Graziers.of Great Britain. 351 
same practice, mixing salt with his own stacks of hay, and with: 
the mashes to his horses,.and constantly with the same beneft. 
That horses, sheep, and cattle, would derive benefit from salt, 
might, indeed, be imagined-from observing the great. desire they 
discover for it, and which manifests. itself.in every;country where 
this mineral substance lies within their reach. This is certainly 
the ease, and in the Appendix many. undeniable examples-will 
be given to support the opinion. Several most curious facts, that 
were stated by a very respectable member of the House of Com- 
mons, to prove the salubrious effects of salt upon these animals, 
may-also be seen in the Appendix. 
It cannot, then be doubted. that salt, when judiciously. admi- 
nistered to live stock, assists their digestion, preserves them from 
disease, and improves their condition ; and from the evidence to 
be hereafter adduced, it will appear that the milk and butter pro- 
duced from those cows which haye salt given to them is more 
abundant, and never acquires that turnip-flavour which is gene- 
rally so predominant in the milk and butter from those cows 
which are kept upon turnips without salt. It has likewise been 
proved, that common salt is a certain cure for the botts in horses, 
and is a specific: against the rot in sheep; and that the wool is 
materially improved. of such sheep as are fed with salt. 
It is impossible, I conceive, to read the great body of evidence 
which was delivered.to the Honourable the Board of Trade, and . 
to the committee of the House of Commons, without being con- 
vinced that the benefits resulting to the grazierand agriculturist, 
from the employment of salt, must be great and important; espe- 
cially the evidence of John Christian Curwen, esq. the represen- 
tative in parliament for the city of Carlisle, who is himself a 
large farmer and grazier, and who stated to the committee, that 
upon a farm of one thousand pounds a-year, he could not esti- 
mate the annual advantages, that might fairly be expected trom 
the free use of salt, at less than three hundred pounds, 
If the benefits and profits arising from the unrestrained use 
of salt in agriculture be so various and considerable, how comes 
it to pass, it may be asked, that its employment has not been 
universal throughout Great Britain? Various reasons may be 
assigned for this; amongst others we may state the unwilling- 
ness which farmers in general evince, especially the lower class, 
to walk out of the-old beaten path of their forefathers ; the want 
of directions how to make use of salt for the purposes under con- 
sideration ; the enormous duty upon the article itself; and, per- 
haps, above all others, next to the price, the many vexatious re- 
gulations to be observed before a remission of any part of the 
duty could be obtained. 
Let us take one case as an instance of these troublesome ob- 
structions. 
