SACCHARINE. 



SAGO, 



uni); Whitworth's grass ( Whiiworthi- 

 is) ; Stickney's grass (Stickneicnsis') ; pani- 

 cled rye-grass (paniculatum); double-flowered 

 rye-grass (monstrosum) ; viviparous rye-grass 

 (viviparuni) : all the varieties have a strong 

 tendency to vary their form when sown on dif- 

 ferent soils. The annual species are common 

 only to land under cultivation, under the alter- 

 nate husbandry. 



Rye-grass appears to have been cultivated 

 previous to the year 1677 (Woldridge's Hitsb. 

 1st ed.), besides which, red clover, spurrey, tre- 

 foil, and nonsuch were the only plants then 

 cultivated as grasses, or termed such ; and it is 

 only of late years that any other species of the 

 natural grasses has been tried as a substitute 

 for it in forming artificial pastures. One peck 

 of rye-grass, with fourteen pounds of clover, 

 per acre, is generally considered sufficient for 

 sowing artificial pastures. Rye-grass, when 

 not more than three years old, flowers in the 

 second week of June, and ripens the seed in 

 about 25 days after : as the plants become older 

 they flower much later, sometimes so late as 

 the beginning of August. See GRASSES. 



A variety called the Italian rye-grass was 

 some time since brought prominently into no- 

 tice, and is well spoken of. One species of 

 rye-grass, the bearded darnel (Lolium temulen- 

 tum) is poisonous. PI. 7, c. It is an annual, and 

 flowers in July. The root is downy and fibrous; 

 the culm leafy, smooth, about two feet high, 

 with leaves of a bright-green, rough in the 

 under disk. The spike is a span long, and 

 roughish. The calyx of the flowers linear, 

 flattish, many-ribbed, rising above the spike- 

 lets. The florets are six, with the outer valve 

 of the corolla elliptical, concave, with a dorsal 

 awn. The seeds are elliptical, flattened, and 

 furnished with a furrow along its upper side. 

 See DARKEL. 



S. 



SACCHARINE. A term applied to such 

 substances as contain sugar. The plants in 

 which this substance is abundant are in gene- 

 ral highly nutritious and useful in the fattening 

 of animals. See MOLASSES and SUGAR. 



SACKS. The term sack, in the sense of a 

 bag, is found in all the European and many 

 Asiatic languages. 



SAFFRON (Crocus sativus). The stigmata 

 of this purple crocus are of a deep orange 

 colour, and when in quantity have a peculiar 

 and very characteristic odour; they are used 

 in medicine, chiefly as a rich yellow or orange- 

 colouring matter. Saffron is now chiefly im- 

 ported from the south of Europe, especially 

 Spain; it was formerly much cultivated in 

 England in the vicinity of Saffron Walden, in 

 Cambridgeshire. 



Saffron is often largely adulterated with the ! 

 petals of other plants, especially with those of ! 

 the marigold. The English saffron is superior i 

 to that brought from Spain. It should never ' 

 be compressed into cakes, but the stigmata left I 

 in a dry, shrivelled state, or, as it is termed, hay ; 

 saffron. Where the stigmata are pale, the saf- 

 966 



fron is bad. Saffron, as a medicine, is of little 

 value. See CARTHAMCS and CROCUS. 

 SAFFRON, THE MEADOW. See COL- 



CHICUM. 



SAGE, GARDEN (Scdvia offidnnlis ; from 

 salveo, to be safe, on account of the sanative 

 properties with which it was supposed to be 

 fraught). Sage is now used principally in cu- 

 linary preparations. There are several varie- 

 ties, as, 1. The common green. 2. Worm- 

 wood. 3. Green, with variegated leaves. 4. Red, 

 with variegated leaves. 5. Painted, or parti- 

 coloured. 6. Spanish, or lavender-leaved. 

 7. Red. A dry, moderately fertile soil, is best 

 suited to their growth, in a rather sheltered 

 situation. If the soil is rich, or super-abound- 

 ing in moisture, they grow luxuriantly, but are 

 apt to perish in winter. Sage is propagated by 

 cuttings of the young shoots from the sides of 

 the branches, sometimes also by rooted offsets, 

 and likewise by seed. See CLABT. 



SAGE, THE WOOD. See GERMANDER. 



SAGO (Malay and Jav. sagu). A species 

 of fecula or starch obtained from the cellular 

 substance of a palm tree the Sagus farinifera, 

 Gaertn; Sagus Rumphii, Wild. In the early 

 writers it is called sagu, suga, and zaga. In 

 Java the word signifies bread. The sago 

 which is procured from the above palm, and 

 six other species of the same family; is the 

 pith of the trunk. When the tree is of suffi- 

 cient age it is cut down, split, and the pith ex- 

 tracted and reduced to powder, which is mixed 

 with water and strained through a sieve. The 

 sago is deposited from the fluid, and after two 

 or .three washings it is fit for use, and is called 

 in this state, when dried, sago^meal. For the 

 European market it is made into a paste and 

 granulated, and is known in the trade under 

 the name of pearl sago. The consumption of 

 sago has undergone an almost incredible in- 

 crease within the last twenty years, which is 

 wholly ascribable to the reduction in the inter- 

 val of the oppressive duties by which the arti- 

 cle was formerly loaded. Sago has latterly 

 been brought prominently into notice as food 

 for domestic animals usually reared upon the 

 farm, particularly horses and calves. Experi- 

 ence having decided in favour of its whole- 

 someness and economy, it will no doubt very 

 soon become a general and staple article of 

 food on all farms that rear young stock. From 

 its emollient and nutritive properties, it ap- 

 pears to be admirably adapted for calves while 

 on milk ; for cows sometimes before and after 

 calving; for young horses in winter, instead 

 of much dry corn, or none at all, as is too fre- 

 quently practised; and for young pet lambs, 

 whose mothers have either died or forsaken 

 them, in which events a serious encroachment 

 is apt to be made on the milk intended for the 

 calves. Sago seems peculiarly well adapted 

 for horses for fast work, and for sporting dogs, 

 since it is found to leave the wind unaffected; 

 and with regard to fowls, the whole class of 

 them might be rendered by it much more white 

 in flesh and delicate for the table, than the food 

 usually allowed them on farms. 



Sago is most commonly used in a gelatinous 

 state, and it is easily reduced to that state by 

 boiling water. 



