as an Agricultural Agent. SM 



In my Essay on the Uses of Salt, p. 86, second edition, I 

 have given the valuable table of experiments conducted by this 

 gentleman, and I cannot refer to a more copious series of facts. 



The use of salt to prevent smut in wheat, by steeping the 

 seed in its brine, is completely established ; and some experi- 

 ments which 1 have witnessed tend very strongly to confirm 

 the assertion of the Cornish farmers, that salt entirely prevent* 

 the ravages of mildew. 



According to Dr. Paris, salt has been applied to agricultural 

 purposes for a very long period in Cornwall. 



For barley, salt should not be applied in a larger proportion 

 than sixteen bushels per acre, nor in less than ten bushels : on 

 the light soils, in Great Totham, in Essex, I have always found 

 that its application has been successful, invariably producing 

 an increased produce of barley, of from eight to sixteen bushels 

 per acre ; and in some experiments in which I assisted in 

 Suffolk with Mr. Ransone, of Sproughton, the increased pro- 

 duce was twenty-one bushels per acre. 



In the experiments of Mr. Sinclair, a soil which produced 

 twelve bushels of barley per acre, without any manure, pro- 

 duced, when eleven bushels of salt had been added before the 

 seed was sown, twenty-eight bushels and a half of barley. 



For turnips, mangel wurzel, and other green crops, salt 

 has been very advantageously applied in the proportion of 

 from five to fifteen bushels per acre ; especially on the light 

 soils of the west of England, a few days before the seed was 

 sown, I find, by a communication with which I was lately 

 favoured by Sir Thomas Ackland, Bart., that his bailiff has 

 been very successful in its application. 



And in the researches of Mr. Collynsj of Renton, in Devon- 

 shire, the author of " Ten Minutes Advice on the Use of Salt,'' 

 the same good result was apparent : he- states to me on the 

 authority of some neighbouring farmers, — '* I have found salt 

 answer my most sanguine expectations for barley, oats, potatoes, 

 and turnips, both as to the increased quantity and improved 

 quality of the crops." 



The use of salt as a condiment for cattle, sheep, and horses, 

 has become very extensive since the repeal of the salt duties t 

 the sale of the finest salt has more than doubled since their 



