SNA 



546 



SOI 



been found eighty in one heap. They 

 are globular, whitish, shining, and not 

 larger than swan-shot. If kept in a 

 damp place, they readily hatch, at 

 once becoming little, thin, transparent, 

 and nearly colourless shells. In a short 

 time, they increase to twice the size, 

 even when they have had nothing to 

 feed upon. They are then of a dark. 



SNAKE GOURD. Trichosanthes. 



SNAKE ROOT. Aristolochia ser- 

 pent aria. 



SNAPDRAGON. Antirrhinum and 

 Silene antirrhina. 



SNAP TREE. Judicia hysopifolia. 



SNEEZEWORT. Achillea Ptarmica. 



SNOW is one of the gardener's best 

 shelters, and should never be removed 



ochreous colour, with three imperfect ' from his out-door crops. It prevents 

 rings, composed of brownish dots and ' heat from radiating from tliem; pro- 

 streaks, and a transverse line of the : tects them from freezing, drying blasts ; 

 same colour next the pale lip or mar- | and, being a bad conductor of heat, 

 gin ; and these spots seem to vary as thus prevents its escape from them, 

 the animal withdraws or extends itself, , I have never known the surface of the 

 owing to the dark tints shining through i earth, below a covering of snow, colder 



the semi-transparent shell. 



than 32°, even when the temperature 



As the snail grows, it has the faculty of the air above has been 28°. — John- 



of enlarging the shell, from its own se 

 cretions ; and, when full grown, it is as 

 large as a small plum. It is convo- 

 luted obliquely, striated of an ochreous 

 colour, variegated with pitchy spots, 

 giving it a marbled appearance, and 

 forming two or three transverse bands ; 

 the lip is ochreous, the margin slightly 

 reflexed, the under side is smooth and 

 white, with a pinkish tint. 



" There are various ways of reducing 

 the numbers of this pest — the simplest 

 is, by searching amongst the leaves of 

 wall-fruit in April, when the snails first 

 leave their winter quarters, to satisfy 

 their long abstinence, and they con- 

 tinue feeding until August or Septem- 

 ber. 



" To protect seedling plants, a thick 

 dusting of lime and soot round the 

 stem will keep the snails away in dry 

 weather. 



" In August, the eggs may be found 



son''s Principles of Gardening 



SNOWBALL TREE. Viburnum 

 Opulus. 



SNOWBERRY. Chiococca. 



SNOWDROP. Anemone sylvesti'is, 

 and Galanthus. 



SNOWDROP TREE. Halesia. 



SNOWFLAKE. Leucojum. 



SOAP-BOILERS' ASHES. 'S.Ge Ashes. 



SOAPWORT. Saponaria. 



SOBOLEWSKIA lithophila. Hardy 

 annual. Seed. Common soil. 



SOIL. However varying in the pro- 

 portions, yet every soil is composed of 

 silica, alumina, lime, magnesia, oxide 

 of iron, salts, and animal and vegetable 

 remains. The most important conside- 

 ration is, what proportions those are 

 which constitute a fertile soil ? 



The beau ideal of a fertile soil is one 

 which contains such a proportion of de- 

 composing matter and of moisture as to 



at the roots of pot-herbs, in the cavities ' keep the crop growing upon it always 

 of muck heaps, at the rotten foot ofl supplied with food in a state fit tor 



paling, &c. These should be diligently 

 sought for and destroyed; for they 

 nearly all will hatch. 



" Salt and urine are destructive to 

 snails ; but it is difficult to apply either 

 to them with much advantage. Lime, 

 soot, and wood ashes are excellent 

 checks ; but the first loses its efficacy 

 as soon as it becomes wet, and even 



introsusceptmn, yet not so superabun- 

 dantly as to render the plants too 

 luxuriant, if the object in view is the 

 production of seed ; but for the pro- 

 duction of those plants whose foliage 

 is the part in request, as spinach, or of 

 edible bulbous roots, as onions, which 

 have a small expanse of leaves, so as 

 to be almost entirely dependent upon 



the dews of the evening will frequently I the soil for nourishment, there can 

 exhaust its caustic properties. Cabbage scarcely be an excess of decomposed 

 leaves are not an invariable decoy for i matter presented to their roots. 



the old snails: young ones, however, 

 are very fond of them, especially when 

 wet and withering." — Card. Chron. 



SNAIL FLOWER. Phaseolus cara- 

 calla. 



Spinach, on rich soils, will yield suc- 

 cessive cuttings, the same as asparagus ; 

 the latter especially demands abundant 

 applications of nourishment to its roots, 

 since, like the onion, it has little foliage 



