SALT AND GREEN MANURING. 237 



I recollect hearing an observing man state at a meeting of a 

 farmers' club, of his applying a small quantity of plaster of Paris 

 to the hills of a piece of Indian corn, after the plants were 

 up ; but before he had finished, he was driven from the field by 

 a shower of rain. After the shower he returned and finished the 

 piece, but those rows which received the dressing before the 

 shower were very much benefited by the application, while the 

 others were not. 



• 



IS SALT MANURE? 



If the testimony of distinguished agriculturists, both English 

 and American, is of any weight, then common salt, used as a 

 manure, is not sufficiently appreciated. 



Sir. John Sinclair, whose practical knowledge and sound 

 judgment are well known, Avrote, at the commencement of the 

 present century, as follows : " It is proved by a variety of exper- 

 iments that sea salt, properly applied, acts as a manure." " It 

 is particularly useful when mixed with a dung-hill or strewed 

 over farmyard manures at the time when they are carried out 

 into the field." It increases the crop of mangolds two or three 

 tons per acre. Mr. John Johnston, the celebrated Scotch farmer 

 of Western New York, says, in regard to an experiment with 

 salt : " The line of demarcation between the salted and the 

 unsalted portion is very distinct throughout the whole length ot 

 the field. It is some four or five days earlier." 



Other instances might be given to prove the benefit of using 

 salt, either on mowing or pasture lots ; and it is the testimony 

 of others that it is especially adapted to wheat crops, giving a 

 brighter and stiffer straw and heavier grain. The quantity 

 recommended to be used to the acre, both in England and this 

 country, varies from three to twenty bushels. 



GREEN CROPS PLOUGHED UNDER FOR MANURE. 



This manner of increasing the fertility of the soil is not new. 

 We read of its being practised by the ancient Romans and 

 Grecians. It is practised now to a greater or less extent by 

 almost every country. 



John F. Wolfinger has written quite an elaborate report upon 

 " Green Manuring and Manures," which was published -by the 

 Agricultural Department at Washington in 1864, in which the 



