S A I. T. 



537 



Salt. the distinction ceased. In several instances the 



' of the l.uiil failed altogether, e\rept on the part where 

 salt WAS applied. 



It i-, to be remarked that these observations apply 

 particularly to what are called fen -iignums bandy soils ; 

 <> tluit they are adapted, in a g<md measure, to some 

 p.irt of our salt formation ; and much of the Und lying 

 between the Council Bluffs, and the Hocky Mountains, 

 a band running parallel to the river Platte, is such, 

 perhaps, as after ages may improve by the use of the 

 salt abounding in the rivers in that region. It will 

 be long before the population of that section of the 

 union will be sufficiently numerous to make it neces- 

 sary to think of it. It will be at a period when all 

 our national resources are brought into action. 



In Hindustan and China all the land on the coast 

 it regularly treated with sea water, and they depend 

 solely on this management for the increase and good- 

 ness of their rice crops. In Poland salt is extensively 

 used in the tillage of land. 



M any valuable communications on the use of salt, as 

 a manure, have been made to the British Board of Agri- 

 culture. I may be allowed to mention two further 

 experiments made on this subject. 



To show the effects and advantages of salt properly 

 applied to vegetables, the gardener of Lord It. Man- 

 ners made the following experiment, in an extreme 

 dry summer, upon a bare piece of pasture land, out of 

 which the cattle were all taken for want of grass. He 

 marked off" four places, each of which was watered for 

 nine successive nights, in the following manner : the 

 first with one gallon of spring water; the second with 

 a gallon of the same water, containing an ounce of 

 common salt; the third with the same quantity of 

 water, and two ounces of salt ; and the fourth with 

 the same quantity of water, and three ounces of salt, 

 which gave the following effects : 



The grass in the second place grew more abundant, 

 and of a darker green than that in the first ; in the 

 third place it grew only by spots, for part of it was 

 killed where the greatest quantity of water fell ; and 

 the fourth was quite brown for a greater compass than 

 the third : by winch it appears that an ounce of salt 

 in a gallon of water had a better effect than the water 

 alone , and that three ounces of salt mixed in a gallon 

 of water was more than the grass could immediately 

 receive ; but the fourth place, in the ensuing spring, 

 was the most fertile of them all. 



The other experiment I shall notice is related by Dr. 

 Holland, well known by his agricultural survey of 

 Cheshire. 



After draining a piece of sour rushy ground about 

 the middle of October, he ordered some refuse salt 

 to be spread upon a part of the land, at the rate of eight 

 bushels to the acre, and in another part sixteen bushels. 

 In a short time the vegetation disappeared totally, and 

 during the month of Apiil following not a blade of 

 grass was to be seen. In the latter end of the month 

 of May a most flourishing crop of rich grass made its 

 appearance on that part where the eight bushels had 

 been laid. In the month of July the other portion 

 produced a still stronger crop ; the cattle were remark- 

 ably fend of it ; and during the whole of the ensuing 

 winter, (which is ten or twelve years since,) and to 

 this day, the land retained, and yet exhibits, a superior 

 verdure to the neighbouring closes. 



In the memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences 



VOL. XVII. PART II. 



.it I'.iris are several papers showing the great ad van- 

 tages resulting from tin uv of nalt M manure, in * 

 improving land, and increasing the number of cattle. 

 1 1 is there asserted that more than the luual quantity 

 of working cattle on u farm gives a double advantage, 

 by doing the work in season, and enriching more land 

 by their additional manure. The difficulty of main- 

 t lining this additional number of cattle without in. 

 creasing the expense, is obviated by the use of salt. 

 To prove which it is advanced : 



1. That salt given with the food of cattle augments 

 its nourishment 



i 2. That in proportion to the quantity of salt eaten 

 by cattle, the effects of the augmentation are perceived. 

 :>. That no ill consequences follow its use, even when 

 given without stint. 



These propositions are supported by unquestionable 

 evidence, and the trials of very many persons. 



Crau, in the jurisdiction of Aries, in the county of 

 Provence, France, has an extent of six leagues by 

 three, the whole surface of which is covered with small 

 rough stones, and not a tree or bu&h is to be seen up- 

 on the whole district, except a very few scattered on 

 the border ; yet on this apparently barren spot, by 

 the free use of salt, more numerous flocks of sheep 

 are bred and reared than upon any other common of 

 equal extent in the kingdom ; and what is not less re- 

 markable, the sheep are healthier, hardier, and endure 

 the severity of the winter with less loss, though they 

 have fewer sheep cotes for covering, than those fed 

 and bred in more luxuriant pastures, and that have 

 the advantage of convenient shelter. Add to thi, 

 that the wool of the flocks bred and brought up in 

 the Crau is not only the finest, but bears the highest 

 price of any in France. It is concluded, that these 

 surprising effects are consequent upon the unlimited 

 use of salt : for it frequently happens that the Crau i* 

 so parched up in summer, that the animals are obliged 

 to turn up the very stones to get the few blades of 

 grass that grow round them, and yet none perish for 

 want of food. Allowing every excellence than can 

 possibly be supposed inherent in the herbage, yet the 

 quantity of it is so small, that without the abundant 

 use of salt, a fourth part of the sheep kept in the Crau 

 could not subsist on it. 



The second proposition can be proved by an expe- 

 riment, which every farmer can make, simply by giving 

 salt to one half of his cattle, and none to the other 

 half: in less than a month there will be a perceptible 

 difference in the appearance of the animals, in the 

 sleekness of their coats, in their growth, and in their 

 strength and firmness of labour ; and these effects will 

 be produced by little more than half their usual food. 

 The third proposition is supported by the practice 

 in Aries, where the cattle have as much salt as they can 

 eat, and none are so healthy, or thrive so fast, as those 

 that eat most of it. 



In Spain, where the finest wool in the world is pro- 

 duced, large quantities of salt are given to the sheep ; 

 to which they attribute, in a great measure, the fine- 

 ness of the wool. 



In England a thousand sheep consume at the rate of 

 a ton of salt annually. It is supposed to destroy the 

 fasciola hepatica, or fluke worm. 



It has long been a practice in our country to give 

 salt to horses, and to milch cows. About 1,000,000 

 tons are given to animals in England." 

 S y 



