MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 2G9 



SALT IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



In 1SG9, Prof. Goessmann gave a lecture before the State Board of Agri- 

 culture at Pittsfield, Mass., ou "Salt and its Uses in Agriculture." Prof. 

 Goessnumn closed his lecture as follows: "The safest and cheapest way of 

 supplying salt to your farm lands, if at all desirable, is to feed it to your live 

 stock, for natural channels of distribution are always the best." You will see 

 from this that Prof. G. does not take much stock in salt for manure. Per- 

 haps it was because he lived near the ocean. Col. Wilder, who lives near the 

 sea, considers salt useless. In the discussion following the reading of this 

 address we find Mr. Goodman, of Berkshire county, speaking as follows : "Now 

 as to this matter of salt. As the professor has told us, there is no question 

 that it was used centuries ago as a manure, by men who thought themselves as 

 ■wise as we are — the Greeks and Eomans — with decided advantage Our agri- 

 cultural histories tell us that among the ancients it was one of the most valu- 

 able manures. When you get among the hills as far from the ocean as ours, 

 you will find salt a valuable manure. But you must not use it on a field as 

 you would on an asparagus bed. No one would use guano as he would use 

 other manures. You cannot use superphosphates as you use any other manure. 

 You cannot use any mineral manures as you use barnyard manures. They 

 must be used with great caution. Take a country like this where oats are a 

 valuable crop, one of the greatest complaints among farmers is that they do 

 not stand up. If you apply salt you will find that your oats will not fall down. 

 When salt is properly applied to our soils you will find that a stiffness is given 

 to the grain, and that it is beneficial in that respect." [Ag. Mass., 1869, pp. 

 56 and 57.] 



Mr. Beebe, of Benton: "I have used salt, from a bushel to three bushels 

 to the acre, with good success on oats, potatoes and wheat. Grass is very 

 much improved by the application of salt as a top dressing when the land is 

 seeded down. * * * Take one bushel of salt and three bushels of marl 

 and let it lie four months under a shed, and then add five bushels of this com- 

 post to a cord of muck, and I warrant you one of the best manures that was 

 ever made in Berkshire county, for all your sandy land. That is a recipe Prof. 

 Mapes gave my brother for 820, and he tried it on sandy land near West Stock- 

 bridge, ten or fifteen years ago, and that land still produces double the quan- 

 tity of grass that is yielded by tlie same quality of land adjoining. * * * 

 I have used salt on land that I planted with oats, and find it very beneficial in 

 stiffening the straw, as well as in increasing the weight of grain. It raised my 

 oats six inches above the crop standing side by side, with the same cultivation, 

 except the application of salt." 



M. Butler — I believe that salt on our Berkshire land is decidedly beneficial. 

 Col. Wilder undoubtedly will tell me that his animals require little or no salt 

 running at large in his fields. 



Col. Wilder— Not a bit. 



Mr. Butler — I thought you would say so, sir. Now, my animals, and those 

 of every other Berkshire man, eat salt with the same avidity that they would 

 meal or grain, once or twice a week. [Pp. 59 and 60.] 



Dr. Loring — You had a lecture here, I understand, on salt. I wish I had 

 heard it. I believe in salt for certain crops, implicitly. Prof. Stockbridge 

 talks about five bushels to the acre. I have put thirty bushels to the acre for 

 a crop of mangolds, and never got a better crop in my life. Any farmer will 

 tell you that the mangold is a great feeder on salt, or else the salt produces 



