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“SAINFOIN. . 
susceptible of injury from humidity in the at- 
mosphere, and may both lose all its fragrance 
and be rendered exceedingly difficult to dry by a 
drenching rain. A cutting of it upon any thin 
calcareous soil, is generally both richer in quality 
and greater in quantity than a first cutting of 
clover. But it seldom admits of being profitably 
cut a second time in one year; and the after- 
grass of it is commonly depastured by horses and 
cattle. Sheep have a keen relish for it; but, in 
consequence ef their eating it very closely down, 
they must not have access to it at a late period 
of the year, lest they should leave its root-crowns 
too bare to resist the killing action of the win- 
ter’s frost. 
Sainfoin plants intended for seed should re- 
main untouched till their husks become some- 
what brownish, and their seeds become quite 
plump and firm; and, as they ripen very un- 
equally, and are exceedingly ready to shed their 
seeds, they should be cut while the dew is on 
them, and not turned or touched in the swathes, 
if possible, till they become sufficiently dry; and 
they may then be either thrashed out on cloths 
in the field, or carried away with all possible 
The seeds, 
gentleness to a thrashing machine. 
after being thrashed out and cleaned, should be 
spread closely upon a boarded floor, and left there 
till they become so thoroughly dry as to escape 
all risk of fermenting. The breaking up of sain- 
foin land may be effected by scuffling out the 
roots and weeds and afterwards burning them ; 
but is more easily done by paring and burning. 
See the article Parine anp Burnie. 
SAINFOIN, —botanically Astragalus Onobry- 
chis. A beautiful, hardy, perennial-rooted, her- 
baceous plant, of the milk-vetch genus. It was 
introduced from Austria to Britain before the 
middle of the 17th century. Its stems are pro- 
cumbent or trailing and about 20 inches long; 
and its flowers are densely capitate, and have a 
purple colour, and bloom in June and July. It 
forms the type of a subgenus of the milk-vetches. 
SAINT BARNABY’S THISTLE. See Cxn- 
TAUREA. 
SAINT JOHN’S WORT. See Hyrzricum. 
SAINT PETER’S WORT, — botanically Sym- 
phoria. A genus of hardy, ornamental, decidu- 
ous, North American shrubs, of the honeysuckle 
family. The glomerated species, Symphoria glo- 
merata, called by Linneeus Lonicera symphoricarpos, 
is the type of the genus; and takes its botanical 
names from the clustered arrangement of. its 
fruit. It is a native of Virgina and Carolina ; 
and was introduced to. Britain in 1730. It has 
commonly a height of about 4 feet. Its main 
stems are ragged, and have a dirty dark brown 
colour ; its branches are numerous and generally 
short,—yet some are slender, trailing, and long ; 
its leaves are very numerous, oval, and about 
half an inch long, and stand opposite on exceed- 
ingly short footstalks, and constitute an aggre- 
gate rich foliage, and die away in autumn to a 
SALIVA. 1 15 | 
dark-brown colour; and its flowers grow round 
the stalks, and are small and inconspicuous, and 
bloom in August and September. A variety oc- 
curs with variegated leaves. Four or five other 
species, all similar in height to the glomerated, 
have been introduced.—St. Peter’s wort is also 
the popular name of a hardy, perennial-rooted, 
yellow-flowered, herbaceous species of hypericum, 
SAL AMMONIAC. The muriate of ammonia. 
It is a product of volcanoes ; and was formerly 
imported to Hurope from Egypt, where it was 
obtained by sublimation from the soot of camel’s 
dung ; and is now manufactured in Britain and 
on the Continent by the mutually decomposing 
action of sulphate of ammonia and either muri- 
ate of soda or muriate of magnesia, and by other 
and preceding and widely different processes. 
It is commenly formed into hemispherical, whit- 
ish, elastic cakes, of about two inches in thick- 
ness. It has a pungent saline taste, but has not 
any smell. It has a specific gravity of 145; and 
slightly attracts moisture from the “jmoppihenee 
and is soluble in 3 times its own weight of water 
at 60° Fahrenheit ; and sublimes at a high tem- 
perature, without aclee or becoming changed. 
It consists of one equivalent of muriatic acid, 
and one equivalent of ammonia. This salt was 
formerly regarded as a powerful internal remedy 
in both human and veterinary medicine ; but it 
is now scarcely ever used except externally and 
in mixture with other substances; and it acts 
principally as a refrigerant and a discutient. See 
the article AMMONIA. 
SALEP. See Orcuis. 
SALICARIA, See Lyrurum. 
SALICIN. A peculiar principle found in the | 
bark of the aspen and of several species of willow. 
It was first discovered by M. Leroux, in 1830, in 
the bark of the Salix helix. It is separated by 
chemical reagency from a watery decoction; and 
it forms in perfectly white, delicate, acicular or 
prismatic crystals. It has a very bitter taste; 
and is sparingly soluble in cold water; and pos- | 
sesses neither acid nor alkaline properties; and 
consists of two equivalents of carbon, two of hy- 
drogen, and one of oxygen. It has similar medi- 
cinal virtues to quinine. 
“SALICORNIA. See Guassworr. 
SALISBURIA. An ornamental, hardy, deci- 
duous, small tree, of the amentaceous order. It 
constitutes a genus of itself; and is specifically 
called adiantifolia or the maiden-hair-leaved. 
It has highly curious and very exotic-looking 
foliage; and, on that account, is entitled to a 
place on every lawn, and makes an interesting 
appearance in every collection of hardy shrubs. 
It is a native of Japan; and was introduced to 
Britain in 1754. It loves a soil of sandy loam; 
and is propagated from cuttings; and commonly 
attains a height of about 20 feet; and blooms in 
April and May. 
SALIVA. The fluid secreted within the mouth 
of animals. It forms spittle, and is of main use 
