Bechstein remarks, that the young shoots of the Corn Sow-thistle, when cut out in the spring, and mixed with bran, afford an excellent food for cattle and swine.
3. The palustris, or Marsh Sow-Thistle, grows in watery places, and on the banks of rivers, where it attains the height of from six to ten feet; flowering in July and August.—While young, this plant furnishes nourishing food for cattle: hence it deserves to be cultivated in swampy meadows.—Its flowers, like those of all the thistles, are visited by bees.
SOWING, is the art of committing the seed of vegetables to the earth, in order to obtain a future crop.
This operation is performed either in the Broad-cast method, or by Drilling: but, having already stated the respective advantages attending both, we refer the reader to vol. i, pp. 359-60, and vol. ii, pp. 166-82.
The most important objects in sowing are; 1. To commit the seed to the ground, at as early a period of the season as the nature of the grain, and the situation of the soil, will admit; and, 2. To place every seed at a proper depth, and distance from each other. Due regard to the former circumstance will be attended with great profit, particularly in the cultivation of turnips; as an early harvest will not only thus be obtained; but the roots will also be protected from the depredations of the fly.
Some agriculturists strongly recommend to "sow dry, and set wet;" but, where the soil has been newly turned by the spade, Dr. Darwin justly remarks, that no bad consequence can result from sowing, in general, during rainy weather: such method, however, ought to be adopted with caution on clay-soils (see Clay-land) that are much softened by long-continued rain; because, if the seed be put into holes, and a dry season follow, the water will necessarily evaporate, and an impenetrable crust will be formed on the surface, by the setting, or running together, of the clay. But this accident may, in some measure, be prevented, by sowing in the autumnal months, during moist weather.—See also Seed.
SOY, or Sooju, a species of liquid condiment, which is imported from India, and is used as a sauce for fish. It is prepared from the leguminous fruit of the Soja (Dolichos soja, L.) a native of Japan.
The pods are first boiled, till they become soft; when equal parts of them, and of muggi (wheat or barley that has been coarsely ground), are thoroughly mixed. This preparation is then kept in a close vessel, and a warm place, for twenty-four hours, in order to ferment; after which, the mass is put into a pot, and covered with a large portion of common salt, when two measures and a half of water are poured over the whole. The compound is stirred, once at the least, every day, for the space of two or three months; and, at the end of that period, it is filtred; the expressed liquor being preserved in wooden vessels. Fresh water is next added to the same mass; which, after stirring it occasionally for several days, is at length strained; and the liquor, though of an inferior kind, thus rendered fit for use.
Soy possesses a strongly saline taste, but has only a slight aroma-
