FARMERS' REGISTER— SALT AS MANURE. 



137 



gra!*9 is not difficult to out, but the clammy juice 

 Jrom the barle^'-straws lubricates the scyllie Avith 

 ft viscid coaling like varnish, which must be rubbed 

 off frequently vvilh tlie vvhetstone> The bandsters 

 liave al\v;iys"hard Work among barley. Wheat is 

 beautitiilly" laid in swath when mown. The takers- 

 up and bandsters have less labor among wheat 

 than the mowers, who must be powerful men to 

 continue a length of time at the work. Indeed 

 Eome farmers, who use the scythe pretty exten- 

 Eively in harvest, reap the wheat with the sickle. 

 There is no necessity tor this change. Men can 

 reap a strong crop of wheat with the scythe 

 as well as the other kinds of grain, provided they 

 are not k.^pt day after day at it lor a length of 

 time. Their physical energies could not with- 

 stand the fatigue. But there are modes of equal- 

 ising this labor, and of course of duninishing the 

 fatigue. For example: When a field of wheat 

 and a field of oats are nearly ready tor reaping, it 

 is an excellent arranijement to reap the oats in the 

 dewy mornings belbre breakfast, or as long as 

 there is any dampness on the corn, and then to go 

 to the wheat, or to the barley if there be little 

 wheat on the farm, during the dry period of the 

 day. By this plan much valuable time can be 

 saved m reaping the whole crop. Oats are not 

 the worse by being reaped in a damp state. It is 

 a remarkable facf, that oats reaped in a damp 

 etate with the scythe will be nearly as soon ready 

 for the stack as when reaped dry. Not so with 

 barley. Stooks of oats which are reaped dry, but 

 have afterwards been soaked with rain will be 

 longer of being read}' for the stack than oats that 

 have been reaped in a damp state. It is a still 

 more remarkable fact, that damp oats reaped with 

 the scythe will be sooner ready for the stack than 

 would the same oats reaped in a dry slate with the 

 6;ickle. Oats reaped whh the scythe will be qi i'e 

 ready for the stack in eight days, whereas oats 

 reaped Avith the siclde require at least a fortnight; 

 and stooks that have been reaped with the scythe 

 wiil avert nuich more rain than those reajied with 

 the sickle. We remember a remarkable instance 

 of this, and have repeatedly witnessed the facts 

 mentioned above. Atler a quantity of potato-oats 

 had been cut down both by the sickle and the 

 scythe in the same field, an uninterruptedly heavy 

 rain fell for three days. We expected the rain to 

 have soaked through every stook. When they 

 Avere examined, however, atterit fiiired, the stooks 

 which were reaped with the scythe were only wetted 

 on the outside, and every sheaf v.'as quite dry in 

 the heart; and they were ready for the stack in a 

 short time alter; whereas those which had been 

 reaped with the sickle were not only soaked 

 through, but they had all to be loosened out to the 

 sun and wind before they could be stacked a fort- 

 nifirht afterwards. 



^rhis difference, strange as it may appear, is not 

 difficult to be accounted for. Corn reaped with 

 the sickle, bemg gathered firmly in the hand, its 

 straw in the sheaves becomes as it were a bundle 

 of parallel rods; between which the rain easily 

 enters, and passes among them into the half-crush- 

 ed straw in the heart of the sheaf, where it lodges 

 as if in a sponge, and where little air can pene- 

 trate to evaporate moisture. On the contrary, a 

 eheaf reaped with the scythe is always in an ojjen 

 and loose state through which the wind can freely 

 pass; and its outside coating consists not so much 



of a bundle of parallel rods, as of a kind of net- 

 work of straw, the several tlireads of which direct 

 the rain to some projecting jjicce of bent straw, 

 wliich serves as a spout to throw ofl' the water 

 li'om it to another till it reaches the ground. These 

 tricklings of water from point to fjoint we have 

 often observed along the sides of the stooks which 

 were reaped with the scythe, with a curious satis- 

 faction. In other stooks, the dropping of water ia 

 almost always confined to the lower ends of the 

 hood sheaves; the side sheaves, from the circum- 

 stances already mentioned, and their inclined po- 

 sition, absorbing most of" the rain which fiills 

 airainst them. 



OPINIONS ON SAI.T, AND CARBONATE OF SODA, 

 AS MANURES. 



The last No. of the British Farmers' Magazine (for 

 May 1834) which we liave just received, contains a 

 review of a new pamphlet which has the follovvuig 

 title: 

 ".4ft Mdress to the Owners and Occupiers of Land in 



Great Britain, Sfc. on the Important Discovery of the 



Decomposition of Common Salt, for the purposes of 



Manure; ichereby an Jlcre of Land is prepared for 



the reception of any crop, at the cost of Ten Shillings 



only. By Henry Kemp." 



The substance obtained by the decomposition of 

 common salt is doubtless the carbonate of soda, an 

 alkali having very nearly the same properties with the 

 carbonate of potash, which constitutes the principal 

 value of unleached ashes as manure. There can 

 be no question, but that this substance would be very 

 efficient as manure: if it could be obtained from salt 

 (which is a compound of muriatic acid and soda,) by 

 a process sufficiently cheap — but the author does not 

 disclose the process which he has discovered, and 

 thcpjfore his publication conveys no available instruc- 

 tion on that head. It is therefore, not so much to an- 

 nounce this supposed discovery that we refer to the 

 publication, as to present to our readers the concurrent 

 opinions of the author and his reviewer, of the worth- 

 lessness of salt itself as manure — of which such won- 

 derful effects have been reported from time to time. 

 The reviewer says: 



"Of the use of salt, in an unprepared state, as a 

 manure, we have always held a most contemptible 

 opinion. True, it is, much has been written in its 

 praise, but we have, hitherto, failed to meet with any 

 person who really thought it worthy of a second trial." 



The following quotation from the author exhibits 

 his opinions in ttiis respect: 



"My only object in this investigation, respecting 

 the value of unprepared salt as a fertilizer, is the elu- 

 cidation of truth; and, I am sure, no lover of it will 

 find fault with my exposition, though it may induce 

 him to think less lavorably of salt than he did before. 

 That there are many persons who entertain a good 

 opinion of it for its manuring qualities, I very much 

 doubt; for, I have never conversed or corresponded on 

 the subject with any one who has materially dilfercd 

 from me in this respect. I know many farmers who 

 have submitted it for trial on a variety of crops, and 

 who have expressed their disappointment at the re- 

 sults. It was in consequence of the great dissatisfaction 

 which I experienced, after repeated experiments to 

 ascertain its efficiency, that I was induced to attempt 

 the decomposition of it; and, for the complete success 



