12 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[August 6, 



nVRAIi SOONOZMCY. 



ON SALT AS A MANURE. 

 We once CDtertained a high opinion of sail as 

 a manure, founded on the authority of eminent 

 agriculturists, American as well as British. Sub- 

 Sequent inquiries, however, led us to dnuht its 

 Utility, for that purpose ; and in the New Eng- 

 land Farmer, vol. 1. paa;e 249, we expressed our 

 apprehensions to that effect. Some able agri- 

 cujlurisls, whom we have consulted, have also 

 stated their distielief in its eHicacy as regards 



j I'o grass land, the salt was apjilied I'V scatter- 

 ' irfg it over the .siirfac<' with a shov el, in the nnan- 

 i ner of applyina; powdered caiisJic lime in its sim- 

 ple state. It was applied to the grass land in Oc- 

 tober, and also in March. 



To the soils above-mentioned, in lilla2;e, sail 

 was applied as follows: — 1st, simply by itself; 

 2nd, combined with lime; 3d, combined with 

 spit manure; 4tb, combined with long dung; 

 5th, combmed with oil-cake dust. 



The mode of application was also varied as 

 follows: — 1st, by scattering il on the surface 

 simpiv, and also combined with manure, and 

 pkoujbing it in previous to S"v<'ing the seed; 



fertilizing the "oils to which it is applied. Judge 2nd, depositing it (in these different states) in 

 BuEL of Albany, in answer to a re(|uest that he! the seed-bed along with the seed ; in some in- 

 would favour the Editor with his opmion en this! ^"'''ces broadcast, and in others in drills; and 



subject, remarked as follows. '* I have often ! 



laslljf, applied to the surface after tlie vegetation 

 of the seetl, or of the appearance of the plants 



seeds vejftated and grew. In the J.jli.in mgr 

 spring, this space of land, rendered barren liy 

 the application of 60 bushels of sail applied u ilh 

 the sned. was dug and sown with turnips; the 

 seed vegetated some days later tban lliat sown 

 on the adjdining land, to which no sail b .d been 

 applied ; but the turnip-fl^ made ils-app. aranc e 

 on the salted and un^ialled land at the saii.e lime, 

 and was equally successful in its lav igt-s on I oih 

 crops. In every olbt-r irial, sail proved of no 

 use whatever in prexenting the inrnip-flv, or in 

 checking it< destructive prognss. The next 

 following spring the laml was sown with pertn- 

 fiinl red clover ; and comparing ihe vegciiiltoD 

 pt this seed, and the progres-i of Ihn plants, on 

 the previous sterile land, with those sown on 

 ^nsilted land adjoiBiiig, the proirress of the 

 |\lants <in each land was so nnif.irmand equal, ns 

 t^ prove that the sterilf •ffi"ct of the salt had 

 disappeared. 



;The various modes of applying gait ahove^ 

 rtentioiied, and ihe varions kiids of crops snl^ 



put to mvself the question-If salt he beneticial ! „i,ove grotmd. Different proportions ofsait and 



to soil, why do. we not see its salutary effects spit manure, long dimg, and of clay, wer« also 



within the influence of sea winds and fogs? Are! respectively mixed up in heaps, and suffered '" _ 



not these impregnated with saline panicles ? 1 1 ""Pna^in '"r several months, in ord.>r to ast ertain ' r|illed to its influence, all tended to c«nlirm the 



h. , ?i . 1 ^1 ,, whether any or what change might be effected I ((pini'>n, or rather prove it to be a fact, that salt 



ave not been able to solve these questions." . ,. . ., ,. p ... •., ]!, , ,. „ , /• , ,• , ■• i •• 



' I by salt in the process of decomposition, either jetards the vegetation of seed, and ii applied m 



Ihe tollowing article from the " Farmer/ Jonr-^ ^s hasteniag or retarding its progress ; similar 

 nal," (printed in London,) of May 23, 1825, if 



it does not settle the question, may prevent large 

 expenditures in the application ofsait as a ma- 

 nure until its value, when applied to that use is 

 better ascertained. — Ed. N. E. Farmer. 



