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A Pv C 
Thefe are feldom deftitute of flowers the whole year, 
unlefs the winter is .fevere, which renders them more 
valuable than tnofe which flower at one feafon only j 
for all thofe plants which flower in the winter-feafon, 
make a fine variety in the green-houfe ; and when the 
plants are fet abroad in fummer, their flowers being 
at that feafon produced in greater plenty, they add 
to the beauty of a garden. 
The fhrubby forts are propagated by planting cut- 
tings in a bed of light freih earth, in any of the fum- 
mer months, obferving to fhade them from the heat 
of the fun until they have taken root, as alfo to re- 
fresh them often with water ; and in fix weeks after 
planting, they will be rooted fufficiently, at which 
time they fhould be tranfplanted into pots filled with 
frefh earth, fetting the pots in a lhady place until the 
plants are new rooted ; after which time they fhould 
be placed in the open air until the latter end of Ofto- 
ber, or later, according as the weather is favourable, 
when they rnufi be removed into the green-houfe, 
where they fhould be placed as near the window as 
poflible, that they may have a good quantity of free 
air at all times, when the weather is mild ; nor fhould 
they be over-hung by other plants, which would oc- 
cafion them to take a mouldinefs, and rot ; they muft 
alfo be frequently refrefhed with water, giving it 
them plentifully in mild w r eather, othenvife their 
leaves and branches will hang and wither ; in fum- 
mer they can fcarce have too much water given them. 
They will alfo require to be fhifted into other pots 
two or three times at leaft every fummer, and the 
pots fhould be frequently removed, to prevent the 
plants from ftriking their roots through the holes of 
the pots into the ground, which they are very apt to 
do, then they will fhoot very vigoroufly •, but when 
Thefe roots are torn off, by removing the pots, the 
plants are often killed. 
All thefe plants fhould be frequently renewed by 
cuttings, becaufe the old plants are fubject to decay 
in winter ; therefore if young plants are not annually 
railed, the fpecies may foon be loft. 
If the green-houfe in which thefe plants are placed 
in winter is fubject to damps, it will be very difficult 
to preferve fome of the forts •, for when the windows 
are kept clofe, the tender parts of their fhoots are 
very fubjeft to a mouldinefs, which will foon caufe 
the" plants to decay, if it is not conftantly cleaned off, 
and free air admitted to dry off the damps. 
ARCUATION [from arcuo , Lat. to bend or bow 
like an arch ;] the method of railing trees by layers. 
The firft thing that is to be done, is, to procure 
ftrong mother plants, which are ufually called ftools. 
It is no matter whether the trees be crooked, or other- 
therwife deformed. They are to be planted in a bor- 
der fix feet wide, and in a ftrait line fix feet afunder. 
The border muft be w r ell trenched, or dug, and clear- 
ed from all roots, clods, ftones, or any other ob- 
ftru&ions. Thefe trunks or ftools being planted in 
this trench, will throw out a great many fhoots ac- 
cording to their ftrength, which may be laid about 
the Michaelmas following : in order to this, the 
ground round each ftool fhould be carefully dug, 
breaking the clods and picking out the ftones as be- 
fore. Then the fhoots fhould be bent down in 
arches, and put into the ground about three inches 
deep •, and to keep them in this fituation, each fhould 
have a forked flick drove into the ground over the 
part of the fhoot immerfed, turning the extremity of 
each fhoot upward. 
When the branches are thus laid round the ftool, and 
pegged faft down, the branches, or fhoots, will be 
covered all over, except the very top. Some per- 
fons give the branches a twift, in order to make them 
take root the fooner. Others flit fuch of the fhoots 
as are not apt to take root without, in the fame man- 
ner as is praftifed in laying of Carnations, which is 
generally a lure way •, and- if they are afterward mulch- 
ed, it will be of ufe to keep out the froft in winter, 
and alfo to keep the ground moift the following fpring 
and fummer. 
