ceeded by the most plentiful and luxuriant crop 

 of grass, far exceeding the other part of the field 

 in richness of its verdure and the quickness of 

 its grov\lli : the cattle were remarkablj' fond of 

 it, and though the salt was laid on it twenty years 

 before, this part is still superior to the rest of the 

 field." 



An interesting detail, from Rev. E. Cart- 

 wright, will be found in the 4th volume of Com- 

 munications to the Board of Agriculture (Eng- 

 land), which is conclusive as to the application 

 «f salt as a manure for potatoes. It appears from 

 this communication that the experiment could 

 not have been tried on a soil better adapted to 

 give impartial results. O f ten ditlerent manures 

 which were resorted to, most of them of known 

 and acknowledged efficacy, one only excepted, 

 salt was superior to them all. Its effects, when 

 combined with soot, were extraordinary, yield- 

 ing in a row two hundred and forty potatoes, 

 while one hundred and fifty only were produ- 

 ced fi-ora the row manured with lime. It \\'as 

 observable also, where salt was applied, ^vhether 

 by itself or in combination, the roots were free 

 twrn that scrubbiness which often infects pota- 

 toes, and from which none of the other beds 

 (and there were in the field near forty more than 

 made part of the experiments), -were altogether 

 exempt. So much for foreign experiments ; 

 now let us sec what has been done in this coun- 

 try. 



From the information ^vhich I have been ena- 

 bled to collect, I am inclined to believe that salt, 

 when sparingly applied, is valuable as a fertili- 

 zer, and useful in destroying the grub and wire- 

 worm, which often injure, and sometimes even 

 destroy whole crops ; and it has been found by 

 experiments the past season, that the scab, or 

 disease which has proved so disastrous to the 

 potato crop in all sections of the country, has 

 never been found upon land that had a proper 

 dressing of salt. 



Mr. Hamilton, of Schoharie, informed the wri- 

 ter tliat he had found great benefit from using 

 salt on his potato ground last spring. After plow- 

 ing, he caused four bushels of salt to be sown, 

 broadcast, on the furrow, upon one acre of the 

 field and harrowed in. Potatoes were then plant- 

 ed. Part of the field was not salted. Although 

 the season was remarkablj^ dry, the salted acre 

 was observed to maintain a green, vigorous ap- 

 pearance, while the other part of the field looked 

 sickly and stunted. On lifting them in the fall, 

 those potatoes where salt had been applied were 

 of good size, smooth skin, sound, and of good 

 quality, and yielded a fair crop, while those on 

 tJie unsalted part of the field, although the soil 

 was fully equal to that of the salted portion, the 

 yield was considerably less, potatoes small, and 

 much eaten by worms. 



His neighbor had a field of potatoes on the 

 opposite side of the road, soil similar to his own, 

 ■who planted thcni the usual way. and the con- 

 sequence %vas, his crop was small, inferior in 

 quality, and most of them rotted soon after dig- 

 ging — they were diseased. 



Dr. Bogart, who has charge of the Sailor's 

 Snug Harbor on Staten Island, informed the 

 writer that he applied four bushels of packing 

 salt to one acre of his potato ground, last spring, 

 and thinks he derived great benefit from it. 

 Though the crop was not a large one, the pota- 

 toes on the salted portion were of much grciiter 

 pize, skin smooth, and free from disease. The 

 vines were more vigorous, remained green 

 while those on land of the same quality adjoin- 



__ (1122) 



ing, which was not salted, shriveled and dried 

 prematurely ; the tubers email and watery ; pro- 

 duce bss. 



E. M. Stone, in a late number of the N. E. 

 Farmer, says: — "Last spring I ti'ied an experi- 

 ment on potatoes. I planted in my garden fifty 

 or sixty hills, placing the sets directly on the 

 manure. To about one-half of the hills I ap- 

 plied a table-spoonful of salt, after slightly cov- 

 ering the seed to prevent immediate contact. 



I then finished covering. The hills so treated 

 yielded potatoes entirely free trom blemish, and 

 of excellent quality. The produce of the resi- 

 due was badly atl'ected by iiist (or scab) and 

 woiTiis, and was hardly worth harvesting." 



Profes.sor Morren also directs attention to the 

 importance of .salt as a means of repelling the 

 disease. He recommends the tubers to be 

 placed in a steep compo.sed of 54 lbs. of lime, 7 

 lbs. salt, and 25 gallons \^•ater. 



Mr. J. E. Teschemacher. speaking of the po- 

 tato di-sease, in the N. E. Farmer, says: — "I 

 think that salt, lime, and several chemicals will 

 destroy the disease. I prefer salt, because when 

 mixed in the soil, it may get into the juices, and 

 circulate through the whole plant. Lime, or 

 lime-water, would do the same, to a certain ex- 

 tent, but it is far less soluble than salt." 



The following very interesting detailed ex- 

 periment with salt was communicated in the 

 9th Vol. and .5th No. of the Cultivator, by J. C. 

 Mather, a very intelligent and spirited farmer 

 of Scaghticoke. He saj-s : — " In the spring of 

 1838, we broke up six acres of sward laud that 

 had been mowed a number of years, intending 

 to plant it to com, but observed, when plov^-ing, 

 that the ground was infested with worms, (the 

 yellow cut, or wire-worms, and black grubs ;) 

 as we had mostly lost our corn crop the j'ear 

 previous, by having the fir.st planting almost en- 

 tirely destroyed by the corn wonn, (above de- 

 scribed,) \ve expected a like calamity would 

 follovk- the present year, unless some preventive 

 could be used to destroy the worms. And hav- 

 ing frequently and unsuccessfully used all the 

 recommended remedies to destroy the corn 

 wprms, ^ve were induced, at the suggestion of 

 an English laborer, to try salt. After the ground 

 was thoroughly harrowed, five bushels of salt 

 per acre w^ere sowed broadcast, leaving a strip of 

 near half an acre on each side of the field, to 

 satisfactorily test the experiment. The whole 

 was then planted to corn and potatoes. The 

 corn on the part where no salt was sov\'u was 

 mostly eaten up by the worms, and was re- 

 plowed and planted to potatoes. The potatoes 

 on the whole lot v^'ere a good ci'op, but decidedly 

 better where the salt was applied. I regret 

 that we did not ascertain by measurement the 

 actual result. There was a vci-y perceptible 

 difference in the appearance of the vines during 

 the whole summer. On the part v^-herc the salt 

 was sown, they grew larger and were of a dark- 

 er green color, and continued green longer in 

 the fall than the othei's."' 



"In the spring of 1839, v\-e spread on a good 

 coat of manure, and planted it all to com, except 

 about half an acre of the salted land, which was 

 planted to Rohan potatoes. The Rohans were 

 the best crop of potatoes I ever sa^v. Seed 

 planted, 2^ bu.shel.s, produce over 300 bushels. 

 The largest potatoes weighed 4| lbs. The com 

 was a heavy crop, but was not measured. The 

 summer vras very diy and hot ; but the corn on 

 the salted land did not appear to sufler at all 

 from the drouth, while the other was consider- 



