CH. VIII.] THE DISEASES OF PLANTS. Q73 



salted, fifteen have been diseased and unproductive, 

 but of the twenty-sk salted, only two. 



" Some more cauliflowers were planted on a plot of 

 ground which had previously borne a crop of savoys, 

 and half of which ground had been sown with salt 

 four months previous to planting ; in this the un- 

 salted and the salted were alike nearly destroyed, 

 evincing that the salt was not present in a sufficient 

 proportion to produce the desired effect. 



" With regard to the use of salt as a cure for the 

 disease, I am inclined to think, from the results of 

 experiments which I have instituted, that unless the 

 salt be applied very early it would be useless, for the 

 root soon becomes so diseased as to be entirely past 

 recovery." a 



I have a strong opinion that a slight dressing of 

 the surface soil, with a little of the docj hydro-sul- 

 phuret of lime, that may be now obtained so readily 

 from the gas-works introduced through England, 

 would prevent the occurrence of the disease, by 

 driving the weevils from the soil. It would, pro- 

 bably, as effectually banish the turnip-fly or flea, 

 if sprinkled over the sui'face immediately after the 

 seed is sown. I entertain this opinion of its effi- 

 cacy in preventing the occurrence of the ambury, 

 from an instance when it was applied to some brocoli, 

 ignorantly grown upon a bed, where cabbages had as 



* C, \V. Johnson's Essay on Salt, p. 136. 



T 



