AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



419 



SON 



some with and others without stems; some 

 glabrous and others hirsute ; and some with 

 different kinds of leaves on the same plant. 

 Their flowers are mostly purple or violet, borne 

 on a scaphoid or boat-like i-aeeme. Some of 

 the hot-house species are beautiful plants. S. 

 Hendersoni and its varieties, and 8. margari- 

 tacea, with their handsomely marked foliage, 

 are the most desirable. They require a warm, 

 moist atmosphere to succeed well, and grow 

 best in a soil composed chiefly of leaf mould 

 and sand. Propagated by cuttings and from 

 seeds. 



Sonnera'tia. Named in honor of Pierre 8on- 

 nerat, a botanical traveler and collector. 

 Nat. Ord. Myrtacew. 



A genus of very glabrous shrubs or small 

 trees inhabiting the coast regions of India 

 and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. 

 All the species have opposite, entire leaves, 

 without dots, and large, usually solitarj^ ter- 

 minal flowers. Dr. McClelland, in his " Re- 

 port on the Teak Forests of Peru," states 

 that the Kambala, S. apetala, is found 

 throughout the Sunderbunds at the mouth 

 of the Ganges, and as far south as Rangoon, 

 and that its strong, hard, close-grained wood 

 is used at Calcutta for making packing-cases 

 for beer and wine. Several ornamental spe- 

 cies have been introduced, and are propagated 

 by seeds, which ripen freely, or by cuttings. 



Sopho'ra. Altered from sophera, the Arabic 

 name of a leguminous tree. Nat. Ord. Legu- 

 minosoB. 



A genus of deciduous trees, hardy herba- 

 ceous plants, and green house evergreens. 

 Sophora Japonica, the Chinese or Japan- 

 ese Pagoda Tree, is a medium-sized tree, 

 grows freely, and produces its large bunches 

 of cream-colored flowers in August and Sep- 

 tember. The drooping Sophora, however, 

 though only considered a variety of the 

 tree, is very distinct. It is a trailing shrub, 

 sending out shoots six feet or eight feet long 

 in a single season ; and when it is grafted on 

 a stock of S. Japonica, ten or twelve feet 

 high, these long, sweeping shoots, the bark 

 of which is a bright green, have a peculiarly 

 graceful appearance. The Sophora will grow 

 in any soil, but a poor one suits it better 

 than a rich one ; its leaves seldom drop, even 

 in the driest seasons. 



Sophroni'tis. From sophrona, modest; refer- 

 I'ing to the pretty little flowers of the original 

 species. Nac. Ord. OrchidacecB. 



Pretty little epiphytes, having a creeping 

 stem, which should be attached to a block of 

 wood, on which the root soon securely fastens 

 itself. The leaves are sessile and compara- 

 tively small, while the flowers, especially 

 those of S. grandijlora, are large and very 

 handsome, of a rich orange-red, marked with 

 darker bars. The plants should have the 

 treatment of the smaller kinds of Cattleya, and 

 are well deserving the attention of culti- 

 vators. The various species included in this 

 genus are natives of Brazil, and were first 

 inti'oduced in 1827. 



So'rbus. The generic name given by Linnteus to 

 the Mountain Ash, or Rowan-tree, the culti- 

 vated Service-tree, and a few others, wliieh, 

 by their pinnate leaves more than anything 

 else, appear to differ from Pyrus. Modern 

 botanists now refer them to Pyrus, which see. 



SOR 



So'rghum. From Sorghi, its Indian name. Nat. 

 Ord. GraminaceoR. 



A genus of strong-growing, reed-like 

 grasses, chiefly represented in this country 

 by S. saccharatum, our well-known Broom 

 Corn, a native of India, from whence it was 

 introduced into Europe in 1759. The intro- 

 duction of Broom Corn into this country as 

 an agricultural product is attributed to Dr. 

 Franklin. He is said to have accidentally 

 seen an imported whisk of corn in the posses- 

 sion of a lady of Philadelphia, and while ex- 

 amining it as a curiosity, found a seed, which 

 he planted, and from that single seed has 

 sprung this important article of agriculture 

 and manufacture in the United States. This 

 species is grown almost exclusively for the 

 manufacture of brooms ; the seed is, however, 

 valued highly for feeding to sheep, cattle and 

 fowls. The seed crop is a precarious one, 

 often completely failing, being injured by the 

 frost before it is ripe. The crop is usually 

 harvested before the seed is fairly ripe ; hence 

 there is considerable loss in that way. The 

 seed crop is, however, only a secondary mat- 

 ter, and the profit that accrues from the seed 

 is regarded an extra dividend on the profits 

 of the farm. 8. aucre is the Chinese Sugar 

 Cane, or Imphee, a species introduced into the 

 United States from France in 1856, and dis- 

 tributed by the Patent Office Department at 

 Washington, but more extensively by an en- 

 terprising publisher in New York as a premium 

 to his subscribers throughout the United 

 States, for the purpose of growing the plant 

 for the manufacture of sugar in our Northern 

 States, which its advocates said could be done 

 more profitably than sugar was produced at 

 the South from the ordinary cane. The Abo- 

 litionists at the North, who could not consci- 

 entiously use the products of slave labor, 

 were particularly active in introducing Sor- 

 ghum, and were greatly disappointed when 

 they found that the labor of the slave was not 

 to be lessened by the withdrawal fx'om the 

 South of one of its most profitable industries. 

 S. vulgare, another species, is the grand Millet 

 of Arabia, known here as Durra or Doura, and 

 which has been introduced into the United 

 States, southern Europe, China and the West 

 Indies, where it is extensively grown and much 

 esteemed as food for laborers, and is called in 

 the latter country Negro Guinea Corn. It is 

 also grown extensively as a forage plant. 8. 

 halapense, a handsome species from southern 

 Europe, northern Africa, Syria, etc., is most 

 attractive when in fiower at the end of sum- 

 mer, the infiorescence consisting of a dense 

 panicle of purplish, awned flowers. It is a 

 most suitable plant for groups or isolated 

 specimens. It is now naturalized in some of 

 the Southern States where it is known as 

 Guinea Grass, Cuba Grass, and more gener- 

 ally as Johnson Grass, which see. 8. cer- 

 nuum is also grown there, and is known as 

 Drooping Sorghum and Pampas Rice. All 

 the species are grown in the same manner as 

 our common field corn. The cultivation of 

 Sorghum for the production of sugar and 

 syrup has received a good deal of attention 

 within a few years past, and many experiments 

 have been made, and continue to be made, 

 with various kinds of Sorghum, to ascertain 

 not only their adaptability to particular soils 

 and localities, but their sugar-producing 



