1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



701 



a bale, some idea may be funned of ihe magni- 

 tude and dangerous consequences of ihe. fraud. 



Having now brought the subject under ihe no- 

 tice of those who are the most deeply interested, 

 as we conceived it to be our duty to do, we. leave 

 it to their wisdom and experience to provide a re- 

 medy. 



Amongst other motives for our interference is 

 the desire we leel to preserve unimpaired the con- 

 fidence which has herelofbre subsisted between 

 the buyer and ihe seller, and lo maintain ibat 

 character lor honor and fair dealing which has 

 ever been ihe pride and boast of the cotton trade. 

 [Signed by 59 Mercantile Houses] 



From the Journal of Commerce. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF 

 SALT. 



It is calculated that about twelve million bush- 

 els of salt are consumed in ihe United States per 

 annum, of which about 7,000,000 are imported. 

 The bulk and weight of the article make its trans- 

 portation a principal item in the cost. According 

 to a statement in the Journal of the American In- 

 stitute, it is now purchased abroad at an average 

 price of 13§ cents a bushel; yet ilscost in this city- 

 is from 30 to 35 cents by the quarility, and at that 

 price it affords but. a moderale profit to the mer- 

 chant. Salt made at Salina at 6 cents a bushel, 

 sold at Ulica belbre the completion of ihe canal at 

 $3 a barrel; and although the legislature have 

 made it free of toll, and ottered a liberal bounty for 

 its delivery on the Hudson, ihe manufacturers 

 have as yet been unable lo do so at a remunera- 

 ting price, by reason of the competition of foreign 

 salt. For consumption in the interior, very large 

 quantities are manufactured in western New 

 York, western Virginia, and several other states. 

 It is a remarkable arrangement of Providence, 

 that while near the sea-board saline s| rings are 

 rarely or never found, (at. least in this country,) 

 they are abundant far in the interior. In this 

 state they are found to extend through the counties 

 of Onandarra, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Niagara, 

 Genesee, Tompkins, Wayne and Livingston; and 

 it has been said that the whole country west of 

 the Alleghanies is underfiowed with salt water. 



On the sea-board, particularly in the region of 

 Cape Cod, the manufacture of salt has long been 

 carried on extensive!}", but is represented to be now 

 in a declining state, on account of the low price 

 which the article commands. The cause is less to 

 be regretted than the effect. But surely, if it be 

 possible by improved methods of manufacture to 

 make the business profitable, and even to reduce 

 the price of the article below what it is at present, 

 every friend of his country would wish success to 

 the enterprize. Such improvements are stated to 

 have been actually made by Dr. E. C. Cooper, 

 and are about to be put in operation on a large 

 scale. It is well known that on the sea-board the 

 manufacture is carried on entirely by evaporation. 

 Of course a vast extent of surface must be ex- 

 posed to the action of the sun, which, in the old 

 method, is effected by extensive vats, with move- 

 able roofs to shelter them from rain when occasion 

 requires. These vats or rooms as they are tech- 

 nically called, vary from twelve to eighteen feet in 

 width, and from 18 to 200 feet in length. They 



are generally made in four divisions, viz. the weak 

 and strong water rooms, the pickle and salt rooms, 

 in the last of which only, salt is lbrmed. Except 

 the pickle and salt rooms forming about one- 

 eighth of the whole. Dr. Cooper's plan subslilutes 

 for all the rest inclined plane beds, made directly 

 on the ground, and rendered water tight by hy- 

 draulic cement. They are then covered with 

 coarse gravel, which acting by capillary attrac- 

 tion, distributes the salt water in the most mi- 

 nute quantities over the whole inclined plane sur- 

 face, and thus exj oses it to evaporation while flow- 

 ing down. By this plan ihe cost of the works is 

 reduced from jgl to 15 cents per 10 square feet, 

 and (here is also a very great saving of labor, in 

 consequence of dispensing with so large a portion 

 of the roofs. When rain occurs, the insertion of 

 a plug separates the inclined planes from the 

 pickle and salt rooms, and the rain water thus 

 flows away. Any person who is curious to see a 

 more particular description of this improvement 

 may find it in the 4th number of the Journal of 

 the American Institute, just published. A capital 

 of $6000, according to this authority, will con- 

 struct ten acres of the work, yielding 12,000 bush- 

 els of salt per annum, at an expense which will 

 allow it to be sold at 10 to 12 cents a bushel, and at 

 the same lime afford the manufacturer a liberal 

 profit. Dr. Cooper has secured a patent for his im- 

 provement, and proposes lo form a joint slock 

 company for the construction of salt works on 

 Long Island, with a capital of $100,000, which 

 he calculates will yield near 200,000 bushels per 

 annum. Of ihe practical operation of the thing, 

 we of course know nothing personally; but from 

 the description given of it, we are led to anticipate 

 favorable results. 



OF THE LEAVES OF THE MACLURA AURAN- 



tiaca, (Osage Orange.) as a substitute 



FOR THOSE OF THE MULBERRY, AS FOOD 

 FOR SILK WORMS. 



By M. Matthieu Bonafous, Director of the Royal 

 Garden of Botany and Agriculture, at Turin. 



Translated for the Farmers' Register from the Jlnnahs tie V Ag- 

 riculture Fra.ncu.ise, of Oct. 1S35. 



[The following facts — which with more of assurance 

 promise the attainment of the long desired substitute 

 for the leaves of the mulberry, when the leaves of the 

 latter are destroyed by late frosts — are the more impor- 

 tant in this country because the maclura aurantiacais a 

 native of North America, and grows naturally in regions 

 where the clin.ate is more rigorous than in the middle 

 Atlantic states. The late frosts that unexpectedly de- 

 stroy the young leaves of the mulberry, and would leave 

 the silk grower without means of keeping ali ve his new- 

 ly hatched worms,are of rare occurrence: but whenever 

 they do occur, without sufficient precautions, the 

 worms must perish — and the whole business of that 

 year be at an end. Hence the great value of any plant 

 that can furnish a cheap and sufficient substitute for 

 the. mulberry, during the short duration of such sea- 

 sons of scarcity. 



There can be no higher European authority on this 



