338 On the Introduction of Salt 



sufficient for four or five acres, at a charge of twenty shillings, 

 we must allow that it is at least the cheapest manure in the 

 possession of the farmer. 



In the west of England, more especially, I find that the 

 demand for agricultural salt has been very great ; and, at the 

 salt works of Droitwich, has often averaged sixty or seventy 

 tons per week. The Bath and West of England Society have 

 hence been induced to offer two prizes of 50/. and 251., for the 

 most satisfactory instructions founded on experiments on not 

 less than ten acres of ground, for its correct application. 



It will not therefore, perhaps, be a subject unworthy of the 

 attention of your readers, if I offer a few instructions as to 

 the best modes of its application, founded on experiments, and 

 on extensive correspondence with its advocates and opponents 

 of several years' duration. 



And for this purpose, it will be, perhaps, most satisfactory 

 to the practical farmer, if I state what has been the result of 

 the application of salt to two of the commonly-cultivated grasses, 

 as wheat and barley ; and I feel the more inclined to confine 

 my observations to these two crops, because all my experiments 

 on these have been confirmed by those of Mr. George Sinclair, 

 of New Cross, which were conducted at Woburn for a series of 

 years, with the greatest scientific precision. 



All my experiments have shown that salt is best applied to 

 wheat, when the seed is sown in a proportion of from ten to 

 twenty bushels per acre : my own experiments have been con- 

 ducted on a light gravelly soil in Essex, and have invariably 

 demonstrated a large increased produce of wheat, from such 

 application, varying from twelve to seventeen bushels per acre. 



In the experiments of Mr. Sinclair, conducted on a much 

 richer soil at Woburn, the good effects of salt manure were 

 still more striking, and the increased produce much greater ; 

 but there his experiments being conducted on a very small scale, 

 will account for the enormous produce he obtained, for in ex- 

 periments on small plots the produce is generally very large. 



In one of his valuable experiments, an application of only 

 five bushels and a half of salt produced ninety-one bushels of 

 wheat per acre : while, on the same soil, forty-five tons of 

 spit manure produced but, forty-five bushe^js of wheat. 



