34() On the Introduction of Salt 



removal ; and the greater part of this increase has doubtlessly 

 been for the purposes of live stock. 



The avidity with which animals consume it is very curious : 

 this is always evinced in a very decisive way when it is given 

 to them in its pure state ; and if a small portion of a meadow 

 be well salted, the cattle will always eat it down closer than 

 any other part of the same field. 



This was strikingly shown on a salted portion of the park of 

 Walter Long, Esq., in Hampshire: the deer, and other live stock, 

 never left it while a blade of grass remained. 



As the avidity with which animals consume salted hay is 

 not so generally known as it ought, I will state the following fact : 



Mr. Green, of Wargrave in Berkshire, having, in the season 

 of 1824, a large quantity of coarse, sour, rushy hay, entirely 

 worthless, it was stacked with a large quantity of salt. When 

 the period arrived that his sheep required a supply of hay, he 

 directed his shepherd to use the salted inferior hay, which 

 the sheep consumed with the greatest avidity. The stack 

 being finished, the shepherd was directed to supply them with 

 the best hay he could find of other fine meadow hay. He 

 came, however, the next morning to his master, and made the 

 following remark : — '' We, sir, must have made a great mistake, 

 and forgotten which stack we salted ; for our sheep will not eat 

 the hay which we think the best." 



For the general introduction of salt as a condiment for cattle, 



the farmer is mainly indebted to Mr. Curwen, the member for 



Cumberland, who has employed salt to his live stock, daily, for 



yeiirs. 



For horses he gives 6 oz. per day. 



,, Milch cows 4 ,, 



„ Feeding oxen 6 „ 



„ Yearlings 3 „ 



„ Calves 1 »> 



„ Sheep 2 to 4 oz. per week. 



Mr. Sully, of WiveHsscombe in Somersetshire, who has for 

 some years given his horses two oz. of salt every day in their 

 food, remarks, '*The two oz. of salt will be found an excellent 

 stimulus to the horse's stomach, and should, on no account, be 

 omitted." 



To this list I might add the experience of Mr. Wood, of 



