AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



417 



SOB 



Sobra'lia. Named after Don F. M. Sobral, a 

 Spanish botanist. Nat. Ord. OrchidacecB. 



Tlie flowers of the principal species (S. ma- 

 crantha) are gorgeously colored, of a rich rosy 

 purple and the most intense crimson, and 

 they are at the same time of large size. 

 All the species belong to the class of terres- 

 trial Orchids, being found on the margins of 

 streams, growing liiie our reeds, in the alluvial 

 deposit common to such places. This habit 

 requires to be imitated in cultivation, and it 

 is therefore best to pot them in very sandy 

 loam, and either to place the pot for a few 

 inches of its depth in a saucer of water, or to 

 supply the roots by some other means abun- 

 dantly with water while they are in an activt; 

 state. The flowers are produced near the apex 

 of the long, reed-lilvc stems, and in the species 

 mentioned are produced in daily succession, 

 each one lasting a day, when it has been ob- 

 served necessary to remove the decaying flower 

 as soon as its beauty is past, or it rots, and con- 

 sequently spoils the next in succession. Being 

 natives of the milder parts of Guatemala, they 

 do not require a very high temperature at any 

 time, the oi'dinary one of a green-house being 

 sufficient in summer, and from 45° to 50" in 

 winter, when the plants should be kept nearly 

 dry. There are three other species known, 

 S. decora, S. Uliaslrum and S. sessilis, all of 

 them beautiful, but far surpassed by the first 

 mentioned. Tlieyareall natives of Central and 

 South America and were introduced in 1836. 



Soil. A good soil is the base of success in all 

 operations of the garden What the proper- 

 ties of a good soil ai-e is not very easy to con- 

 vey in writing, as quality is not always con- 

 fined to a particular color or texture, though 

 the practical horticulturist can nearly alwa^^s 

 tell, by turning up with a spade, the relative 

 qualities of a soil. If selection can be made 

 for general purposes, a rather dark-colored 

 soil should be chosen, neither too sandy nor 

 too clayey, and as deep as can be found, but 

 not less than ten inches, or the chances are 

 that it will not be of first quality. It should 

 overlay a sandy loam of yellowish color, 

 through which water will pass freely. The 

 condition of the subsoil is of the first impor- 

 tance in choosing soil. Sandy loam we believe 

 to be the best ; next to that a porous gravel, 

 and the least to be desired is a stiff, blue clay. 

 Land having a clay subsoil is always later in 

 maturing crops than one having a sandj" or 

 gravelly subsoil ; and, if the land is at all level, 

 draining is indispensable at every fifteen or 

 twenty feet, or no satisfaction can be had in 

 culture. It is a common belief that poor land 

 can be brought up by cultivation. A portion 

 of the land used by us has the blue claj' sub- 

 soil above referred to, and, although in the 

 past twenty years we have expended large 

 sums in draining, subsoiling, and manuring, 

 we have failed to get it into the condition of 

 other portions of our grounds having the 

 proper subsoil, and do not think that any cult- 

 ure would bring it into as good shape. 



The soil for potting plants in is often a 

 matter causing great anxiety to the amateur 

 florist, many of the books giving advice on the 

 subject insisting that special kinds are indis- 

 pensable for different families of plants. We are 

 glad to tell our readers that in our own estab- 

 lishment, where upward of two millions of 



SOL 



plants are now grown annuallj' in pots, we do 

 not find it necessary to make these nice dis- 

 tinctions. The great bulk of the soil we use 

 in potting is composed of sods cut about three 

 inches deep from any good sod land, preferring 

 such as is known as sandy loam. The sods 

 are heaped up in alternate layers of one-fourth 

 of thoroughly rotted horse or cow manure or 

 rotted refuse hops from breweries, when such 

 are obtainable. Either of these three manures 

 will do, separately or mixed together, as con- 

 venient. This compost is better to stand six 

 or eight months, but often our necessities 

 compel us to use it much sooner, which makes 

 no material difference, provided it is at a season 

 of the year when the sod will rot. The man- 

 ure and sods are thoroughly mixed and chopped 

 up, and for the smaller plants is run through 

 a fine sieve. 



Peat, so much insisted on as a necessity 

 for Azaleas, Ferns and other fine-rooted 

 plants, we rarely use, substituting instead 

 either mould formed from thoroughly rotted 

 refuse hops, or dried Moss (Sphagnum) run 

 through a fine sieve ; either of these, mixed in 

 about equal parts with our sod mould, we . 

 use instead of peat for all thread-like rooting 

 plants. Besides, true peat is rarely to be 

 f.)und in this country, and is well replaced by 

 leaf mould, if necessary. 



Soil for Seeds. See " Propagation hy Seeds." 



Soil. Importance of firming. See " Sowing, 

 use of the feet in." 



So'ja. From sooja, the name of a sauce made 

 from the seeds in Japan. Nat. Oi'd. Legunii- 

 noscB. 



S. hL^pi'la is a climbing annual plant, allied 

 to Dolichos. It is much cultivated in tropical 

 Asia on account of its beans, which are used 

 for preparing a well-known brown and slight- 

 ly salt sauce (Soj') used both in Asia and 

 Europe for flavoring certain dishes, especially 

 beef, and supposed to favor digestion. Of 

 late it has been, to some extent, cultivated as 

 an oil plant. 



Solana'ceae. A large natural order of erect or 

 climbing shrubs or herbs, natives of all tropi- 

 cal countries, but more especially of America; 

 a few are also found in more temperate cli- 

 mates. Many are remarkable for their strong 

 narcotic, poisonous qualities. The most use- 

 ful of all to man is the Potato {Solanum tuber- 

 osum) ; Tobacco (Nicotiana) is also a very 

 important article of commerce. The Tomato 

 (Lycopersicum) is very largely cultivated, as 

 is also the Egg Plant (Solanum Melongena). 

 Belladonna, Henbane and Stramonium are 

 used largely in medicine There are about 

 sixty genera, the most important of which 

 are Capsicum, Nicotiana, Physalis, Datura, 

 Hyoscyamus, Solanum, Petunia, etc. 



Sola'ndra. Named after Dr. Soland^r, a Swede, 

 companion of Sir Joseph Banks in his voyage 

 around the world and collector of the botani- 

 cal notes made during the expedition. They 

 are preserved in the British Museum and ex- 

 hibit deep learning and great research. Nat. 

 Ord. SolanaceoB. 



A genus of coarse-growing, green-house, 

 evergreen shrubs and climbers, natives of 

 tropical America and the East Indies. The 

 flowers are large and trumpet-shaped, like 

 the Datura, to which they are allied. They 



