| to a curious, white-flowered, thymezous annual 
SPARROW-WORT. 
frame, and one in the centre. Wire is likewise 
passed around these pieces of wood to prevent 
the birds getting in at the sides. He says it is 
much cheaper than netting, and more sightly 
than matting. These wire-frames must prove 
effectual; but few would like the expense and 
trouble who could avoid it. “I am convinced 
from my own experience,” says a_ practical 
writer, “that threads, with feathers or bits of 
paper tied along, and suspended so as to dangle 
over the beds, will prove effective in scaring 
both sparrows and chaffinches, which, with all 
their pert impudence, are exceedingly wary and 
fearful of danger. A coat and hat stuffed with 
straw so as to have some resemblance to a man, 
will not intimidate them so effectually as the 
thread and feathers. A neighbour of mine once 
set up such a man of straw in a cherry tree to 
scare the sparrows from the ripe cherries, among 
which they were making sad havoc; but, after 
the first day or two, when the novelty wore off, 
they alighted close to it, and devoured the cher- 
ries as before. Netting, in such cases, is the only 
effectual preventive ; and unless threads and 
feathers, which I have not tried, might do, net- 
ting, or tying up the bunches in gauze or thin 
muslin bags, is the only way of protecting ripe 
grapes on the open walls, of which sparrows are 
very fond, and devour great quantities, always 
selecting the largest and the ripest, and sadly 
disfiguring the bunches. Should any person 
choose to try the thread and feathers, it ought 
to be fixed at some little distance from the fruit 
on the wall, so as to allow the feathers to move 
freely, as it appears to be their motion which in- 
timidates the sparrows. White worsted threads, 
without feathers or paper, will scare them from 
pease or spinage, for a short time in spring, though 
they soon become familiar with this; but I have 
never found that they venture near when feath- 
ers or paper are used.” In the farm-yard, or by 
the side of corn-fields, or in other situations 
where sparrows alight in large numbers, and 
make great depredations upon corn or vegetables, 
they may readily be thinned by various easy 
methods of poisoning, such as steeping some 
wheat in a decoction of nux vomica, and scatter- 
ing it on or near the spots which they frequent. 
SPARROW-WORT,—botanically Passerina. A 
genus of curious and ornamental, exotic, ever- 
green shrubs and undershrubs, of the wild olive 
family. Between a dozen and twenty species, 
all white-flowered, and varying in height from 
6 inches to 3 or 4 feet, and principally blooming 
in May and June, have been introduced to the 
greenhouses of Britain, chiefly from the Cape of 
Good Hope; and they are propagated from cut- 
tings, and for the most part love a soil of sandy 
peat. The allusion to a sparrow in both the po- 
pular and the botanical names is founded on the 
beaked form of the seeds. See the article Cryp- 
TADENIA.—The name sparrow-wort is also given 
SPATHODEA. 
from the south of Europe,—Stellera passerina ; 
and to a curious, white-flowered, globose-flower- 
ed, evergreen, shrubby heath from the Cape of 
Good Hope,—Lrica passerina. 
SPARTINA. A genus of grasses, of the sub- . 
terminally spiked tribe. —The strict species, 
Spartina stricta, grows wild in the salt marshes 
of the coast of Britain. Its root is perennial, 
creeping, and strongly fibrous; its stems grow 
several together, and are from 10 to 20 inches 
high; its leaves are numerous, smooth, striated, 
and of a dull green colour; and its flowers bloom 
in August. The whole plant is hard, rigid, and 
tough, and popularly bears the name of cord- 
grass, and possesses economical adaptations simi- 
lar to broom,—and hence the botanical name 
spartina.—The rushy species, Spartina juncea, is 
a native of North America, and was introduced 
nearly 70 years ago to Britain. It is perennial, 
and has a height of about 20 inches, and blooms 
in July and August, and ripens its seeds about 
the middle of September. It has been proposed 
as a cultivated field plant for yielding fibre ; and 
it would produce well on poor silicious soils which 
are unfit for flax or for corn. Its manufactured 
fibre is clear and as strong and soft as that of 
flax, but is deficient in length. The plant, too, 
is of small value for forage. In the Woburn ex- 
periments, it was grown on a rich silicious sandy 
soil, and it yielded at the time of flowering 
33,350 lbs. of green produce per acre,—of which 
only 1,433 lbs. consisted of nutritive matter.— 
Hight or nine other species, all perennial-rooted, 
but more curious than useful, have been intro- 
duced from North America, France, and Java. 
SPARTIUM. See Broom. 
SPASMODIC COLIC. See Coxe. 
SPATALANTHUS. A small genus of orna- 
mental exotic plants, of the iris family. The 
name signifies ‘delicate flower,’ and is descrip- 
tive. The showy species, S. spectosus, is a native 
of the Cape of Good Hope, and was introduced 
to Britain in 1825. Its root is bulbous; its stem 
is about six inches high ; and its flowers are red 
and very brilliant, and bloom from June till 
August. It loves a soil of sandy loam, and is 
propagated from offsets. 
SPATALLA. A genus of ornamental, purple- 
flowered, Cape-of-Good-Hope, small, evergreen 
shrubs, of the protea family. Ten or twelve 
species, varying in height from 20 to 40 inches, 
have been introduced to Britain ; and most re- 
quire to be propagated from seeds. 
SPATHODEA. A genus of ornamental, tropi- 
cal, evergreen, ligneous plants, of the trumpet- 
flower family. Hight or nine species, varying in 
height from 6 to 25 feet,—some climbers, some 
erect shrubs, and some small trees,—have been 
introduced to the gardens and botanical collec- 
tions of Britain ; and they love a loamy soil, and 
are propagated from cuttings. The long-flower- 
ed species, S. longiflora,—called by Linnzus 
Bignonia chelonoides,—is a native of India, and 
