2

stock. This man is a type of a most numerous class whose aim is to be become small farmers, and who, with that end in view, work hard and practise the severest thrift and perseverance.

In Great Britain the amount of stock per acre carried on small holdings is larger-with the exception of sheep-than that carried on a similar area of land in large farms. Tables compiled by the writer from the agricultural returns of Great Britain, and printed in the evidence given before the Select Committee on Small Holdings (1889), show that the area of land in Great Britain cultivated in small holdings of 1 acre to 100 acres is about the same as the area cultivated in large farms of 300 acres and upwards, the area being | about 91 and 9 million acres respectively. The tables show that the small holdings carry 511,038 horses, the large farms 314,016; cows and other cattle 2,660,281 as against 1,227,904; pigs 1,178,500 as against 383,626. Only in sheep is the advantage shown to be with the large farms. It frequently happens that cases showing the failure of petite culture refer really to small cultivators who hold their land on a yearly tenancy or some other uncertain tenure, a class altogether distinct from and lacking the essential conditions of peasant proprietors. The great prosperity of agriculture in Denmark, and the large and increasing exports of butter, eggs, cattle, pigs, &c. from that country are due to the fact that the great bulk of the land is cultivated by owners, mainly by peasant proprietors of farms from 25 to 125 acres. Mr Jenkins gives interesting examples, not exceptional, of prosperous highly cultivated peasant farms in Denmark. One small owner of 50 acres of land kept eighteen cows, fed eighteen pigs annually, and had two horses to work the arable land. The whole family was employed on the farm or in the dairy. The dairy, though small, 12 by 14 feet, was a perfect sight for order, cleanliness, and for the complete though inexpensive character of the arrangements and appliances. The majority of the agricultural labourers in Denmark possess a cottage with a few acres of land, either his own or on lease. In Germany the agrarian reforms inaugurated by Stein and Hardenberg early in the 19th century, and continued up to recent date, for the promotion of cultivating ownership in land, were undoubtedly the groundwork of the strength and solidity of the German nation.

In direct connection with the subject of peasant proprietorship is the fact of Britain's great and increasing dependence on foreign countries for a supply of the smaller articles of food. Besides fruit, vegetables, honey, flowers, &c., the importation of which is yearly increasing, the value of the following articles in pounds sterling imported in 1889 was as follows: Cheese above 44 million; butter above 10 million; margarine above 3 million; lard above 2 million; poultry, game, and rabbits above 34 million; bacon and hams above 93 million; pork, potatoes, and onions above 2 million; eggs above 3 million. This gives the enormous aggregate value of 36 million sterling paid annually to the foreigner for these smaller articles of food, for the production of which the soil and climate of England are for the most part specially fitted. In the face of chronic complaints of agricultural depression, this great volume of trade is allowed to pass into the hands of the small cultivator abroad. The reason is that the system of large farming is not adapted to the supply of these articles. The large farmer who raises corn and cattle cannot successfully compete with the small grower who is accustomed to minute and intensive cultivation. Peasant proprietorship is a separate and distinct business. The conditions of its success are close personal attention, hard work, and the strictest frugality. The peasant cultivator employs

