62 Parkes on the Use 



orchard planted with apple-trees, which, being grown old, con- 

 stantly bore in the spring a profusion of blossoms, but never 

 brought any fruit to perfection. To remedy this defect, the 

 tenant spread a quantity of rock-salt, bruised small, about each 

 of the trees, at some distance from their stems ; and ever since 

 that period all the trees in that orchard have continued to be 

 very productive, yielding abundance of fine, large, and well- 

 flavoured apples. 



A merchant at Liverpool, with whom I am well acquainted, 

 has sent me an extract from a letter which he received from a 

 very respectable correspondent, on the state of the fruits in the 

 gardens at Droitwich, a town in Worcestershire, which is one of 

 the most considerable places in Great Britain for the manu- 

 facture of common salt. It runs thus : 



" It is a remarkable circumstance, and worthy observation, 

 that about the 15th of July, when the small fruit began to fail, 

 and become scarce in the markets, in consequence of the great 

 drought, the fruit in the gardens at Droitwich had not the least 

 appearance of the want of rain, but, on the contrary, was in a 

 state of the greatest possible luxuriance ; and I am certain I 

 speak within compass, when I say I could have gathered 

 hundreds of clusters of currants that would have weighed half- 

 a-pound each. The stems of the bunches were so long and 

 numerous in the clusters, and the currants so large, that I re- 

 marked to my children who were with me, I was convinced their 

 appearance, so different from every other place at the same 

 time, arose from the presence of salt in the atmosphere, oc- 

 casioned by the boiling of so many pans at the salt-works 

 here." 



In addition to these facts, I am desirous of remarking, that 

 the employment of common salt in agriculture and horticulture 

 is much more frequent in foreign countries than it is in these 

 kingdoms ; for I have the most unquestionable authority for 

 stating, that ** salt is employed in the cultivation of the vine and 

 other fruit-trees on the borders of the Rhone, and that they are 

 improved by this application." 



Most of the persons who have borne testimony to the bene- 



