SNAKE-GOURD. 



274 



SOILS. 



since been found that several trees 

 produce it ; and the Caoutchouc used 

 for the Macintosh cloaks, &c. is prin- 

 cipally produced by the Siphbnia 

 Cahuchu, a native of Guiana. The 

 species requires a stove in England ; 

 and it grows freely in peat, loam, and 

 sand. It is propagated by cuttings 

 of the young wood in sand, with a 

 bell-glass and bottom-heat. 



Sisymbrium. — Cruciferce. — 

 Hedge British weeds. 



Sisyri'nchium. — Iridece. — Mus- 

 tard. — Beautiful little plants, resem- 

 bling bulbous plants in their flowers, 

 but with fibrous roots. They are all 

 natives of America, and they should 

 be grown in sandy peat. 



Skullcap. — See Scutellaria. 

 Slipper-wort. — See Calceolaria. 

 Slugs. — See Limax. 

 Smilax. — Smilacece. — Evergreen 

 monocotyledonous, dioecious, climb- 

 ing shrubs, with curiously ribbed 

 leaves, and numerous tendrils, which 

 they twine round every object within 

 their reach. The roots are thick and 

 fleshy, and from them (and particu- 

 larly those of one species) the drug 

 called sarsaparilla is made. The 

 flowers are small and whitish; and 

 those of the female plants are suc- 

 ceeded by red or black berries. The 

 handsomest species is S. rubens, the 

 tendrils of which are of a bright red ; 

 and the next is S. excelsa, from the 

 large size of its leaves. All the spe- 

 cies may be grown in the common 

 garden soil ; but they should be 

 planted in a shady situation, and kept 

 rather moist. S. China and some 

 other species are rather tender, and 

 require protection from severe frosts. 

 Snails. — See Helix. 

 Snail-flower. — Phaseblus Ca- 

 racalla. — A climbing plant, a native 

 of India, with lilac flowers, nearly 

 allied to the Scarlet-runner. 



Snake-gourd. — Trichosanthes 

 anguina. — A very curious plant, 



with white flowers, every petal of 

 which appears surrounded with long 

 knotted fringe. The leaves and ten- 

 drils resemble those of the common 

 cucumber ; but the fruit is curiously 

 striped, and is so long and narrow as 

 to resemble a snake. Specimens 

 have indeed been grown more than 

 six feet long, and not thicker than 

 the body of a common snake. The 

 plant is an annual, a native of China, 

 and it should be grown in a frame 

 like a common cucumber or melon. 

 It is of no use, and only worth culti- 

 vating as an object of curiosity. 



Snake-wood. — Ceanbthus colu- 

 brina. 



Snap-dragon. — See Antirrhinum. 

 Snowball tree. — See Vibur- 

 num. 



Snowberry. — See Symphori- 



carpus. 



Snowdrop. — See Galanthus. 



Snowdrop tree. — See Halesia. 



Snowflake. — See Leucojum, 



Soap-berry. — See Sapindus. 



Soap-wort. — See Saponaria. 



Soils — are of two kinds, the surface 

 soils, and the subsoils ; the first being 

 what are generally understood by the 

 word soils, and the second being pro- 

 perly designated earths. Soils, ac- 

 cording to this definition, consist of 

 the crumbling surface of one of the 

 primitive earths mixed with decayed 

 animal or vegetable matter, and per- 

 haps with particles of some other earth 

 which may have been washed down 

 by rains, or otherwise accidentally 

 mingled with it. Thus clay is one of 

 the primitive earths ; but loam, which 

 is compounded of the crumbling sur- 

 face of the clay mixed with decaying 

 animal or vegetable substances, is a 

 soil. In the like manner, lime is an 

 earth, but chalk is a soil. When 

 several kinds of soil are mixed to- 

 gether and intermingled with ma- 

 nures, the mixture is called a compost. 

 All soils which contain a consider- 