but little hired labour, every member of the family doing something useful on the little holding. The system develops a handiness, a fertility of resources, an adaptation of means to ends, and an incessant industry, qualities hardly to be expected in connection with hired labour. As owner of his little holding the peasant proprietor has no restrictions as to cropping or methods of cultivation. He has no doubts about compensation for unexhausted manures and improvements, and no uncertainty as to tenure. As a small owner who for many years has lived on and successfully cultivated a few acres of land remarked to the present writer-The more I care for and work my land the more it gives me back; my little farm is my bank in which I put my labour and savings, which it pays me back with good interest.' It is often said that thrift, prudence, and perseverance are peculiar to the peasant proprietor on the Continent, and are the cause of his success. The history of peasant proprietorship, however, shows that these qualities are the result and not the cause of cultivating ownership. Improvident habits, early marriages, and little thought for the morrow are the too frequent accompaniments of a condition in which there is no prospect in life beyond that of a mere wage-receiver. The great secret of success of peasant proprietorship is summed up by Adam Smith in a striking passage in his Wealth of Nations: A small proprietor who knows every part of his little territory, who views it with all the affection which property, especially small property, naturally inspires, and who upon that account takes pleasure not only in cultivating but in adorning it, is generally of all improvers the most industrious, the most intelligent, and the most successful.' The two great drawbacks of peasant proprietorship are excessive subdivision and the unlimited power of mortgage. The landhunger-especially in France-is so great that the proprietor of a few acres will submit to any privation to save money, and will borrow at any rate, in order to acquire more land. The money-lender on the Continent, like the 'gombeen' man in Ireland, is the chief cause of trouble and difficulty to the small cultivator. The creation of a peasant proprietorship in Great Britain, though much discussed, has not till recently been seriously entertained as a practical question. In 1889 the government appointed a Select Committee on Small Holdings, and the evidence contains practical information on the various aspects of peasant proprietorship, and on the applicability of the system to Great Britain. The committee in their Report (1890) unanimously recommend that facilities should be given for the creation of small holdings, and they adopt the principles of Mr Jesse Collings' Small Holdings Bill. The general provisions of this bill are as follows: Local authorities are empowered by moneys borrowed for that purpose from the state, to acquire land and to sell the same in small holdings not exceeding 50 acres each. Purchasers are required to pay down as proof of their bona fides a portion not exceeding one-fourth or one-fifth of the purchasemoney. A part of the balance is to be paid off by annual payments, but the remainder-a small proportion of the original cost is to remain at a perpetual feu or quit-rent. This provision, while it protects the small holder-to a great extent-from the money-lender, at the same time makes the terms of purchase as easy as possible. It also enables the local authority to enforce the conditions provided against subletting and subdivision. The local authorities are further empowered to let land on favourable conditions in small holdings not exceeding 10 acres each. The report of the Select Committee declares that the extension of small ownerships is a matter of national importance both in the interests of the rural population, and

PEASANT WAR

also as adding to the security of property generally.' The committee recommend that a sum not exceed ing in the first instance five millions sterling should be devoted to the experiment, and earnestly hope that no time will be lost in introducing legislation to give effect to their recommendations.' This report, followed by the announcement of legislation on the subject in the Queen's speech of 1890, and the acceptance by the government in 1891 of the second reading of the Small Holdings Bill referred to, may together be taken as the first practical steps towards the creation of a peasant proprietorship in Great Britain.

See, besides the reports cited above, that from H. M. representatives abroad, On the Tenure of Land in the several Countries in Europe (1869); Laveleye's works on the rural economy of Belgium (new ed. 1875) and the Netherlands (1864); Lavergne, Economie Rurale de la France (4th ed. 1877); and W. T. Thornton's Plea for Peasant Proprietors (new ed. 1874).

Peasant War (Bauernkrieg), a great insurrection of the German peasantry which broke out in the beginning of the year 1525. The oppression of the peasants had gradually increased in severity as the nobility became more extravagant and the clergy more sensual and degenerate. The example of Switzerland encouraged the hope of success, and from 1431 to 1517 there were risings amongst the peasants of the south and west of Germany. A peasant rebellion took place in the Rhine countries in 1502, and another in Würtemberg, in 1514, both of which were put down without any abatement of grievances. The Reformation, by stirring up the desire of freedom, must be reckoned amongst the causes of the great insurrection itself; although Luther, Melanchthon, and the other leading reformers, whilst urging the nobles to justice and humanity, strongly reprobated the violent proceed ings of the peasants. The Anabaptists, however, encouraged them, and peasant insurrections, quickly suppressed, took place in 1522 and 1523. In January 1525 the peasantry of the abbacy of Kempten suddenly assailed and plundered the convent. This proved the signal for a rising of the peasants throughout the south of Germany. Many of the princes and nobles at first regarded the insurrection with complacency, because it was directed in the first instance chiefly against the ecclesiastical lords; some, too, because it seemed to set bounds to the increase of Austrian power. But the Archduke Ferdinand hastened to raise an army, and entrusted the command of it to Von Waldburg, a man of stern and unscrupulous character. Von Waldburg defeated and destroyed some large bodies of peasants, but was himself defeated by them on the 22d of April. Meanwhile the insurrection extended, and a number of towns took part in it, as Heilbronn, Mühlhausen, Fulda, Frankfort, &c., but there was a total want of organisation and co-operation. On 25th March 1525 there appeared in Upper Swabia a manifesto, in which the insurgents demanded the free election of their parish clergy; the appropriation of the tithes, after maintenance of the parish clergy, to the support of the poor; the abolition of serfdom; the restoration to the community of forests, fields, and meadows which the secular and ecclesiastical lords had appropriated; release from arbitrary augmentation and multiplication of services, duties, and rents; the equal administration of justice; and the abolition of some of the most odious exactions of the clergy. The conduct of the insurgents was not, however, in accordance with the moderation of their demands. Their many separate bands destroyed convents and castles (more than 1000 in all), murdered, pillaged, and were guilty of the greatest excesses. A number of princes and knights concluded treaties

