296 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



December 18, 1866. 

 Mr. Nathan C. Ely in the chair; John W. Chambers, Secretary. 



Salt as Manure. 



Dio Hui^hes, Pratt's Hollow, Madison county, N. Y., wants to 

 know if he can afford to use salt at $2.50 per barrel, to kill daisies. 



He also inquires what he shall do to renovate a field, situated 

 upon a hill, where he cannot conveniently haul manure, and which 

 hos been regularly moM-ed for thirty consecutive years. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — It is the opinion of those who have used 

 salt most, that it would hardly pay to use it for killing daisies 

 only, at that price. But combining two or three advantages to- 

 o-ether, it might be used. For instance, salt is of the greatest 

 benefit (o wheat. It ameliorates the soil, and renders inert matter 

 available to the plants ; and it has been proved in central New 

 York that three bushels of salt per acre hastened the ripening of 

 the w heat two or three weeks. For that purpose then, he can 

 afford to use it. 



The easiest way to renovate the field on the hill, which has been 

 thirty years mowed, is to sow it with salt, lime or plaster, and 

 not mow it for thirty months. Let the grass grow, and it will 

 mulch and manure the ground. 



Coal vs. Wood. 



Mr. Hughes inquires which is the most economical, coal at ten 

 dollars per ton, or wood at three dollars per cord, "stove length." 



Several members inquired what was meant by "stove length." 



Mr. Solon Eobinson replied, sixteen inches, making the wood 

 really nine dollars a cord. And one ton of anthracite coal is esti- 

 mated to be equal, for domestic purposes, to three solid cords of 

 hard wood. 



]Mr. P. T. Quinn said he had frequently noticed persons wetting 

 coal, a i^ractice he thought wrong, since all that water has to be 

 driven off when the coal is put upon the fire before it will ignite. 

 Solon Robinson replied that it was an advantage to wet fine coal, 

 and particularly cinders. 



Dr. J. V. C. Smith thought that wetting coal did not injure its 

 heating properties, as the water is converted into steam, and wet- 

 tino- it is a great advantage sometimes in laying the dust. 



