206 STATE HOARD OF AOJilCULTURE. 



May 20tli I drilled in my barley, and with the phosphate arrangement, sowed 

 about 2oO pounds of the above mixture per acre, and the result was I had a 

 good piece of barley, with a very plump berry and bright straw. The farm I 

 liad just purchased that spring, proved to have been run considerably, and the 

 neighbors and passers-by would often ask what I had been doing to my ground 

 that made the barley look so rank. 



My neighbor, Mr. L., is a great advocate of phosphate, and I requested him 

 to try a ton of refuse salt washing on his barley ground. He sowed three 

 bushels of salt per acre on tlie furrow and harrowed it in. On the rest of the 

 Held he used the Buii'alo phosjjhate. Where the salt was used, previous to 

 that time the grain was always flat to the ground, but after the salt was 

 used the grain stood up; was one week earlier than the phosphated barley, 

 and he told me if a man had been blindfolded, and set to putting up tlie grain, 

 he could have told when he came to the part of tiie field where the salt was 

 used, as the grain was so much heavier than where phosphate was used. I 

 have sowed refuse salt on corn ground, before harrowing, with good results; 

 but never drop it in the hill with the corn, I prefer the refuse salt washings to 

 the refined salt for agricultural purposes, and intend to try some more this 

 spring. [E. L. B., King's Ferry, N. Y., p. 147. J 



SALT FOR SPRING CROPS. 



Many farmers in some towns of this country are using salt on oats and bar- 

 ley this spring. * * * g^^i^ jj^^g Ijqqh ^^^q^ considerably on winter wheat, 

 and with good results, but it is believed to be even better on spring grain, the 

 advantage is greatest in dry seasons, and where sown with wheat. Winter 

 snows and rains always intervene before the grain heads. It is found that salt 

 makes the straw of all grain brighter, and the berry plumper. It is claimed 

 especially for its use on barley, that it makes the grain fill more slowly in hot 

 and dry weather. 



At a meeting of the Western New York Farmers' Club, May 2d, S. Reed 

 and D. E. Rogers said that salt had proven fully as beneficial to all crops ex- 

 cept clover, as gypsum. ***** gait also, like gypsum, appears to 

 be often of more benefit to crops than we could infer from its constituent ele- 

 ments. Uudoubtedly salt dissolves certain kinds of plant-food and makes it 

 more available than it could be otherwise. I know, however, that its benefits 

 extend to the second year, as it does nearly as much good to the grass as to 

 the preceding grain crop. [W. L. F., Monroe County, N. Y., p. 300.] 



SALT AS A FERTILIZER. 



I am aware that learned professors have written on this subject, viewing 

 the matter in a scientific light, and in nearly, if not in every case that came 

 under my notice, concluded a long article by leaving the matter in as great 

 doubt as ever. So far as the writings upon this subject are concerned, it would 

 appear to be a matter of doubt whether or not salt is a valuable fertilizer, or 

 in fact I might almost say a fertilizer at all, and experiments on the subject 

 are considerably divided. I have experimented for many years with salt, and 

 tested it on the various cereals and roots, and on the different soils, from the 

 stiff clay to the light reddish sand, and the results have been quite as varied 

 as the experiments themselves. To enumerate the individual experiments 

 would take up too much space, but a few general remarks and results may be 

 of some interest to the thinking agriculturists. 



