144 EFFECTS OF SALT ON TURNIPS. 



On globe turnips, in addition to farm-yard manure, Mr 

 Maclean of Braidwood, Mid-Lothian, obtained in 1843 the 

 following results : 



a Farm-yard manure, 30 carts produced 9 tons 17 cwt. of bulbs. 



... 15 carts, ) J2 



Common salt, 4 cwt. / 



Increase, . 2 tons 15 cwt. 



b Farm-yard manure, 30 carts, . 19 tons 4 cwt. 

 Do. 30 carts with 4 cwt. of salt, . 25 ... 4 ...* 



Increase, . 6 tons cwt. 



Notwithstanding that so much has been said and written as 

 to the use of salt, it appears to me surprising that so very small 

 a number of experiments upon its effects, conducted with the 

 requisite care and accuracy in regard to weights and measures, 

 should be found recorded in our standard agricultural treatises 

 and journals. 



4. Influence of circumstances upon the visible effects of 

 common salt when applied directly to the land. 



A very slight consideration will show that local and other 

 circumstances must have a very powerful influence upon the 

 effects which common salt, applied alone, appears to produce 

 upon our crops. Thus 



1. The neighbourhood of the sea is likely to interfere with its 

 action. Winds from the sea, and especially stormy winds, bear 

 particles of salt water with them ; and, in our island, rain seldom 

 falls anywhere in which a sensible quantity of common salt can- 

 not be detected. If the supply thus received from natural 

 sources be sufficient, little benefit is to be expected from any 

 new additions made by the cultivator. A range of hills shel- 

 tering a district from the sea, or an inland situation, may 

 account for a more favourable result than is obtained in insular, 

 exposed, and sea-side tracts of country. 



2. The neighbourhood of a large town^ and the use of town 

 manure, may also render the direct application of salt unprofit- 



* Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society, July 1843, p. 34. 