with the peasants, conceding their principal demands. The siege of Marienberg, near Würzburg, gave time to their enemies to strengthen their forces. Götz von Berlichingen (q.v.) was one of the captains of the besieging peasants, who, hẹ afterwards maintained, had forced him to lead them. In May and June 1525 the peasants sustained a number of severe defeats; and the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, the Saxon Dukes, the electors of the Palatinate and Treves, and Frundsberg were successful farther north. The peasants were everywhere treated with terrible cruelty; more than 130,000 were killed in Upper Germany alone. Multitudes were hanged in the streets, and many were put to death with the greatest tortures. Würzburg and other towns which had joined them suffered the terrible revenge of the victors. It is supposed that more than 150,000 persons lost their lives in the Peasant War. Flourishing and populous districts were desolated. The lot of the defeated insurgents became harder than ever, and many burdens of the peasantry originated at this period. The cause of the Reformation and of German national life also was very injuriously affected. Similar peasant insurrections in other countries are treated of under TYLER, CADE, KET, JACQUERIE, SPARTACUS.

See works by Jörg (1851), Cornelius (1861), Baumann (1877), Fries (1883), Hartfelder (1884; 2d ed. 1889); the histories of Germany; and works cited at LUTHER, &c.

Peastone, or PISOLITE, a coarse variety of Oolite (q.v.).

Peat, a substance formed by the decomposition of plants amidst much moisture, as in marshes and morasses, and sometimes described as a kind of humus or soil, formed by the accumulation of the remains of mosses and other marsh-plants. The remains of the plants are often so well preserved in it that the species can be easily distinguished. Reeds, rushes, and other aquatic plants may usually be traced in peat, and stems of heath are often abundant in it; but it chiefly consists in the northern parts of the world of different species of Sphagnum or Bog-moss (see BOG-PLANTS). Mosses of this genus grow in very wet situations, and throw out new shoots in their upper parts whilst their lower parts are decaying and being converted into peat; so that shallow pools are gradually changed into bogs. Stools and trunks of trees often occur under peat in the British Islands and in north-western Europe generally. And not only so, but similar stools and trunks frequently are met with occupying a middle position in many peat-bogs-i.e. resting on peat and covered by a variable thickness of the same accumulation. It cannot be doubted that the overturning of trees, whether by natural causes or by man's hand, would in many cases impede surface drainage, and so eventually give rise to the formation of bogs. But there is reason to suspect that the succession of buried forests' and peat so frequently seen in the bogs of north-western Europe points to climatic changes (see POST-GLACIAL SYSTEM). Peat is vegetable matter more or less decomposed, and passes by insensible degrees into Lignite (q.v.). less perfectly decomposed peat is generally of a brown colour; that which is more perfectly decom. posed is often nearly black. Moist peat possesses a decided and powerful antiseptic property, which is attributed to the presence of gallic acid and tannin, and is manifested in the perfect preservation not only of ancient trees and of leaves, fruits, &c., but sometimes even of animal bodies. Thus, in some instances human bodies have been found perfectly preserved in peat after the lapse of centuries.

