Browning's 'Sordello,' and was used by Dante in his 'Divine Comedy.'

Sorel, sō-rěl, Albert, French author: b. Honfleur 13 Aug. 1842; d. 29 June 1906. He was a correspondent of the academies of Cracow, Munich, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Berlin, and of the Royal Historical Society of London; he was licentiate of law, secretary-general to the president of the senate, 1876-1902; president of the upper commission of national archives, and vicepresident of the commission of diplomatic archives; and also professor at the free school of political sciences. He wrote 'Diplomatic History of the Franco-Prussian War (1875); Europe and the French Revolution) (1885-91); 'Lectures and Essays on History and Literature) (1882-1901); Madame de Staël (1891). Sorel, Canada, town and county-seat of Richelieu County, Quebec; on the Richelieu River at its confluence with the St. Lawrence at Lake St. Peter, and on the South Shore and Quebec Southern railways; 45 miles northeast of Montreal. It is built on the site of a 17th century fort, and was formerly called William Henry. It has a good harbor; and is the winter quarters for many of the St. Lawrence River steamboats, and has extensive ship-building and ship-repairing interests and manufactories of mill machinery, engines, ship stores, plows, leather, stoves, brick and tile. flour, and lumber. The trade in grain and farm produce is important. The town is well built, has substantial county and other public buildings, good schools, a number of handsome churches, hotels, banks, and weekly newspapers. Pop. about

8,000.

Sorel River. See RICHELIEU.

Sorghum, sôr'gum, an annual cane-like plant (Andropogon sorghum), resembling Indian corn in general appearance and habit of growth. The sorghums are without ears, and are distinguished by heavy heads of small seeds which terminate the stalk. (See GRASSES.) The cultivated varieties are usually treated as a distinct species by botanists, but some prefer to consider them as derived from a wild species, Sorghum halepense. The sorghums have been known from the remotest periods of history, and their cultivation of sorghum probably had its origin in Africa, where a variety, durra, is cultivated over the whole continent, and is put to a variety of uses; the negroes chew the stem for the sugar, and make alcoholic drinks from the grain. Varieties of sorghum were known in China from a very remote period. The first sweet sorghum seed to reach the United States came from that country, in 1855, and in 1856 from South Africa. The sorghums are remarkable for their adaptability to different conditions of soil and climate, and an almost endless list of varieties exists, which may be divided into two main groups based upon the character of the sap. Those containing a considerable amount of sugar are classed as saccharine sorghums, those weak in sugar as non-saccharine. The name sorghum is applied in common use to the saccharine varieties only, while the non-saccharine varieties commonly bear the name of their variety, as Kaffir corn, durra, etc. The different varieties of the sweet sorghums are so nearly alike that little distinction is made in treating them as a class.

The two leading varieties are the amber and the orange, the former being the favorite in the more northerly latitudes of the United States, and the latter in the south and the southwest.

Sorghum thrives in every part of the United States except in the colder parts of New England and in the higher parts of the Rocky Mountains. At first it was grown exclusively for the manufacture of syrup and sugar, but as its value as a forage crop became known, the area devoted to its cultivation increased rapidly. War

Civil Saccharine Sorghums.-The caused a scarcity of sugar in the United States, and sorghum syrup came into widespread use as a substitute. In 1860, five years after the first seed was introduced from China, 6,749,123 gallons of sorghum syrup were made and consumed in the United States. In 1870 the production had swelled to 16,050,089 gallons, and in 1880 to 28,444,202 gallons. Since that time the production of sorghum has shown a steady decrease, being only 16,972,783 gallons in 1900. In the manufacture of syrup the stalks are stripped of their leaves after the seed has ripened, and the tops are cut off. The stalks are then cut off close to the ground and passed through heavy rollers to extract the juice, which is then boiled in shallow pans until a syrup of the desired consistency is obtained. The greater part of the sorghum now manufactured is a farm product, all of the operations of manufacture being performed on the farm. In 1878 the United States Department of Agriculture took up experiments to ascertain whether sugar could be manufactured profitably from sorghum. Two objects were aimed at in the experiments, (1) to discover a cheap process for extracting the juice and making the sugar and (2), to increase the sugar content of the plant. Considerable progress was made along both these lines, and the chemists in charge of the work at one time thought that sorghum would become a competitor of sugarcane as a source of sugar. Attempts were made by capitalists to manufacture sorghum sugar on a commercial scale, but none of these attempts have proved successful. The only satisfactory process of getting the sugar to crystallize properly involves the use of a large amount of alcohol, which, under present government regulations, is so expensive as to make the process impracticable.

