SOOT. 
in consequence denudes it of its chief principle 
of value. 
Soot, either in its simple state or in mixture 
with water, has long been used by many farmers 
as a top-dressing on culmiferous crops and on grass 
lands, and also on turnips soon after brairding as 
a preventive of the fly. “On wheats that look 
sickly or infested with the grub worms,” says 
Mr. Donaldson, “soot will work a great change in 
restoring the green healthy colour, and in caus- 
ing much tillering from the roots. On clovers, 
tares, and on all young grasses and grass lands, 
the effects will be equally beneficial ; and also on 
young barley and on all spring crops. It may 
also be harrowed in with the seeds of any crops 
in the spring on well pulverized lands; but as 
moisture is necessary for its operation, it may 
sooner derive the assistance of that element by 
lying on the surface as a top-dressing.” “In 
1838,” says Mr. Main, “ I applied soot to a field 
of wheat which, at the time, seemed in so very 
precarious a state as to make me even despair of 
its recovery. After applying the soot, however, 
it rallied ; and when cut down, there was not a 
better crop on the farm. I also tried the effects 
of soot on a small piece of pasture, upon which a 
few sheep were afterwards put to graze. The re- 
sult was curious. ‘There were many other ridges 
in the field besides those dressed with soot, and 
all good grass; but the sheep continued to eat 
the sooted ridges until they were completely 
bared. With faces quite blackened they fed 
heartily on the scot-dressed pasture.” Cattle 
also have been observed to prefer the grass grown 
on lands dressed with soot ; and extensive pas- 
tures in some districts where the practice has 
been followed of giving them copious top-dress- 
ings of soot every year, have acquired a sort of 
celebrity for the vivid green of their verdure. 
The best time of application, in the case of almost 
all the crops and lands which derive most benefit 
from soot, is March or April; the kind of weather 
always desirable at the time of application, and 
which ought to be waited and watched for, is 
mild, calmly windy, and moist or showery ; and 
the quantity proper for manurial top-dressing, 
varies from 20 to 100 bushels per acre, and 
averages between 40 and 60,—and for preven- 
tion of the fly on young turnip-crops, is about 
20. Soot in its simple state has also been used 
in the garden, both dug into the soil and in the 
way of top-dressing, as a preventive of the worm 
in carrots and other culinary plants; but when- 
ever it is the best thing which a gardener or 
cottier can obtain for any horticultural purpose, 
it ought to be applied in mixture with water in 
the way of liquid manure. 
The common mode of applying simple soot as 
a top-dressing in the field is by hand-sowing. 
The waggon or cart containing it should be 
driven across the wind ; and the sowing should 
be so done that the soot may be gently carried 
away by the wind from the horses and the 
IV. 
SOPHRONITIS. 273 
sower. But a soot-distributing machine was 
invented a few years ago by Mr. Main, and is 
described and figured in the 12th volume of the 
Highland Society’s Transactions, and may be 
well worth the attention of any farmer who pur- 
poses to make extensive use of soot. It com- 
prises a chest mounted on two wheels, from 
which motion is communicated to a sheet-iron 
cylindrical riddle, in which the soot is placed. 
The soot is separated by the riddle from the 
stones and mortar which are generally mixed 
with it ; and it falls thence to the bottom of the 
chest, and falls through orifices of this to the 
ground in a very similar way to that in which 
the seeds fall from a broadcast-sowing machine. 
—Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry by Shier.—Don- 
aldson on Manures.—Reperiory of Inventions.— 
General Report of Scotland—Loudon’s Gardener's 
Magazine-—Transactions of the Highland Society. 
—. Journal of Agriculture.— Boussingauli’s 
Rural Economy—Bayldon on Rents and Tillages. 
SOPHORA. A genus of ornamental exotic 
plants, constituting the type of a large tribe of 
phyllolobous leguminosee. See the article Lreu- 
minous Puants. The Japanese species, S. japonica, 
is a deciduous timber-tree of Japan, and was in- 
troduced to Britain, according to various state- 
ments, in 1780, in 1768, or in 1753. It has been 
cultivated in France since 1717; and it is quite 
hardy in Britain, and occupies a somewhat pro- 
minent place in good collections of small orna- 
mental trees. It attains a height of upwards of 
20 feet ; with a proportionate diameter. Its 
wood, when fresh cut, emits an odour offensive 
to insects; its leaves are pinnated and smooth, 
and have a beautiful green colour, and give to 
the tree a graceful appearance ; its flowers are 
white, and bloom in August and September ; and 
its pods are long, slender, one-celled, and numer- 
ous, and have prominent knobs on the surface. It 
is propagated from seeds, sown as soon as they 
can be procured in pots filled with light earth ; 
and its plantlets should be planted in a sandy 
loam, and in a sheltered situation. One variety 
of it is pendulous, and another has variegated 
leaves.—The Chinese species, S. stnensis, was in- 
troduced to Britain from China in 1818; and is 
also a hardy, deciduous, white-flowered, small 
tree, scarcely so tall as the Japanese. — Four 
hardy, perennial-rooted, herbaceous species, of 
from 14 to 4 feet in height, and chiefly yellow- 
flowered, have been introduced from Siberia, 
North America, and the Levant; and a number of 
tropical, evergreen, ligneous species, varying in 
height from 3 to 20 feet, and carrying variously 
white, yellow, violet, or purple flowers, have been 
introduced from India and tropical America. 
SOPHRONITIS. A genus of ornamental, tro- 
pical, epiphytous plants, of the orchis order. It 
is nearly allied to the splendid genus cattleya. 
The drooping species, S. cornua, was introduced 
to Britain from Rio Janeiro in 1827,—and the 
large-flowered species, S. grandiflora, from the 
S 
