MISCELLANEOUS PAPEKS. 261 



In feeding daring the cold days of April, all should be close above the bees 

 to economize the heat. In all feeding; care is requisite that we may not spill 

 the feed about the apiary, as this may, and very generally will, induce robbing. 



Lansing, Mich., April, 1879. 



SALT IN AGRICULTURE. 



BY DR. R. C. KEDZIE, PROF. OF CHEMISTRY AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL 



COLLEGE. 



We have the best authority for saying that "salt is good." Its universal 

 use by men in all stages of civilization, the eagerness with which it is sought 

 by animals, not only when domesticated, but in their native wilds, as well as its 

 general distribution over the globe, show that it is adapted to supply a general 

 want. When men are deprived of an adequate supply of salt the evil is sorely 

 felt. During the late rebellion in the Southern States, the supply of salt for 

 the people became a question of pressing importance, requiring most careful 

 consideration and governmental supervision. I have seen bearded men come 

 into our camps and seek for salt as eagerly as children for candy. In some 

 districts of Africa salt is a most precious substance, a handful will buy a slave, 

 and to say of any one that he eats salt with his daily food is evidence of his 

 luxurious wealth. 



The use of salt as a manure dates from early antiquity. Its sterilizing influ- 

 ence when used in large quantity was also early known ; since eastern con- 

 querors, when they would indicate the final overthrow of a captured city, were 

 accustomed to raze its walls, plow up its streets and sow the place with salt. 



When we study the modern use of salt as a manure, and read the agricultural 

 journals on this subject, we plunge into the midst of "confusion worse con- 

 founded." One class represent salt as a manure of great value to every kind 

 of crop, on every kind of soil, and that it may safely be used in very large 

 doses. Another class, that it is no benefit to most crops, detrimental to some, 

 and that the soil naturally contains enougii salt for the wants of any crop. 



It is singular that we should find such a diversity of views on this subject 

 among some of the most intelligent agriculturists. If we look into the matter 

 closely we may find an explanation of this diversity of views respecting the 

 manural value of salt in the climate, geographical position, or kind of soil, of 

 these respective parties. If salt is beneficial in a hot and dry climate, then a 

 person living in a cool and moist climate would receive little benefit from its use. 

 The sea spray carried by the winds to great distance inland supplies a quan- 

 tity of salt every year to the fields. A friend whose home was in the Shetland 

 islands told me that after every storm her windows had a frosting of salt which 

 required to be washed away. Tiie rain water near the seacoast has a sensi- 

 ble amount of salt, but as we recede from the coast the amount rapidly dimin- 

 ishes. According to Dr. llobert Angus Smith, if wo take the amount of 

 chlorides at Valentia, in Ireland, at 100, the amount in Manchester is only 12, 

 and in Darmstadt, Germany, is only 2. A farmer in Ireland may find no 

 benefit from the use of salt as a manure, while a farmer in Germany whose 

 fields receive only one-fiftieth as much salt in his rainfall, may receive marked 