Sorghum is valued highly by stockmen as a soiling crop, and makes good summer pasturage for all kinds of stock. Its high sugar content gives it an especial value in fattening swine, and it is also an excellent food for sheep. As ensilage it makes good feed, but on account of the difficulty in preventing the development of acidity in the silo, other crops are generally preferred for this purpose. Sorghum is of especial value as a pasturage plan, owing to the fact that it is at its best in midsummer, when other grasses are generally of the least service. The heavy yield of hay makes it one of the favorite forage crops. In pasturing care is necessary on first turning stock upon sorghum, owing to the danger of bloating.

The time for planting sorghum varies according to latitude from the 1st of April to the middle of June. In general the best results are obtained by sowing the seed broadcast or with a drill, as oats or wheat are sown. When intended

for a soiling crop it is sometimes better to sow in rows far enough apart to admit of plowing between the rows. The amount of forage yielded per acre varies according to soil, climate and methods of cultivation, and ranges up to as much as 15 tons of cured hay per acre. Two or three crops are sometimes harvested in a single year, and as much as ten tons is sometimes obtained from a single cutting. Experiments at the Nebraska Experiment Station showed sorghum to be the heaviest yielder of all the forage crops at that station. It is a deep feeding plant, and gives better results on poor land than does corn, but is more exhausting to the soil. In feeding sorghum the whole plant is usually used. The seed alone has a feeding value of about 90 per cent that of corn, and is valued highly for poultry, especially for laying hens. Bulletin 15 of the Department of Agriculture compares the composition of sorghum seed and corn as follows: Corn (shelled) water 10.9; ash 1.5; fibre 2.1; fat 5.4; protein 10.5; nitrogen-free extract 69.6; sorghum seed, water, 12.8; ash 2.1; fibre 2.6; fat 3.6; protein 9.1; nitrogen-free extract 70.0.

Non-saccharine Sorghums. These exist in many varieties, all with the same general habits of growth, being slow to germinate and requiring a long period to mature seed as compared with corn. They differ in the length, thickness and strength of the stem, in the number and size of the leaves, and in the position of the seed-head. The principal varieties are Kaffir corn, Milo maize, durra, (doura, dhourra or dhoura), Jerusalem corn, and broom corn. All of these varieties except the last are grown principally as feed for stock. The peculiar adaptability of broom corn to the manufacture of brooms and brushes has led it to be devoted entirely to this purpose.

Kaffir corn is the best-known of those grown as feed for stock. It was introduced from South Africa about 1884, distributed by the Department of Agriculture, and has been found well fitted to the semi-arid regions of the West and Southwest, where corn has never been a reliable crop. It is now extensively cultivated in Oklahoma, western Kansas and other places where lack of moisture give this crop an advantage over corn. In appearance Kaffir corn resembles sorghum, but does not grow so tall. The leaves are large and long, the head is upright and compact, and the seeds vary in color according to variety. Three distinct varieties have been generally agreed upon - red, white, and black-hulled white. The last frequently goes by the name of African millet. Kaffir corn is used chiefly for a fodder crop, is planted in drills and cultivated like corn or sorghum. Where it is proposed to feed the whole fodder to stock, the crop is cut and shocked as soon as the grain is ripe. Where the heads are to be harvested by themselves various methods of harvesting are used. The yield is about the same as that of corn grown under the same conditions, except in dry, hot regions, where the Kaffir corn will out-yield Indian corn. The crop of fodder yields up to eight tons per acre or more, but the seed has a lower feeding value than corn. The grain has been used as an article of human food, making a meal similar to corn-meal. The acreage of Kaffir corn in 1900 was 266,513 acres, and the yield of grain 5,169,113 bushels.

