413 an Agricultural Agent. 343 



** I invariably use salt as an ingredient in the compost for 

 carnations ; a plant which, like wheat, requires a substantial 

 goil, and all the strength and heat of the summer to bring it 

 to perfection." 



That salt is alike beneficial to all soils, and at all times, is 

 an assertion too absurd to need refutation : for such an uni- 

 versal property belongs to no other manure ; even chalk or 

 lime will not suit all soils. Farmyard manure may be used 

 without advantage. When chalk is applied to some soil, years 

 must elapse before its good effects are visible to the farmer ; 

 " and yet," said the late Lord Erskine, *' chalk, which has 

 caused to start into life the most inert soils, is just nothing as 

 a manure, compared with salt." 



I am quite willing to admit that salt has been sometimes 

 employed with detriment to the crop under experiment, and 

 often without effect ; but these facts must not be taken as de- 

 cisive proofs of its inutility, even on those soils : for some soils 

 require it to be applied in the autumn, others in the spring ; 

 some crops are most benefited by having it applied to the soil 

 long previous to their insertion, others at that immediate pe- 

 riod. Neither let any one imagine, because it is beneficial to 

 light soils, that it cannot be equally so to more tenacious ones : 

 its moistening powers render the first more fertile, the latter 

 more friable, and open to every agricultural operation in the 

 driest seasons. 



It is scarcely necessary to add, that no one ought to view the 

 subject as of small importance. Saying nothing of it in a 

 scientific point of view, that cannot be unimportant with 

 which is connected one of the staple manufactures of the 

 country ; which concerns the cheapest and most portable ma- 

 nure in the possession of the agriculturist. Let no one think 

 he can do nothing in furtherance of the research ; the most 

 ill-directed and unsuccessful experiment serves, at least, as a 

 warning, a beacon to others — a judicious one especially, when 

 crowned with success, bears with it the inestimable gratifica- 

 tion, that a benefit is conferred upon mankind, and the plea* 

 sure that always accompanies the illustration of truth. 



C. W. Johnson. 



Great Totham, Essex, June I, 1827. 



