SORREL. 



SOUTHERNWOOD. 



In Essex, the chief employment of soot is for 

 wheat, and it is generally applied by the chim- 

 ney sweepers to the land, out of a basket, in 

 the same manner that seed is sown. This is 

 usually done in the spring of the year, in 

 March, April, or May. Wheat so treated 

 speedily assumes a very deep green, [and on 

 some soils grows with greatly increased luxu- 

 riance. Soot was employed by the Rev. E. 

 Cartwright as a manure for potatoes, both by 

 itself and in combination with various other 

 fertilizing substances. The experiments were 

 made on a portion of the same soil as that de- 

 scribed in the article ASHES. The following 

 were the results obtained : 



Per Acre. 



1. The soil, without any manure, yielded bushels 



of potatoes ------- 157 



2. Soot 30 bushels 192 



3. Soot 30 bushels, salt 8 bushels - - 240 



Various agriculturists have noticed the good 

 results from mixing salt and soot. Mr. George 

 Sinclair, in his prize essay On Salt as a Manure, 

 mentions it as "remarkable" in the case of 

 carrots. Mr. Belfield of Elford has done the 

 same with regard to wheat. 



In Mr. Sinclair's experiments upon carrots, 



Per Acre. 

 Tons. cvvt. lb. 



The soils without any manure produced 

 carrots - - - - - - - 23 9 107 



Soil with 6^ bushels of salt dug in - - 44 14 17 



Soil with 6} bushels of salt, and GJ bush- 

 els soot 40 4 97 



In both the liquid and solid state, it has been 

 employed by Mr. John Robertson of Kilkenny, 

 with great success. " On meadows," he says, 

 "I have used soot with great advantage in sub- 

 stance; and though sown by the hand, one 

 dressing gave me always heavy crops of hay 

 for two successive seasons. But this .is a 

 wasteful mode of applying it, a great portion 

 of its ammonia, one of its most active ingre- 

 dients, being volatilized, and dissipated in the 

 atmosphere: when dissolved in water, there is 

 no waste, it is all available; and for horti- 

 cultural purposes I have mostly used it in that 

 state, mixing it up in the proportion of about 

 six quarts to a hogshead of water. Asparagus, 

 peas, and a variety of other vegetables, I have 

 manured with it, with as much effect as if I 

 had used solid dung; but to plants in pots, 

 particularly pines, I have found it admirably 

 well adapted ; when watered with it, they as- 

 sume a deep, healthy green, and grow strong 

 and luxuriant." Mr. A. Main makes some 

 pertinent remarks on soot as a top-dressing to 

 crops, and describes a machine for distributing 

 it, in the sixth volume of the Trans, of the High- 

 land Soc. p. 535. 



SORREL (the genus rumex, from the shape 

 of the leaves in many of the species, resem- 

 bling a pike or spear). There are in England 

 several indigenous species of sorrel, some of 

 which have already been described. The 

 common English sorrel' (Rumex acetosa) is a 

 perennial plant, met with almost everywhere 

 in meadows and pastures, flowering in June. 

 The root is long and tapering, astringent, and 

 5omewhat woody. The herbage is smooth, 

 powerfully and agreeably acid. Stem from 1 

 to 2 feet high, erect, simple, leafy, striated. 

 Leaves oblong, arrow-shaped. Flowers dice- 

 1002 



cious, with permanent tuberculated petals. The 

 acidulous taste of sorrel depends on binoxalate 

 of potassa and tartaric acid: the astringency 

 on tannic acid. 



The flavour of the wood-sorrel (Oxalis aceto- 

 selld) is much more grateful, and the leaves 

 are more juicy, than those of the common 

 sorrel (JR. acetosa) and the French or Roman 

 sorrel (R. scutatus). The acid is merely the 

 oxalic, free and*also combined with potassa and 

 ammonia. It likewise contains some saccha- 

 rine matter. The garden cultivation required 

 by them is identical. The leaves are employed 

 at all seasons of the year, in salads, sauces, 

 &c. The wood-sorrel requires a silicious, yet 

 moist and moderately fertile soil, in a shady 

 situation, as beneath a hedge with a northern 

 aspect. The garden sorrel thrives best in any 

 mouldy garden soil that tends to lightness ra- 

 ther than tenacity, and is not too poor. The 

 situation must be open. French sorrel is most 

 healthful in a light, dry soil, that is tolerably 

 fertile, in an open compartment. The rumexes 

 are propagated by seed, and all of them by- 

 parting the roots, both which modes may be 

 practised from the middle of February until 

 the same period in May, and by the latter also 

 in September and October. The finest plants 

 are raised by seed, but those from portions of 

 the roots are soonest in production. J 



Sheep-sorrel, or field -sorrel (R. acctosella), is 

 abundantly diffused throughout the United 

 States, and often forms a great pest to the far- 

 mer. The best way to subdue it is by means 

 of liberal dressings with lime. This has been 

 disputed by some, but where the application 

 has been made in large quantity, it will seldom 

 or ever fail. Of this genus two other species, 

 troublesome to farmers, have been already 

 mentioned. These are the sour or curled dock 

 (R. crispus), and the bitter or broad-leaved dock 

 (7?. obtusifolius). See DOCK. 



SORREL TREE (Andromeda arborea). This 

 is the only species of andromeda, which rises to 

 a sufficient height to be ranked among forest 

 trees. It begins to appear on the Alleghanies 

 in Virginia, and is found to their termination 

 in Georgia. In the fertile mountainous regions 

 of North Carolina, it attains a height of 50 feet, 

 with 12 or 15 inches in diameter. The name 

 is derived from the acidity of the leaves, which 

 in drying become black. When sumac is not 

 to be obtained, these leaves are used as a sub- 

 stitute in dyeing wool. The tree will endure 

 much cold, and grows well in the vicinity of 

 New York. It has small, white flowers, formed 

 into spikes 5 or 6 inches long. These render 

 the tree a very pretty ornament to gardens, &c. 



SOUTHERNWOOD (Absinthium) . The field 

 southernwood (Jl. campestris) is a rather rare 

 species. It is perennial in habit. The whole 

 herb is without any aromatic or bitter flavour. 

 Stems at first prostrate, becoming more or less 

 upright as the flowers appear, branched, leafy, 

 straight and wand-like, smooth, often reddish, 

 near 2 feet high. Leaves irregularly and dou- 

 bly pinnatifid, in many linear; blunt segments. 

 Flowers drooping, small, ovate, yellow with a 

 purplish calyx, forming numerous slender leafy 

 clusters at the ends of the stems and branches. 

 See WORMWOOD. 



