its 
earth or duft. Thus, in vegetables burnt by the in- 
tenfeft fire, the earth or matter of the veffels is left en- 
tire, and indiffoluble by its utmoft forces, and confe- 
quently the matter thereof is neither water, nor air, 
nor fait, nor fulphur, but earth alone. 
The root or part whereby vegetables are conneded to 
their matrix, and by which they receive their nutri- 
tious juice, confifts of an infinite number of abforbent , 
veffels, which, being difperfed through the interftices 
of the earth, attrad or imbibe the juices of the fame ; 
confequently, every thing in the earth that is diffoluble 
in water, is liable to be imbibed, as air, fait, oil, 
fumes of mineral, metal, &c. and of thefe Diants really 
confift. 
Thefe juices are drawn from the earth very crude, but 
by the ftrudure and fabric of the plant, and the va- 
rious veffels they are drained through, become 
changed, further elaborated, fecreted, and affrmilated 
to the fubftance of the plant. 
The motion of the nutritious juices of vegetables is 
produced much like that of blood in animals, by the 
adion of the air ; in effed, there is fomething equiva- 
lent to refpiration throughout the whole plant. 
The difcovery of this we owe to the admirable Mal- 
pighi, who fir ft obferved that vegetables confift of two 
feries or orders of veffels ; firft, fuch as receive and 
convey the alimental juices, anfwering to the arte- 
ries, ladeals, veins, &c. of animals ; fecondR, tra- 
chea, or air-veffels, which are long hollow pipes, 
wherein 
4 S3 