.Var CVois, March 30, 1025. 

 *' In your valuable Journal of the Slst inst. 

 Jl Memb'.r cf the JVetkerby Farm Societi/ requests 



information on the subject of Comm.n Sail as a h^ni of the leguminous or pulse crops ; and flax 

 Manure. The inquiries of this genllemnn ap- j of ,j,f. oily-seed crops. 



pear to me important ones, for there has not, I rp^ ^-^-^ ,,pt.,i|g ,,,• „^g ^g^^,, ^,^.,1, ,[^p^p j^j.,,, 

 I believe, occurred a question in Agriculture or! varied as thev were in almost every way poss^- 

 m Husbandry, which has so long rested on pquiv- j,,^ tj,,,^ appeared likely to throw light" on He 



inquiry 

 i readers; I vi^ill, therefore, here content m'self 



heaps of these substances simply, or without 

 salt, keing placed side by side, for the |Mirpos6 

 of obtaining comparative proofs. I may alsnadd. 

 that salt in solution of various degrees of strength 

 at the proper season, was applie<l as a topical 

 remedy for the rust disease of Wheat. ^ 



The gram or white straw crops manured with 

 salt, were wheat, barley, oats, rye, and Indian 

 corn ; turnips, mangel wurtzel, carrots and po- 

 tatoes, of bulbous and tuUerous roots; peas am 



ocal or doubtful grounds, as that of the use or i„„„;^,.^ „ould be, perhaps, t.resome to yuir 



value of comtnon salt as a manure. 



The repeal of the Salt duties having now plac- 

 ed comincn sail within the reach of farmers for 

 the purpose of manure, and if this eubstance re- 

 ally possesses any value as an application to land, 

 the fact sliouhl doubtless be maile generally 

 known, that every farmer who chooses may par- 

 ticipate in the advantages of it ; or, on tbe'other 

 hand, should salt be perfectly useless to land, or 

 injurious to it in its effects, induring sterility, no 



with stating the general facts, and by the way 

 mentioning, that " Johnson's Essay on S^Wcoti- 

 tains a large mass •f valuable inlbnnulien oithe 

 subject, and is in truth the best account of the 

 value and properties of common salt as a mrnnre 

 that ha» yet appeared. The late Board o" A*- 

 rirultwre (for there is now no British Bo«rd of 

 Asricullnre, though in reading advertisements 

 sometimes, one is led to believe that a Bonrd of 



lime sliou (1 he ost in eivins' the seasonab e ran- > i. .-n n ■ . • .i • . \ 



.. , , ., , ' ■■ B'»'"f; "" "^"■^""•"'if ' -"u- Airriculture still or really exists in this cout.trv,) 



tion be ore it be loo ate, or belore tne money ,s ^g-^,p,, ^ ,,, premium for the best acco.mt of 



lost in the purchase of the salt and the Imid made exneriments on the value of salt as a manure; 



sterile t)y its app ication. The«e considerations ' i . . ■ .i i ii n u 



. , ■' , I I . .. lii'^... i m. cuMini.n i.iiiniis t.iit pxrcpt in I lie Valuable Lssav abov emei;tion- 



indiice me to submit to your correspondent and p,,, I believe no account of the information, 



to your numerous readers, a short statement of ,.pved to the Board on that occasion, has i 

 tlie general results of my own experience in us 

 ing salt as a manure ; premising first, the differ 

 ent kinds of soil to which I applied salt as a m 



Tiure ; second, '.he different modes ,,f ajiplying it 

 to the land; and third, the different kinds^of 

 crops to which it was applied. 