The

The formation of peat takes place only in the colder parts of the world. In warm regions the

decay of vegetable substances after life has ceased is too rapid. The surface covered by peat is very extensive in all temperate regions. In England it is considerable; it is greater in Scotland, and very great in Ireland. Some large peat-bogs occur in the south of Europe, even near the sea, and in more northern regions the mosses or bogs are still more extensive; they occur also in the northern United States, but more extensively in Canada and Newfoundland. For their physical characters and the mode of reclaiming them, see BOG, and WASTE LANDS. Mere peat is not a good soil, even when sufficiently drained, but by the application of lime, marl, &c. it is soon converted into valuable land, yielding excellent crops. A mixture of peat is often of benefit to soils otherwise poor; and for many shrubs, as rhododendrons, kalmias, whortleberries, &c., no soil is so suitable as one largely composed of peat.

Peat is the ordinary fuel of great part of Ireland, and is still much in request in the hillier parts of Scotland and England. In Holland, Denmark, and parts of north Germany it is also in use for the same purpose. Peat is a light and bulky kind of fuel, and cannot be conveyed to considerable distances without too great expense. Efforts have, however, been made to render it more generally useful, and so to promote the reclaiming of bogs, by compressing it until its specific gravity is nearly equal to that of coal. For this purpose it is first reduced to a pulp. But the process has not yet been advantageously prosecuted on an extensive scale, though numerous machines for the purpose have been patented in Germany and in the United States. Peat-charcoal, made from uncompressed peat, is very light and inflammable, and therefore unsuitable for many purposes, but for others it is particularly adapted, and no kind of charcoal excels it in antiseptic and deodorising properties. Peatcharcoal is highly esteemed for the smelting of iron and for working and tempering the finer kinds of cutlery. Charcoal made from compressed peat is in density superior to wood-charcoal, and is capable of being used as coke. But the conversion of peat into charcoal has not proved remunerative; and the attempts to obtain valuable products (pyroligneous acid, ammonia, inflammable oils, burning gas, tar, &c.) from its destructive distillation have been similarly unsuccessful.

Peat, specially prepared, is very serviceable for horses' bedding, &c. As antiseptic, it has been used for laying on wounds. Flower pots are sometimes made of peat; it is easy to transplant flowers growing in them without loosening the earth from the roots, the pot being readily cut to pieces; and liquid manure applied outside finds its way to the

roots.

See Rennie, Essays on the Natural History and Origin of Peat-moss (1810); Aiton, Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss-earth (1811); Steele, Natural and Agricultural History of Peat-moss or Turf bog (1826); a parliamentary Report on the Destructive Distillation of Peat (1851); Rev. J. Peter, The Peat Mosses of Buchan (1875); J. Geikie, Prehistoric Europe. Pebble (probably allied to bubble, from the sound of water running among stones), a small, round, water-worn stone of any kind; but with jewellers sometimes an agate-agates being often found as loose pebbles in streams, and those of Scotland in particular being popularly designated Scotch Pebbles. Hence the name has come even to be extended to rock-crystal when not in the crystalline form. Deposits of pebbles (in the sense of water-worn stones) occur among the rocks of all periods, but the pebbles are seldom loose; they are generally cemented together by iron, lime, or silica, forming a pudding-stone of greater or less hardness (see CONGLOMERATE). Single pebbles

PECOCK

are sometimes found in deposits which have been formed in perfectly still water, as in chalk and fine silt. They must have been floated to their places entangled in the roots of trees, or attached to the roots of large buoyant seaweeds.-BRAZILIAN PEBBLES (so called from Brazil having been long famous for the purity of its rock-crystal) are very pure pieces of Rock-crystal (q.v.) used by opticians for making the lenses of spectacles, &c. Pebrine. See PASTEUR, SILK. Pecan. See HICKORY.

