Oti Salt as a Manure, 9.^ 



April, I planted about one-third of this plat with Indian 

 corn, one-third with potatoes, and the other third with 

 beans, peas, cabbages, onions, and a variety of tap-roots, 

 all of which succeeded remarkably well, considering the 

 unfavourable season as respected rain. My corn exceed- 

 ed, perhaps, any other in the township. 



I coincide fully with Mr. Parkes in the opinion, that a 

 great portion of the land in our country, might, by the 

 the proper use of salt, be made to produce nearly double 

 the amount it now does, besides bringing our crops to 

 maturity much sooner, which would be a matter of vast 

 importance, particularly in our middle, northern, and 

 eastern States, in which the early frosts are very apt to do 

 much mischief. 



I also think highly of the opinion of the celebrated Dr. 

 Darwin on salt as a manure, his sentiments upon this 

 subject being both natural and philosophical ; he ob- 

 serves, that " as it is a stimulus which excites the vege- 

 table absorbent vessels into a greater action than usual, 

 it may, in a certain quantity, increase their growth by 

 enabling them to take up more nourishment in a given 

 time, and perform their circulations and secretions with 

 greater energy." I have no doubt, but salt would prove 

 an excellent manure for grass lands ; but that the quan- 

 tity proposed by Mr. Parkes would be far too much 

 for any soil in our middle States, unless on very hard 

 clay. From past experience and observations, I will 

 venture to say, that six bushels per acre would prove 

 an abundant dressing for most of the grass lands in 

 this part of the country, and the good effects of this, 

 or even a smaller quantity, on our common pasture lands, 

 would be seen for several succeeding years. The grass 

 of meadow lands would be greatly sweetened and im- 

 proved with only two or three bushels per acre, so 



