————_—— 
272 SOLORINA. 
from two to five on each stalk, and are more 
cylindrical and elongated than those of the com- 
mon species, and have a white colour and a very 
faint odour, and bloom in May and June.—The 
whorl-leaved species, Polygonatum verticillatum, 
called by the old botanists Convallaria verticil- 
lata, is a native of the woods of some parts of 
Scotland, but is very rare. Its stem is 12 or 15 
inches high; and its flowers are white.—Nine 
or ten species have been introduced from Nepaul, 
Caucasus, Continental Europe, and North Ameri- 
ca; and all are white-flowered, and love a soil of 
sandy loam ; and, in common with the indigen- 
ous species, are most readily propagated by divi- 
sion of the root. 
SOLORINA. A genus of lichens, of the idio- 
thalamous tribe. The yellow species, S. crocea, is 
of some economical use as a dye-stuff. It occurs 
on the tops of mountains in some parts of Britain, 
and has an olive-green colour, and a height of 
about 1$ inch. The hollowed species, S. saccata, 
inhabits earthy spots in Britain, and has a grey- 
ish colour, and a height of about 2 inches. Both 
these species have the form of leafy fronds. 
SONCHUS. See Sow-Tuistr1z. 
SOOT. Condensed or embodied smoke. It is 
clammy and earthy, and possesses a certain degree 
of volatility ; yet, though all originally smoke, it 
cannot be re-expanded into that state. It con- 
denses on the sides of chimneys, and has escaped 
perfect combustion in consequence of insufficient 
contact with oxygen. It owes its blackish and 
brownish colours to the presence of carbonaceous 
matter in a condition similar to that of smother- 
edly burnt oil. It affords by distillation ammoni- 
acal salts and empyreumatic oil, and yields to 
hot water a brown extract of a bitter taste ; and 
when burnt in an open fire, it flames with a thick 
smoke, and produces other soot, which is used in 
making salammoniac. A specimen of soot taken 
from a chimney where wood had been the fuel 
was found by M. Braconnot to contain 30 per 
cent. of ulmic acid, 20 of azotic matter soluble in 
water, 3:9 of insoluble carbonated matter, 1 of 
silica, 14°7 of carbonate of lime, a trace of car- 
bonate of magnesia, 0°5 of sulphate of lime, 1°5 of 
ferruginous phosphate of lime, 0:4 of chloride of 
potassium, 41 of acetate of potash, 5°7 of acetate 
of lime, 0°5 of acetate of magnesia, a trace of 
acetate of iron, 0:2 of acetate of ammonia, 0°5 of 
an acrid and bitter principle, and 12°5 of water. 
But soot greatly varies in composition, according 
to the nature of the substances from whose com- 
bustion it is obtained, and according to the 
dimensions of the chimney and the intensity of 
the heat. Soot from the combustion of coals is 
usually reckoned better for manure than that 
from the combustion of wood or peat; and soot 
from kitchen chimneys impregnated with the 
effluvia of cooked victuals, better than that from 
the chimneys of a parlour or a furnace; and soot 
from any chimneys of ordinary dwelling-house 
heat and draught, very much better than from 
SOOT. 
chimneys whose heat and draught are great. Its 
most active manurial principle in any case seems 
to be its ammonia; and this is commonly ex- 
hausted in a single season, and sometimes acts so 
energetically as to deteriorate the succeeding 
crops. Its fertilizing action is more favourable 
to potatoes than to turnips, and more to the 
cereal and the pasture grasses than to clover or 
any other leguminous crops. 
Soot mixed into water, in the proportion of 
about six quarts to a hogshead, has been found 
an excellent liquid manure for the purposes of 
the garden. “ Asparagus, pease, and a variety of 
other vegetables,” says Mr. John Robertson, “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 assume a 
deep healthy green, and grow strong and luxuri- 
ant. JI generally use it and clean water alter- 
nately, and always overhead in summer; but 
except for the purpose of cleansing, it might be 
used constantly with advantage.” It probably 
might also have the advantage of keeping pines 
pretty clear of scale and bugs. 
A compost of soot and soil and farm-yard 
manure forms a sort of soapy earth, and serves 
as a good top-dressing to meadows, and acts 
beneficially on almost all kinds of plants. The 
mixture should be formed of two parts of earth, 
one part of soot, and one part of dung. A layer 
of earth should be covered with soot, over which 
a layer of dung should be placed, and thus alter- 
nate layers must be arranged in a bed about three 
or four feet high, and three wide. Soot, mixed 
with the earth dug from the ditches in the propor- 
tion of one-fourth, may, in about six months after- 
wards, be used with success in dressing meadows. 
Of this latter mixture about thirty bushels should 
be used to the acre. Spread on wet grounds, it will 
destroy the moss, and neutralize the bad quali- 
ties of the soil. When soot is applied in its simple 
state, it is found to answer best on light gravel, 
limestone, or chalk soils; but, in a state of com- 
post, it is equally useful and applicable to almost 
any soil, provided the compost be such as to 
maintain its powers in their integrity. “ The 
most approved mixture,” says Sir John Sinclair, 
“is one part soot, five parts earth, one part lime. 
The earth and soot should be well mixed, and 
remain ten days at rest, then be turned, and the 
lime added in regular strata, as it is turned over. 
In this state it may continue for five or six weeks, 
when it ought to be turned a second time, break- 
ing every piece as small as possible, by working 
it well with the spade. In a week or two more, 
it will be ready for use.” But Sir John, not- 
withstanding his distinguished eminence as an 
agriculturist, was no agricultural chemist, and 
has here fallen into a gross error, and recom- 
mended a very bad practice under the descrip- 
tion of “ most approved ;” for the mixing of lime 
with soot withdraws the latter’s ammonia, and 
