tSSSJ 



t' A U M E R S ' REGISTER. 



45f 



The rye continued to come up for a year or two 



and was kept closely led by tlie sheep, and in a 

 few years ilie iviich grass was exchanfred for sweet 

 clover and red-top. I doul>l not but that this plan 

 might be adofU'ed to advantage on many farms 

 that are overniii wiih this u.-ele^-s weed. It is fol- 

 ly to talk o< (ligLring it up when it has obtained a 

 firm Ibotholil. Land that is of a I'ght thin soil 

 can be changed (i-oiii tillage to pa^;luritlg to great 

 advantage. Pastures wouki! {ic iinproved in this 

 way, for it is Ital economy to posstvs a pasture that 

 will give oniy how and then a ppoi that cattle will 

 touch. 



Another method [ have seen praciisedin ridding 

 sraall gariiei! spots of this grass^, which is by lay- 

 ing boards closely over the ground lor a season. 

 This is much easier than todii; it up. While on 

 this point I cannot help noticing one fault among 

 gardeners. The3' are v^bry anxious to prevent the 

 weeds from going \6 seed during the first part of 

 the season, but as soon as the |)lariis get ii little 

 etarl, liiey suller the weeds to take tlieirown confse. 

 Consequently there is a fresh supply of seed Ibr 

 the succeeding spring. 



If some o( your correspondents will counsel me 

 in killing thistles with as little labor and as nuich 

 profit, as I have advised them in killing witch 

 grass, they will receive my sincere thanks. 



Agricola. 



aEMARKS Jlf REGARD TO THE MANUFAC- 

 TURE OF SALT, BY SOLAU EVAPORATION, 

 ■WITH COVERED WORKS. 



As contained iti a psimplilct, submitted to tlie first subscribers 

 totlie La t'aj title Salt Company. 



it has been ascerlained from the most authentic 

 and respectable sources, that the net profit arising 

 from the manufacture of sah, by solar evaporation, 

 from sea water, at Cape Cod, in JMassacliuselis, in 

 the latitude of about 42 deg. north, has not l)een 

 less, for many years |)astj Ihati 15 per cent per 

 annum, upon the aiuount of capital invested, not- 

 withstanding the reduction of the duty ii]^pii the 

 imported article; and in some very favorabii; sea- 

 sons, Irom 18 lo 20 per cent has been rcii!i/ed. 

 This profit is the result of about lour month's li ivor- 

 able weather; for, tliough the works are in (>i)e- 

 ration seven months in a year, yet the evapmaiion 

 in the spring and Ikli is so slow, that little is oained 

 by it. The sea water made use of, contain.s about 

 three per cent of salt, and is thrown at once into 

 wooden pans, without being sirengthentni from 

 exposure lo the raye of the sun in natural reser- 

 voirs. 



The Island of Key West is situated in the lati- 

 tude of 24° 25' N, Which differs but little from the 

 latitude of the Bahama Islands; and its climate and 

 vepfetable productions are similar. Its sail pniul, 

 which measures 340 acres, olfers a greater extent 

 of surliice than any of the Rahamasalt pond.-', with 

 the exception of that at Rum Key. 



It is estimated that the evaporation in the lati- 

 tude of Key West is at least double that which is 

 found to exist in JMassachusetts ;— and salt can l)c 

 made every day in the year, if the liict stated by 

 the northern manufacturers as undeniable, affords 

 any criterion whereby to judge, viz :— that salt 

 will make with them, with the temperature of the 

 Vol. VII— 58 



weather at 48 deg. of Fahranheit. At Kfcy West, 

 the animal average of the temperature is 7G de- 

 grees, and the thermometer has only once, since 

 (lie settlement of the island, indicated so low a 

 temperature as 48 degrees. It is confidently be- 

 lieved that the winter monllis at Key West are 

 quite as favorable for evaporation as the summer 

 months in Massachusetts.* 



The sea water at Key West, is believed) from 

 experiments made, to contain a greater percentage 

 of salt, than at Cape Cod ; the water, however, 

 which would be appro|)riated to the purposes ol' 

 salt making with covered works, will be obtained 

 from the natural poud, which, on an average 

 throughout the year, is at least ten per cent strong- 

 er than sea water, and has been known, in very 

 dry seasons, to reach the point of saturation, ami, 

 in many parts of it, to deposiie large qyantities of 

 salt, JSub-reservoirs may be constructed upon the 

 margins of the pond, of any convenient size requi- 

 red, at a trifling expense, in which the evapora- 

 tion would be three or four t^mes as great as in 

 the large pond, inasmuch as the depth ol water 

 in these reservoirs could be regulated at pleasure. t 



The givat expense attending the mauufaciure 

 of salt in JNIassachuseits, is the necessity which 

 exists Ibr reservoirs and pans to bring the water to 

 the point of saturation. Nine out of every ten 

 pans are employed Ibr this purpose, consequently, 

 could they obtain water or brine at the j)oinl of 

 salnratiofi, with v/hich to fill their pans in the fiist 

 instance, their production, and consequer.tly their 

 profit, would be just ten times whil it is at present, 

 from the same investment of capital ; and in the 

 same proportion fiir any intermediate streiiL'^ih at 

 which they may first obtain their water. Hence 

 is seen, at once, the jrrea! benefit which maiiu- 

 facturers of salt at Key West will derive, from 

 possessiufT a natural reservoir u!" water; so conside- 

 rably increased in .slirntjih. 



Tlie rate at which salt is sold in t.he United 

 States, admits of the construction of expensive 

 works for its production ; while its abundance and 

 cheapness in the Bahama Islands is such that it 

 can be ad vanta'reously introduced into this country, 

 notwithsiaiiding the protecting duty of 10 cents; on 

 56 lbs, making from 13 to 14 cents on the measured 



* Should also have given the number of fair and 

 wmdtj days which, however, can he seen in the mete- 

 reoloEjical registers Icept the hist six years. H. P. 



f Both reservoirs and sub-reservoiis can be con- 

 structed in the open sea on the north side of the islands 

 from Malacumba t<j the north-east extremity of Key 

 Larga, as they are protected, frofn the. force of the 

 waves by the shallowness of the waters between them 

 and the main con.st from Cape Table to Cape Floiiila. 

 From tlie north sides of these islands extend level iials 

 of thousands of acres of stilF marl whicli are enUrcly 

 bare at low water, i. c. six to twelve iiiclies above low 

 tide; and tlie greatest extremes ol tides here do not 

 exceed oj feet between the highest spring and lowest 

 neap tide, while the average rise and fall is hut three 

 feet. Hence all that would be re(|uisite to form reser- 

 voirs would be simple ditcliing and embankment of th6 

 marl four feet high ! ! What a held for the employ- 

 ment ol the ditching and embanking machine I ! Now 

 that Indian hostilities have ceased, it is to be hoped that 

 many invalids and capitalists will spend next winter in 

 cruising among these Keys lo judge themselves of the 

 profits to be inade either'in saU manufacture or tcrtile 

 agriculture, among these hi'dicrto despised and calum- 

 niated islands ! 