Milo maize closely resembles Kaffir corn, but grows to a greater height. It is marked by a heavy foliage and an abundance of suckers. Owing to the fact that it requires a long period to mature it has been found best adapted to cultivation in the Southern States. Two varieties are grown in the United States, white and yellow. Durra differs from Kaffir corn principally in the position of the head, which hangs downward from the end of the stalk, the culm being recurved just below the panicle. This variety includes Egyptian corn, rice corn, guinea corn, etc. The grain is a favorite poultry-food, and the plant has been extensively cultivated in some parts of the United States for this purpose. It is also valuable as a forage plant.

Jerusalem corn grows to a height of 4 to 8 feet, but produces less forage than other varieties. The grain yield is large as compared with that of other non-saccharine sorghums, but is hard to save, owing to the fact that the grains are without husks and shatter easily. The head hangs downward on a recurved stalk as in the case of durra.

Broom Corn.- Broom corn is the oldest variety of the non-saccharine sorghums cultivated in the United States. Brooms were made for sale in the United States as early as 1798, and the plant was cultivated for home use for some time previous to this. The usual development of the stems of the seed-cluster adapt it perfectly to the purpose of brooms and brushes, and it is not cultivated for any other purpose, although sometimes fed to stock after the brush has been removed. There are several varieties, whose distinctions depend on the size and coarseness of the plant and the quality of the head. The plants are usually grown in drill rows. The heaviest producers of broom corn are the States of Illinois and Kansas, though conisderable quantities are produced in many other States. The area devoted to broom corn in 1899 was 178,584 acres, with a value of $3,588,414. The American broom corn is superior to that grown in Europe for purposes of broom manufacture.

blight

Diseases of Sorghum-Sorghum (Bacillus sorghi) is a bacterial disease in which the leaves or leaf sheaths are attacked by small red spots and patches of various shades and sizes. The roots are also subject to attack from the same source, and the vitality of the plant is so affected that it is either stunted or killed. The disease is worse on some varieties than others, but it attacks both the saccharine and the non-saccharine varieties. Of the smuts (Ustilago sorghi and U. reiliana), the former attacks the grain, causing it to swell up and burst, and the latter attacks the entire head, converting it into a large black mass which is covered at first by a whitish membrane. No preventive treatment has been applied successfully.

Sorghum Poisoning.- Cases have been frequent, especially in the semi-arid districts, of cattle dying from eating even a little green sorghum, usually a second-growth. Investigations carried on by the Nebraska Experiment Station go to show that under some conditions sufficient prussic acid forms in the leaves of the plant to cause the death of an animal. The danger is confined to the feeding of the green plant.

Sorites, sō-ri'tēz, in logic, a chain of elliptic syllogisms of syllogisms in which the con

northeast coast Sógod Bay, an arm of Albay Gulf; from the extreme northeast shore of the Bay of Sorsogon to the nearest waters of Sógod Bay the distance is but three miles. The mountain system of the province includes a range in the north, forming the boundary line with Albay, and another range extending from northeast to southwest, forming the central watershed, but nearer the east coast than the west. In this range is the active volcano of Bulusan, visible for 60 miles at sea. The largest river of the province rises on the western slopes of Bulusan; there are many small tributary streams. There are comparatively few highways, one road connects Sorsogon with Bacón on the opposite coast, and there are several trails, there is much coastwise trade in native canoes. The staple products of Sorsogon are hemp and copra (a product of the cocoanut, the form for shipment to be made into oil), and large quantities of both are exported. Native textiles, cordage, etc., are manufactured from the hemp; and the cultivation and manufacture of hemp, and the cultivation of the cocoanut are the principal industries. Sorsogon was formerly a district of the province of Albay, and in 1901 was created a province and placed under civil government in accordance with the provision of the law of the Philippine Commission. Pop. 98,650.

