Pistachia

Four species and more varieties. Hardy and half-hardy evergreen and deciduous trees. Layers and ripe cuttings; light rich loam. Even the hardy species of this genus do best against a wall.

Pistorinia

Pistorinia hispanica. Hardy biennial. Seed. Light well-drained soil.

Pisum

Pea. Seven species and many varieties. Hardy annual climbers, except the herbaceous perennials, P. americanum and P. maritimum. Seed. Rich dry soil. See Pea.

Pitcairnia

Seventeen species. Stove herbaceous. Seed and suckers. Moss potsherds. They are really epiphytal.

Pitcher-Leaf

Nepenthes phyl-lamphora.

Pitcher-Plant

Nepenthes dis-tillatoria.

Pittosporum

Eighteen species. Green-house evergreen shrubs, except P. tobira, which, matted, will sustain the winter south of Virginia. Ripe cuttings. Peat and loam.

Pladera

Two species. Greenhouse biennials. Seed, and cultivated like the Balsam.

Plagiolobium

Two species. Green-house evergreen shrubs. Young cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.

Plaster Of Paris

See Gypsum.

Planera

Two species. Hardy deciduous trees. Layers on grafts of the elm. Light loam, near water.

Plane Tree

Platanus.

Plank Plant

Bossiaa scolopen-dria.

Plantain Tree

Musa.

Plashing

Plashing is "a mode of repairing or modifying a hedge by bending down a portion of the shoots, cutting them half through near the ground to render them more pliable, and twisting them among the upright stems, so as to render the whole more effective as a fence, and at the same time preserve all the branches alive. For this purpose the branches to be plashed, or bent down, must not be cut more than half through, in order that a sufficient portion of sap may rise up from the root to keep alive the upper part of the branches.

"Where hedges are properly formed and kept, they can very seldom require to be plashed." - Farm. Enc.

Platanthera

Thirteen species. Hardy orchids, except the stove, P. susannce, and the green-house, P. flava. Seed. Loam, peat, and chalk.

Platanus

Plane-Tree. Two species and three varieties. P. orientalis does not suffer from the disease which has of late years attacked one indigenous species. Hardy deciduous trees. Layers, cuttings, and seed. Common light soil.

Platycarpium

Platycarpium orinocense. Stove evergreen tree. Cuttings. Peat and loam.

Platychilum

Platychilum celsiamim. Greenhouse evergreen shrub. Young cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.

Platylobium

Six species. Green-house evergreen shrubs. Seed. Sandy peat and a little loam.

Platylophus

Platylophus trifoliatus. White ash. Green-house evergreen tree. Ripe cuttings. Loam and peat.

Platystemon

Two species. Hardy annuals. Seed. Sandy loam.

Platystigma

Platystigma lineare. Half-hardy herbaceous. Division. Sandy loam.

Platystylis

Three species. Hardy herbaceous. Division and seed. Light loam.

Pleasure-Ground

Pleasure-Ground is a collective name for that combination of parterres, lawns, shrubberies, waters, arbours, etc. which are noticed individually in these pages. One observation may be applied to all - let congruity preside over the whole. It is a great fault to have any one of those portions of the pleasure ground in excess; and let the whole be proportioned to the residence. It is quite as objectionable to be over-gardened as to be over-housed. Above all things eschew what has aptly been termed gingerbread-work. Nothing offends a person of good taste so much as the divisions and sub-divisions we are sometimes compelled to gaze on "with an approving smile".