456 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



sale of the manufactured millstones, but the blocks, also, 

 so that those now manufacturing from imported blocks 

 may obtain a full supply of an article not only superior in 

 quality, but less in price — one of the products of the 

 teeming soil of America. Solon Robinson. 



Macon, Georgia, Jan. Qth, 1851. 



Salt for Cattle and Sheep. 



[New York American Agriculturist, 10:63; Feb., 1851] 



[January ?, 1851] 



In the preface to an article under this title in your 

 last number, you invite arguments in opposition to the 

 doctrine therein advanced.^ I do not wish to present any 

 argument against the practice; but I will give some facts 

 which may go for what they are worth, to prove that salt 

 is no more necessary to the brute creation, than spiritu- 

 ous liquor is to the human portion. 



During one of the winters of my residence upon the 

 western prairies, salt became very scarce and difficult to 

 obtain, even at $10 or $12 a barrel, the price it was uni- 

 versally held at ; and many persons who had always con- 

 sidered it as an article of positive necessity for cattle and 

 sheep, were obliged to dispense with the use of it for 

 several months. One acquaintance of mine, who is a very 

 observing man, found his cattle required much less water 

 than in any previous winter, and actually kept in better 

 condition with the same feed, than during the seasons 

 they had all the salt they desired. He came to the conclu- 

 sion that cattle, when fed with an abundant supply of 

 salt, in winter, are inclined to drink more cold water than 

 is beneficial to their health. His cattle never wintered 

 better than they did that year, nor were more free from 

 disease. 



During several summers, I have had cattle running 

 upon the prairie, that never tasted salt from the time 



* The article mentioned advocated the feeding of salt to cattle 

 and sheep, citing the prevalence of the practice on the Continent, 

 and suggesting its trial in England. American Agriculturist, 10:23. 