Peccary (Dicotyles), a genus of the family Suida, containing at least two species. They have fewer teeth (thirty-eight) than the ordinary swine (forty-four), and a very short tail. The name Dicotyles is derived from a gland upon the back, almost corresponding in position to the navel below. D. torquatus is found from Arkansas to Patagonia, and is about 3 feet long; but the larger and fiercer D. labiatus only ranges from

Central America to southern Brazil. The latter is exceptionally pugnacious, and, as it goes about commonly in herds, it is extremely dangerous to meet with. Even the jaguar is said to retire before several of these animals when banded together. Both species, which freely breed together, are usually to be seen at the Zoological Gardens in London.

Pe-chi-li, GULF OF, a land-locked extension of the Yellow Sea (q.v.), between the base of the Corean peninsula and the Chinese province of Shan-tung, into which the Pei-ho (q.v.) discharges.

Peck, a measure of capacity for dry goods, such as grain, fruit, &c., used in Britain, and equivalent to two imperial gallons, or 554 548 cubic inches. It is thus the fourth part of a Bushel (q.v.). The old Scotch peck, the sixteenth part of a boll, when of wheat was slightly less than the imperial peck, but when of barley was equal to about 1.456 of it.

Pecock, REGINALD, author of The Repressor of Over-Much Blaming of the Clergy, was most probably born in Wales; was a Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1417, and was ordained acolyte and sub-deacon in 1420, proceeding to deacon's and priest's orders in the two following years. His preferments were the mastership of Whitting ton College, London, together with the rectory of St Michael in Riola; the bishopric of St Asaph's, from Duke Humphrey of Gloucester in 1444, when he also received his degree of Doctor of Divinity, and of Chichester, through the patronage of the ill-fated William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, in 1450. A student of great learning and industry, he plunged eagerly into the controversies of the day, and compiled many treatises, of which the Donet (c. 1440), on the main truths of Christianity, and his practical Treatise on Faith (c. 1456), written for the Lollards, are still extant.

two names indicates that they were husband and wife; indicates that they had children; under a name signifies that the person had children. Men are frequently indicated by small squares, women by circles or lozenges. All persons of the same generation are to be kept in the same horizontal fine; and the main line of descent is, wherever possible, to be indicated by keeping the successive names in a vertical column. Continuous lines indicate the succession of the different generations. The members of the same family are generally arranged in their order of birth in two groupsthe sons first, and then the daughters; but where the same father or mother has children by more than one marriage, the children of each marriage ought to form distinct groups. The actual arrange: ment, however, of a pedigree must always depend on the leading object which it is intended to illus. trate. Specimens may be seen in the articles

BONAPARTE and BOURBON.

Tabular genealogies, generally brief, and meant to illustrate some particular claim of right, are found among the records, public and private, of the early middle ages; but after the incorporation of the English Heralds' College far more attention was devoted to the compilation of pedigrees of families, more particularly with reference to their claims to dignities and heraldic insignia. In the course of the 16th century the heralds obtained copies of all such accounts of the English families of any distinction as could be supplied to them, and entered them in the books which contain the records of their official proceedings. Royal commissions were issued till 1704 to the two provincial kings-of-arms, empowering them to visit in turn the several counties of England, in order to collect from the principal persons of each county an account of the changes which had taken place in their respective families in the interval since the last preceding visitation, and to inquire what account could be given of themselves by families who had stepped into the rank of gentry, or had become settled in the county since that period. The register-books kept by the heralds and their assistants contain the pedigrees and arms collected in the course of the visitations, with the signatures of the heads of the families. See HERALDRY, Vol. V. p. 660.

