of Salt in Horticulture. 59 



lowing. On each acre were sown twenty bushels of salt, except- 

 ing that two ridges towards the middle of the field were purposely 

 left without any salt ; on these two ridges the turnips totally 

 failed, but the remainder of the field produced a plentiful crop. 



In 1793, four acres of land, completely worn out by succes- 

 sive tillage, were ploughed before Christmas ; three acres were 

 sown with salt, at the rate of twenty-five bushels, and the re- 

 maining acre with eighteen bushels, without any other manure. 

 The crop was in general a good one, but visibly best where the 

 greatest quantity of salt had been used. Since that time, crops 

 of turnips have been raised, with equal success, by the use of 

 salt; and in the severe winter of 1794-5, it was observed that 

 thiese turnips were much less injured by the frost, than others 

 similarly treated and cultivated in the common way. The 

 writer of the account suggests, that if turnips are less injured 

 by frost when they are manured with salt than when they are 

 cultivated in the usual manner, it must indicate an extraordinary 

 degree of health and vigour in the plant ; but a single observa- 

 tion is insufficient to establish such a fact. 



The free use of salt, in the culture of the carrot, has also 

 been found very efficacious. The efiect of enlarging the growth 

 and consequently increasing the crop of all esculent vegetables, 

 has long been known to all the gardeners in America. Sir 

 John Sinclair likewise informs us, that drilled carrots grow well in 

 a salted bed, the salt being laid under the surface, in the centre 

 of the intervals between the rows, and at some distance from 

 the roots, in such manner, that it may be dissolved before the 

 fibres of tlie roots meet it. See Husbandry of Scotland, second 

 edition, vol. ii., Appendix, p. 182. 



Some years ago. Baron Humboldt discovered that a weak 

 solution of any of the oxymuriatic salts has the property of 

 accelerating and increasing the growth of vegetables. This 

 effect is probably owing to the circumstance of the oxymuriates 

 being converted by exposure to the air into common muriates. 

 It might, however, be within the scope of your Society's plan 

 and intentions to offer premiums to such gardeners as would 

 willingly make farther experiments on bleachers* residuum, an 



