SOI 



548 



SOL 



plying the manure deep below the sur- 

 face. In another instance, some pars- 

 neps being of necessity sown in a poor 

 soil, having turned in some manure by 

 trenching fall twelve inches deep, 



ficiency in its staple, when, in truth, big and others have most illogically 

 the defect arises from erroneous man- | concluded, from the smallness of the 

 agenient. soluble extract contained in a soil, that 



I have before stated an instance of it is of small importance, forgetting 

 tap-rooted plants being produced, of, that as fast as it is taken by the roots of 

 superior size and form, by means of ap- , the crop, it is generated again by the 



decomposition of the animal and vege- 

 table remains. This is one reason why 

 fallowing is beneficial ; easily decom- 

 posing matters have been exhausted by 

 successive crops ; and by a year's rest, 

 would not allow any to be applied to and exposure to the putrefactive agency 

 the surface, but, at the time of thinning of the air, the more stubborn and more 

 I set half the bed out at an average of slowly decomposing exuvin have time 

 twelve inches' distance between each to resolve into and accumulate soluble 

 plant, the other half at nine inches, compounds in the soil. — Princ.of Gard. 

 When taken up for storing, the whole ] SOJA hispida. Hardy annual. Seed, 

 were alike perfectly fusiform ; but those Common soil. 



SOLANDRA. Five species. Stove 

 evergreen climbers. Cuttings. Turfy 

 loam and peat. S. grandijlora. Mr. 

 J. Brown, gardener at Whittlebury 

 Lodge, near Towcester, says that — 



" After it attains to the height of from 

 three to five feet, it must not be shifted, 

 but allowed to remain in as small a pot 

 as it will grow in until the roots be- 

 come matted round the inside. Early 

 in autumn keep it in a cool situation, 

 and allow it to become perfectly dry, 

 when the leaves will drop off. About 



grown at twelve inches apart were the 

 finest, as four and a half is to three. If 

 manure had been applied to the surface, 

 the fibrous roots, I calculated, would 

 be multiplied at the expense of the 

 caudex, to its much greater detriment 

 than by making the few usually pro- 

 duced by this root extend in length, 

 thus enlarging the circuit of their pas- 

 turage. 



Again, a more silicious, darker co- 

 lored soil should be employed for the 

 growth of an early crop, of any given 

 plant, than is required by the main crop ; the beginning of November, introduce 



because such soil will more readily 

 get rid of the superfluous moisture, and 

 earlier acquire a genial warmth, two 

 great desiderata for vegetation in spring. 

 On the contrary, in autumn, for a late 

 crop of peas, for instance, the soil 

 should be more aluminous, that such 

 moisture may be retained. 



The quantity of soluble matter ob- 

 tainable Irom a soil, at any one time, 

 is very small, seldom exceeding a one- 

 thousandth part of its weight; and even 

 pure vegetable mould, the debris of 



it into heat, and force gently, supply- 

 ing it plentifully with water wlien it 

 begins to grow. Being thus excited for 

 a short time, the plant grows freely, 

 and produces blossom-buds on the 

 young wood, and at the end of each 

 shoot; these in January and February 

 expand. As soon as it has done flow- 

 ering, which is generally in March, the 

 shoots are to be cut back, and the 

 plant, being shifted, put into heat and 

 encouraged to grow, stopping the young 

 shoots fre(juently, to induce it to throw 



entirely putrefied plants, was found by out laterals, and to keep it dwarfed. 

 Saussuro to yield only one-eleventh of By this treatment it very often forms 

 soluble matter. This mould was too spurs similar to a pear or apple-tree, at 

 rich for horticultural purposes, peas ' the ends of which, after allowing the 

 and beans grown in it being too luxuri- 1 roots to become matted in the pot,giv- 

 ant ; and they were more productive in ing it a rest, and keeping it dry and cool 

 a soil containing only one-twentieth of from August till November, blossoms 

 organic constituents dissolvable by wa- , are produced in abundance, upon its 

 ter. Small in amount, however, as is being put again into heat." — Gard. 

 the soluble constituents of the most Chron. 



fertile soils, they are necessary for the SOLANUM. One hundred and thirty- 

 vigorous vegetation of plants; tor when six species, and some varieties. Stove 

 a soil is deprived of those constituents and green-house evergreen shrubs and 

 by frequent washings with boiling water, annuals; hardy annuals, deciduous 

 it is much less fertile than before. Lie- climbers, herbaceous, and a few tuber- 