In Scotland, in the absence of the regular system of visitations which prevailed in England, there is a great deal of evidence regarding the pedigrees of the historical families of the country scattered here and there in public and private collections, includ ing the Advocates' Library and Lyon Office. A register of genealogies exists in the Lyon Office, in which the pedigrees of applicants, after being proved to the satisfaction of the heraldic authori ties, are inserted with the accompanying evidence; and the Register of Arms contains much valuable information. To what extent the register of genealogies in the Lyon Office may be admitted as a probative document, conclusive of the facts which it sets forth, has not been ascertained by actual decision; but there can be no doubt that, in questions both as to property and honours, it would be regarded as a most important adminicle of proof. See the works of Sir Bernard Burke (q.v.) and Sir Harris Nicolas (q.v.); Doyle, Official Baronage (1886); Foster, Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage (1883), and Collectanea Genealogica (1882); Marshall, The Genealogist's Guide (1879; 2d ed. 1885); Roberts, Calendarium Genealogicum (1865); G. Burnett, Popular Genealogist, or the Art of Pedigree-making (Edin. 1865); Rye, Records and Record Searching (1888); Whitmore, The American Genealogist (1862; 2d ed. 1875); Durrie, Bibliographia Genealogica Americana (1868).

Pediment, the triangular space over the portico at the ends of the roof of classic buildings.

PEDRO

It may be called the gable of classic buildings, and is frequently enriched with sculpture, for which it forms a fine setting. See GREEK ARCHITECTURE. Pedlars. See HAWKERS.

Pedo'meter, an instrument for measuring walking distances. It has a dial which records revolutions of the mechanism; and the mechanism is generally actuated by the relative movement of a comparatively heavy suspended mass attendant on each step, though in some forms it is driven by a cord connected with the foot. In all cases the thing measured is the number of steps rather than the distance walked; and the user must find the true meaning of the readings of the apparatus as applied to his own walking.-An instrument attached to the wheel of a carriage so as to mark the number of revolutions of the wheel and so the distance traversed is called hodometer or odometer (Gr. hodos, 'way,' and metron, measure'). This is usually a train of wheelwork attached to the axle of the carriage, and communicating motion to an index on a dial. A similar instrument, called a cyclometer, is attached to bicycles and tricycles. The name odometer is also given to a wheel used by surveyors, which records the distances in miles

or rods.

Pedro I., emperor of Brazil (1798-1822), second son of John VI. of Portugal, fled to Brazil tugal, and became prince-regent of Brazil on his with his parents on Napoleon's invasion of Porfather's return to Portugal. For the proclamation of Brazilian independence and subsequent history, 1825, became king in 1831 on his father's abdicasee BRAZIL. PEDRO II., his son, born 2d December by his love of learning and simple scholarly tastes, tion, was declared of age in 1840, and, distinguished reigned over Brazil in peace until the sudden revolution of November 15, 1889, compelled him to withdraw to Europe, where he lived, mainly in France, Brazil becoming a republic under the name He died at Paris, of United States of Brazil.' 5th December 1891.

See Life by Mossé (1889).

Pedro the Cruel, king of Castile and Leon, was the only legitimate son of Alfonso XI., and was born at Burgos, 30th August 1334. On his father's death (1350) Pedro succeeded to the throne without opposition, but left the whole exercise of power to his mother, Donna Maria of Portugal, and Albuquerque, his father's prime-minister and chancellor. But by the instigation of his mistress (afterwards his queen), Marie de Padilla, Pedro emancipated himself in 1353 from the guidance of the queen-mother. He now obtained exceeding popularity; but the strict justice with which he decided all causes between the rich and poor, the clergy and the laity, combined with a haughty and imperious carriage towards them, alienated from him the nobles and clergy. The plottings of Albuquerque, who had fled to Portugal, having culminated (1354) in a revolt in Estremadura, Pedro marched against the rebels, but was betrayed by his brother Henry and taken prisoner. Escaping, he found himself speedily at the head of a powerful army, with which, despite the excommunication of the pope, he speedily reduced his opponents to submission. But having been betrayed by his relatives, and even by his mother, he became suspicious of every one; and the rest of his reign was devoted to the destruction of the power of the great vassals, the establishment of his own authority on the ruins of their feudal tyranny, and long-continued and bloody wars with the kingdoms of Aragon and Granada. He owes the epithet Cruel mainly to the murder of his brother Don Fadrique in 1358. But he is still often called in Spain 'the Justiciary,' from remembrance of his better qualities. The