This section is from the book "A Dictionary Of Modern Gardening", by George William Johnson, David Landreth. Also available from Amazon: The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses.
Ptelea trifolhita. Hardy deciduous shrub. Layers. Light rich loam.
Ptelidium ovatum. Stove evergreen shrub. Ripe cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.
Forty-six species. Stove, green-house, and hardy and herbaceous ferns. Division and seed. Sandy loam and peat.
Eight species. P. scandens is a stove climber, and the others stove evergreen trees. Young cuttings. Rich light loam.
Four species. P. dumetorum is a green-house evergreen shrub, the others are hardy annuals; the first is increased by cuttings, and all by seed. Light loam.
Pterodiscus speciosus. Stove tuber. Division. Rich sandy loam. Probably half-hardy.
Two species. One herbaceous, the other annual; both hardy. Seed. Light loam.
Nine species. Greenhouse evergreen shrubs. Cuttings. Loam and peat.
Six species. Stove evergreen trees. Cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.
Twelve species. Green-house orchids. Division. Sandy loam and peat.
Two species. Hardy annuals. Seed, in a hot-bed; and seedlings planted in light open border.
See Mudding.
Two species. Greenhouse evergreen climbers. Cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.
Eight species. Hardy herbaceous. Division. Light loam.
Fifty species. Greenhouse evergreen shrubs. Half-ripe cuttings. Sandy loam and peat.
Pomegranate. Two species, and several varieties. Half-hardy deciduous shrubs. All are increased; by cuttings and layers, and the less common by grafting on the more com- ' mon. Light rich loam. The fruit of the common pomegranate, P.granaium, ripens well against a south wall.
See Basket.
Pursbia tridentata. Hardy evergreen shrub. Cuttings. Light well drained loam.
Pursh, Frederick, was a native of Germany, and is distinguished as an , early classifier of our native vegetables. He immigrated to the United States somewhere about 1S00, and was for a short period, we believe, in charge of the Hamilton collection, at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia. His "Flora Septentrionalis, or a systematic arrangement and description of the plants of North America," is a standard work, and evinces his thorough acquaintance with the subject. But little is known of Pursh's personal history.
Portulacaria.
Puschkinia scilloides. Half-hardy bulb. Offsets. Sandy loam.
Seven species. Hardy herbaceous. Division. Peat, with a little light loam.
Pycnostachis caerulea. Stove annual. Seed. Light rich loam.
Pyralis forficalis. Cabbage-garden Pebble Moth. Its appearance and habits are thus detailed by M. Kollar: - "The head, back, and upper wings of the moth are hazel-brown, and brownish gold; the antennae; light brown; the abdomen and under wings whitish. On the upper wings are two distinct, and two faint deep rusty-brown stripes. The first brood flies in May, and the second in August. The caterpillar is found in May and June, and the second generation in September and October. It has a light-brown head, and a yellowish-green body, with blackish stripes running lengthwise, and blackish dots having fine white lines between, and white incisions and spiracles. Its length is about eight lines. When these caterpillars are numerous, they do important damage to the cabbage tribe, and horseradish.
 
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