264 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



nurc. Is salt beneficial to crops? What crops are benefited? Upon what 

 kind of soil is salt most beneficial ? What are the views of our best farmers 

 in rcE^ard to the use of salt? How does it benefit crops? This is a long string 

 of qucstionSj and I do not expect to fully answer any of them. 



IS SALT BENEFICIAL TO CROPS? 



The fact that many crops contain a large amount of salt is a presumption 

 that it is beneficial to such crops. Nature does not usually blunder in her 

 operations, and some of our best results come from following her lead. If we 

 turn to the records of carefnl experiments made in England and in Germany, 

 ■we find ample proof that salt is beneficial to many crops. Professor J. F. W. 

 Johnston says: "It is certain that common salt has in very many cases been 

 advantageous to the growing crop." He then quotes the results of experi- 

 ments in which wheat dressed with salt gave an average of eight bushels more 

 than the same kind of soil produces witiiout salt, barley gave an increase of 21 

 busliels an acre, and hay one ton increase to the acre. The experiments of 

 John Hannam, of England, as detailed in an essay on manures, for which he 

 received a prize of £50, show a large increase by the use of salt in the acreage 

 production of barley and oats, and a moderate increase in the yield of wheat. 



In 1SG4 J. B. Lawes, of Eothamsted, read a paper before the agricultural 

 council, to show that salt had practically no influence on his farm in increasing 

 or diminishing the production of either straw, grain, or wheat. In the discus- 

 sion which followed, a number of persons spoke, and all in opposition to the 

 views of Mr. Lawes. Mr. Hooker gave the result of some experiments with 

 respect to the influence of salt on wheat, in which he showed that one portion 

 of his wheat-field dressed with four cwt. of salt gave 30 bushels of wheat to the 

 acre, of good quality, while the balance of the field, without salt, gave 20 bush- 

 els to the acre, of second quality. 



Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture says: ''Common salt has been em- 

 ployed in all ages and in all countries for the purpose of promoting vegetation, 

 and has been specially useful in inland countries. In some districts it has 

 failed to produce any beneficial effects upon the growing crop, and has conse- 

 quently suffered in the high estimation in which it was held in England about 

 a century ago. Still, salt is largely employed for manuring purposes, and 

 there can be little doubt that in many cases it produces a sensible improvement 

 in various crops. Its use has been particularly recommended for the cereal 

 crops." 



But I will not quote further from English sources, but turn your attention 

 to reports of the use of salt in this country. 



In quoting current opinions and experiences on the use of salt, I turn for 

 convenience to a volume of the Country Gentleman, because it has a good 

 index, and I quote the writers nearly in the order they appear in print. The 

 first is from W. C. Fish of Onondaga county, N. Y. "In experiments for the 

 past four years, I find many advantages in sowing salt on spring wheat. For 

 over 25 years' farming on soil too hot and dry for spring wheat to till well (in 

 the usual manner of cultivation), it proved a very uncertain crop. Becoming 

 nearly discouraged in trying to raise it, I began four years ago sowing salt. 

 The first year three bushels were scattered on the ground, just as the wheat 

 was fairly up and the ground dry. Twenty-five bushels per acre was the first 

 year's yield. The second year four bushels of salt were sown, and twenty-nine 

 bushels of plump wheat were raised to the acre. The third experiment was 

 four bushels of salt and thirty of wheat to the acre. For the past summer in 