Sortes, sôr'tēz (Virgilianæ, Homericæ, Biblicæ, etc.), a mode of divination by means of a passage or verse in some poet's works or in the Bible. One way of practising this kind of divination was to open the book at random and to take whatever passage or verse is touched by the finger as an indication of the fortune of the inquirer. Another way was to select a number of verses from a poet or from one of the books of the Bible, write them on slips of paper, mix these in an urn, draw one slip at random, and from its contents infer good or evil. The Sibylline oracles (see SIBYL) were also employed in this way. Sortes Virgilianæ, are so called, as being practised with verses from the poet Virgil, Homericæ from Homer, and so on. In Persia sortes are determined by resort to the poems of Hafiz. It is said that the Roman Emperor Severus, who reigned from 193 to 211 A.D., found an intimation of his high destiny in that verse of the Eneid,

Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento; and that the Emperor Gordianus (self-slain after a reign of 36 days) read his doom in this passage of the same poem:

Ostendunt terris hunc tantum fata, nec ultra
Esse sinunt.

Charles I. and Lord Falkland tried the Sortes Virgiliana in the Bodleian library at Oxford and found passages equally ominous to each. The use of the Scripture books for divination still lingers among people of simple faith; and the obstinate survival of this superstition is due to a strong conviction of the power and watchful care of an overruling Providence and a belief in the Bible as an inspired manual of divine guidance: if resort is less often had in these times to the Sortes Biblice, that may be due to the decaying respect for the mere letter of Scripture.

Sothern, suth'ern, Edward H., American actor, son of E. A. Sothern (q.v.): b. London.

He first appeared with his father in a smail part at Abbey's Park Theatre, New York, and became leading man at the Lyceum Theatre in 1887. Shortly thereafter he became a star appearing at the head of his own company in such plays as Lord Chumley,' 'Maister of Woodbarrow, Prisoner of Zenda,' 'The King's Musketeers,' Lovelace,' 'If I were King, The Proud Prince,' and 'Hamlet' (1900), occasional revivals since. His interpretation of Hamlet is modeled somewhat on that of Edwin Booth, is romantic and effective, but at times prone to exaggeration. In 1896 he married the actress, Virginia Harned.

Sothern, Edwin Askew, English actor: b. Liverpool, England, 1 April 1826; d. London 21 Jan. 1881. In 1849 he joined a company of strolling players, and soon afterward passed into the stock company of the Theatre Royal, Birmingham. From 1852 he appeared in the United States without attracting much attention until in 1858 Our American Cousin' was brought out in New York, with Sothern cast for the small part (47 lines) of Lord Dundreary. Sothern built up the character, making it the leading feature of the play, and one with which his name has ever since been connected. He acted other parts, with more or less success, and was always popular in America, which he frequently visited.

Sou, soo, an old Roman, Gallic and French coin, of gold, silver and copper. In France the current 5 centime piece, 20 of which make a franc, are commonly called sous.

Souari, or Suwarro, Nuts, the seeds of the genus Caryocar (Ternstræmiacea), lofty trees yielding timber prized for its durability, and common in British Guiana. C. nuciferum is the chief source of supply of these nuts, having digitate leaves, 5- to 6-parted, large, magenta-colored flowers, and a fruit which is a spherical, hard, woody shell, as large as a child's head, reddishbrown in color, and covered with roundish protuberances. It contains four seeds, the souari nuts, which are kidney-shaped, about the size of hard but has a satiny lining, and encloses a soft, an egg, with a ruddy brown shell, that is very pure white kernel in a brown skin. This rich meat, with its sweet, almond-like flavor, is considered to be the finest of all nuts. A bland oil is expressed from the kernels and they are called butter-nuts in the English market, or cream-nuts in the American. Since there is great difficulty in gathering them, on account of the bulk of the trees, the supply is restricted.

Soubise, Benjamin de Rohan, bon-zhä-măn de rō-än soo-bez, SEIGNEUR DE, French Huguenot soldier: b. Rochelle, France, 1583. He was a son of René II., Vicomte Rohan, and a younger brother of the soldier-writer, Henri de Rohan. He served his apprenticeship as a soldier under Maurice of Orange and when the religious wars broke out in 1621 was entrusted with the chief command of the west, while his brother commanded the land forces in the south. In 1625 Soubise made a daring attack on the royalist fleet in the river Balvet, and occupied the island of Oleron. He also commanded in the defense of Rochelle, but was unable to save the town, and when it fell he fled to England.

Soudan, soo-dän'. See SUDAN.