S O R 
the fruit is ferved up to the table in their deferts, but 
in England they have not been much efteemed, which 
has occafioned their being fo little cultivated here. 
There are feveral varieties of this fruit, which differ 
from each other in fize and fhape, as Apples and Pears 
do fame of thefe are fhaped like Catherine Pears, 
and are nearly as large others are depreffed at both 
ends, and fhaped like Apples, but both thefe forts 
will arife from feeds of the fame tree, fo that thofe 
who are defirous of having the largeft and beft kinds, 
fhould propagate them by grafting or budding from 
thofe trees whofe fruit are the faired and bed flavour- 
ed, as is pradtifed for other fruits •, thefe may be graft- 
ed upon Pear-docks, which agree better with this tree 
than any other except their own, for they will not 
take upon Apple-docks, nor do they thrive upon the 
Hawthorn or Medlar near fo well, though the fruit 
of this tree approaches nearer to thofe than any other, 
and are not fit for the table till they are in a date of 
decay. 
The feveral varieties of this tree differ in the number 
of their feeds, in the fame manner as Pears, Ap- 
ples, Quinces, and Medlars, fome of them having 
but three feeds in each fruit, and others have four 
or five •, fo that although one of the characters of 
this genus is, that the fruit has but three feeds, yet 
that mud be underdood to be of the wild fort, in 
which there are feldom more, but thofe of the 
cultivated kind are as uncertain as the fruit of Apples 
and Pears. 
In Italy thefe trees are very common, where they 
have a great variety of forts which have been ob- 
tained from feeds, but I, have not obferved in the 
Englifh gardens more than three forts, and thofe are 
yet very icarce, for there are at prefent but few large 
trees of the true Service in England, one of which 
was lately growing in the gardens formerly belong- 
ing to John Tradefcant at South Lambeth, near 
Vauxhall in Surry, who was a very curious colledtor 
of rare plants in King Charles the Second’s time, 
which tree was near forty feet high, and produced a 
great quantity of fruit annually which were fhaped 
like Pears *, and there are indeed fome trees of mid- 
dling growth, in the gardens of Henry Marfh, Efq; 
at Hammerfmith, which produce fruit of the Apple 
fhape (from whence feveral young plants have been 
raifed of late in the nurferies near London •,) but 
thefe are fmall, compared to that in John Tradef- 
cant’s garden. 
There are great numbers of large trees of this Service 
growing wild about Aubigny in France, from whence 
his Grace the late Duke of Richmond brought a great 
quantity of the fruit, and from the feeds raifed a great 
number of young plants in his garden at Goodwood 
in Suffex. 
The leaves of this tree differ from thofe of the firft, 
in their lobes being broader, and not fo much fawed ; 
they are alfo much more downy on their under fide, 
and the young Ihoots of the tree in the fpring are 
covered with a white down. The flowers are produ- 
ced in larger and more diffufed bunches, and are a 
little larger, but there are feldom more than two or 
three fruit produced upon each bunch. The ftamina 
of the flowers are alfo longer than thofe of the wild 
fort, which are the only differences I can obferve be- 
tween them. 
Both thefe forts may be propagated by fowing their 
feeds in pots loon after the fruit is ripe, fheltering 
them under a common frame in winter, and plunging 
the pots into a moderate hot-bed in the fpring, which 
will foon bring up the plants •, and when they are 
come up, they fhould be carefully kept clear from 
weeds, and in dry weather watered •, but they fhould 
be expofed to the open air, for the only reafon of put- 
ting them in a hot-bed is to forward the growth of 
the^feeds ; but if, when the plants are come up, the 
bed is kept covered, it will draw the plants and fpoil 
them. In this bed the plants fhould remain until the 
middle of Oftober, at which time their leaves will 
SPA 
decay, when there fhould be a warm light fpo't of 
ground prepared to receive them, into which they 
fhould be planted in rows two feet afunder, and a foot 
diftant in the rows, obferving to take them up care- 
fully, and to plant them as foon as poffible, that their 
roots may not dry. 
