No. 63.] 91 



should be cautious how they venture on excessive closes, as an extra- 

 vagant one could scarcely fail of being fatal to any crop. Legrand, 

 in his experiments with salt, found that it gradually improved the 

 crop of barley until sixteen bushels per acre was reached, when it 

 gradually diminished until the amount of forty bushels per acre was 

 reached, when vegetation was destroyed. Salt combined with ma- 

 nure, has proved very efficient; and in the Woburn experiments, the 

 wheat so treated exceeded all others. The most favorable propor- 

 tions were found to be 45 tons of dung, and five and a half bushels of 

 salt per acre; the manure plowed in, the salt sown with the seed. 

 The experiments that have been made, would seem to indicate that a 

 preferable mode of using salt, in most cases, would be to sow it on 

 the land some weeks before the seed is to be put in. In this case, 

 where lime exists in the soil, a chemical change takes place, at least 

 partially, and muriate of lime and soda is the result. Such a change 

 would seem to be most favorable to vegetation. 



Salt and lime, artificially mixed as a manure, promises to be a valua- 

 ble aid to the farmer in those positions where the soil abounds with insol- 

 uble silicates or geine, and where other manures necessary to 

 Lime, produce decomposition or fermentation are not at hand. Prof. 

 Johnston recommends a mixture of two parts of lime and one part of 

 salt, the mixture to remain incorporated in a shady place, or covered with 

 sods two or three months before using. Salt and lime should not be used 

 immediately after mixing, as bad results are apt to ensue; but after be- 

 ing well mixed in a dry state and lying as directed, it may be applied 

 at the rate of from thirty to sixty bushels per acre, either before or 

 at the time of sowing. Mixed with soot, salt acts with great power 

 on roots. Mr. Sinclair mixed six and a half bushels of soot with the 

 same quantity of salt, and used the mixture on lands sowed to carrots. 

 The result was, that unmanured land gave twenty-three tons of roots 

 per acre, and the manured yielded forty tons per acre; and Mr. Cart- 

 wright found that where unmanured soil gave 157 bushels of potatoes 

 per acre, 30 bushels of soot and six of salt, made it produce 240 bush- 

 els per acre. Dr. Dana furnishes so beautiful an explanation of the 

 manner in which this manure acts, that it deserves a place entire: 

 " By mixing quicklime with common salt, its soda is let loose, the 

 acid combines with the lime, forming a soluble salt of lime, and so 

 long as the soda remains caustic, it has no effect on the muriate of 

 lime, but as soon as the soda becomes mild or carbonated, decompo- 