A R G 
About the end of September following they may bd 
opened and examined, to fee if they have taken root 
or not, v/hich it is very probable they will have done 5 
but if not, they muft be let alone, to lie till the next 
autumn, when they are to be taken up, and planted 
in the nurfery. 
This may be done to the Dutch, Witch, arid Eng- 
lifh Elms ; the A'beie, Lime, Alder, Platanus, and 
many forts of evergreen trees and flowering fhrubs. 
AREA is the internal capacity or content of any given 
boundary or limits, of what figure or fliape foever 
it be. 
ARGEMONE [fo called from ’’Apyspa, a difeafe in 
the eye, which this plant is faid to cure •, it is alfo 
called the Infernal Fig, becaufe the capfule pretty 
much refembles a Fig, and from its afperity,] Prickly 
Poppy. 
The Characters are, 
The flower hath a three-leaved empalement , which falls 
ofl ' ; it hath five roundiflo petals , which fpread open , and 
are larger than the empalement •, in the center is f iliated 
an oval five-cornered germen , crowned by a large obtufie 
ftigma , which is permanent , divided into five parts , at- 
tended by a great number of flaming crowned by ob- 
long eredi fummits ; the germen afterward becomes an 
oval feed-vefieh having five angles , and as many cells , 
which are filled with fimall rough feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in Linnaeus’s thir- 
teenth clafs, entitled Polyandria Monogynia, the 
flowers having many ftamina and one germen. 
We have but one Species of- this genus, viz. 
Argemone ( Mexicana ) capfulis quinque valvibus, foliis 
fpinofis. Lin. Sp. 727. Argemone whofe capfule hath 
five valves , and the leaves are prickly j or Pickly Poppy. 
Papaver fpinofum. C. B. P. 171. 
This is an annual plant, which is very common in 
moft parts of the Weft-Indies, and is, by the Spani- 
ards, called Fico del Inferno, or the Devil’s Fig •, 
there is no great beauty or ufe in this plant that I 
know of, but whoever hath a mind to cultivate it, 
fhould fow it on a bed of light earth, in the fpring, 
wdiere it is to remain •, and if it comes up too thick, 
the plants muft be thinned to four inches diftance, 
where, when once it has flied its feed, there will not 
want a fupply of plants for feveral years after. I 
have been informed that gumbouge is made from the 
juice of this plant, but how true I cannot take upon 
me to determine. , 1 
ARG IL [Argilla, Lat . a fort of white earth like chalk, 
but more brittle,] Potters Clay. 
ARIA THEOPHRASTI. See Crat^gus. 
A R I S A R U M. See Arum. 
ARISTA-, of corn, is that fharp-pointed needle that 
Hands out from the hufk or hole of the grain, called 
the beard or awn of corn. 
ARISTOLOCHI A. [’A proAo^G from beft, 
arid a C hild Bird?,, becaufe fuppoled to be of fo- 
reign ufe on that oc canon.] Birthwort. 
The Characters are. 
The flower hath no empalement , it is of one leaf, \ which 
is unequal ; the bafie is fwelling and globular ,- afterward 
is extended into a cylindrical tube , which fpreads at the 
bripn^ where the lower part is ftretched out like a tongue. 
It hath no ftamina , but there are fix fummits which join 
the under part of the ftigma : the oblong angular germen 
fits under the flower , fupporting a concave globular ftig- 
ma . , divided into fix parts ^ the germen afterward turns 
to a large feed-veffel, differing in form , which opens in 
fix cells , which are filled with feeds , for the moft part 
comprejjed. - v 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fifth feclion of 
Linnasus’s twentieth clafs, entitled Gynandria Hexan- 
dria, the flowers being male and female in the fame 
fpecies, having no ftamina or pointal, and fix fum- 
mits, which reft on the receptacle. 
The Species are, 
1. Aristolochia ( Rotunda ) foliis cordatis, fubleffili- 
- bus obtufis, caule infirmo, floribus folitariis. Lin. 
Sp. Plant. 962. Birthwort with blunt heart-fhaped 
leaves growing clofe , a weak ftalk , and flowers growing 
fmgly « 
5s 