During the fummer, the ground fhould be kept con- 
ftantly clear from weeds, and in winter there fhould 
be a little mulch laid upon the lurface of the ground 
about their roots, to prated them from being injured 
by froft ; but in the fpring the ground between them 
fhould be dug, burying the mulch therein, irf doing 
of which you muff be careful not to cut or injure the 
roots of the plants. 
In this nurfery they may continue three or four years 
according to their growth, when it will be proper to 
tranfplant them out where they are to remain ; the 
befl; feafon for which is in October, or in the fpring, 
juft before they begin to (hoot. The foil fhould be 
warm in which they are planted, and the fituation de- 
fended from cold winds, in which place they will 
thrive, and produce fruit in a few years. 
Thofe who raife many of thefe trees from feeds, will 
procure fome varieties of the fruit, from which the 
beft may be feleded, and propagated for the table, and 
the others may be planted for variety in wilderneffes 
or wood- walks, or may be ufed for (locks to graft the 
better kinds upon. 
The wood of the wild Service-tree is much commend- 
ed by the wheelwright for being all heart, and it is of 
great ufe for hufbandmens tools, goads, &c. It is 
very white and fmooth, fo will polifh pretty well. 
There is a fort of this with variegated leaves, which is 
preferved by fuch as are curious in collecting the fe- 
veral forts of ftriped plants, but there is no great beauty 
in it ; it may be propagated by layers, or by being 
budded on the plain fort, but they become plain on a 
very rich foil. 
The wild fort (hould have amoiftftrong foil, but will 
grow in the molt expofed places, being extremely 
hardy, which renders them worthy of care, fince they 
will thrive where few other trees will fucceed. 
SORREL. See Acetosa. 
SOUTHERNWOOD. See Abrotanum. 
SOWBREAD. See Cyclamen. 
SPARTIUM. Lin. Gen. Plant. 765. Genifta. 
Tourn. Inft. R. H. 643. tab. 31 1. [fo called of fpa- 
rum, a dart, becaufe the nifties of this plant repre- 
fent a dart ; or elfe of the Greek ctt olflov, of oW/w- 
S-fiO, to fow, becaufe it lows itfelf.] Broom ; in 
French, Genet. 
The Characters are, . 
! The impalement of the flower is tubulous , heart floaped, 
with a very Jhort margin at the top , and has five J, mall 
indentures , but below the flower the under fide is extend- 
ed. 'The flower is of the butterfly kind the ftandard is 
almofl heart-fhaped , large , and wholly reflexed-, the- 
wings are oblong , oval , fhorter than the ftandard , and 
annexed to the ftamina \ the keel is oblong , and longer 
than the wings , and the borders are hairy and connected 
together , to which the ftamina are inferted. It has ten 
unequal ftamina which are joined together , and are gradu- 
ally longer, the upper being the floor t eft, and the under ftands 
apart, terminated by oblong fummits, and an oblong hairy 
germen, fupporting a rifling awl-fhaped flyle, to which is 
faftened an oblong, hairy, inflexed ftigma. 'The germen 
afterward becomes a long, cylindrical, obtufe pod of one cell , 
opening with two valves , including feveral globular kid- 
ney-fhaped feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the third feftion 
of Linnaeus’s feventeenth clafs, which includes thofe 
plants whofe flowers have ten ftamina joined in two 
bodies. 
The Species are, 
1. Spartium ( [Junceum ) ramis oppofttis teretibus apice 
floriferis, foliis lanceolatis. Hort. Cliff. 956. Broom 
with taper oppofite branches whofe tops have flowers, and 
fpear-fhaped leaves. Genifta juncea. J. B. 1. p. 395. 
Ruflhy Broom , commonly called Spanifh Broom. 
2. Spartium 