A rich sandy loam, a rich clayey loam, a poor 

 sandy soil, a strong clay, and a barren peatmoss 

 soil, were severilly m;iniirpd with salt. Each 

 ▼ariety of soil was treated and cropped in the 

 fame way. On each of thes;; soils salt was ap- 

 plied in various proportions, from five to sixty 

 "bush 



con- 

 leen 

 given to the [)utdic ; — but to proceed. The gen- 

 eral result of the above trials, which were con- 

 tinur<l three years, proved that five bushels of 

 salt per acre, under any circumstance ol soil. 

 mode of aiiplication, or kind of crop, as above- 

 mentioned, bad no sensible effect whatever on 

 the urowth of these different crops; and that 

 wbeo the quantity ofsait applied reached to GO 

 bushels per acre, vegetation did not take place 

 at all, but alisohile storilitx was the consequence; 

 ;it harvest, when the cr^ p ■•houlrl have been 

 reaped, the seed wai found in Ihe soil in as sound I m mure. 



o grpai a quantity, destroys vegelation nlto- 

 Iher; and that sail renders manure, properly 



»i called, less active and less beneficial to the- 



jlanls; luiS also, that the sterile elTect of wU 



h tbaso.l is not lasting. 

 The only benefit accruing to tillage land from 



lie applir itinn of salt, was apparent in the in- 



«yiiire of the rich clayey loam and rich sand\- 

 il; here the straw was light and the sam|>'s 

 IP ; the produce from the s;ime soils without 



(all. consisteil rhiedv of rank straw, with a light 

 fhrivr-lled sample of corn. The fact was, that 



hp soil was ton rirb and highly manured to grow 

 corn, itnd Ihe salt in this instance so tar reduced 

 its over-fertile state, as to render it suit:ible for 

 the production of grain. Fatmers, however, I 

 believe, have seldooi reason to require a reme- 

 dy for over richness of soil. 



Salt, when mixed with ctav, rendered it more 

 dam[) and lenacious: when mixed \r'nh spit ma- 

 nure, and with long dung for tour months, not 

 any difference whatever could be perceived in 

 111.'' progress ot the decomposition in the spit 

 manure, or in the fermentntion of the long dnng, 

 compared to similar heaps respectively made up 

 without salt, for the purpose of comparison. 



Beans and flax seemed to feel the sterile ef- 

 fects of salt more than any other of the crops 

 above named. A smaller quantity than CO bush- 

 els ofsait per acre, sown with Ihe seed, render- 

 ed the soil barren, as retarded Ihe vegeialioR 

 of beans .and flax. Carrots hardly seemed to 

 (eel its eftpcts after the vegetation of the seed j 

 the feet is, that this root penetrfites deep, and 

 soon pajses bpvond the reach or influence of the 

 salt when appplied with the seed, or to the sur- 

 face of (he land. 



When salt was applied to grass land al lh» 

 rate of five bushels per acre, no pffir.l uhnl- 

 ever was perceptible; bnl vvheti .ipplied at the 

 rate of ''rom 60 to 100 iMi-beK ppp acre, the 

 ar'ass wa» speedily de«ii nved, and did not asaio 

 recover for that season, nor indeed' imlil fresh 

 grass seel had been sown and a top-dressing of 



bushels per acre and upwards ; thesa proved toUnd perfect a slate as when sown in the pieced- The r.st disease of wheat generalh m-ikes its 

 be two extreme points; for five bushels perl jn^,„ri„„. Tlii- quantity ofsait, however, when appearan; 



^ ,. ,, . , _ ., ^, ,p just about ibe peried whin Ihe 



, ., "'"" "I'l''"''"' "'"'''^' *v'''''- 1 mixed with spit manure, and dui in previous t.) ivheai comes into flower. Sohuions of «nlt of 



Willie sixty bustiels produced absolute | bqwi 

 terjIJty. 



acre was productiv 

 ever. 



the sued, proved less injurious, as a few varions degrees of strength were npi>lie(l to the 



