SAL 



S 4L 



369 



proves the quality of the butter. 

 It should be sown early in the 

 spring, either by drilling it in rows 

 two teet asunder, or broadcast. 

 By the former nnethod half a bushel 

 of seed is sufficient to stock an 

 acre ; and at least four bushels are 

 required for the latter. During 

 the first season of its growth, no 

 cattle should be allowed to feed 

 upon it, nor should sheep be per- 

 mitted to graze upon it the second 

 season. At the end of five or six 

 years it will require dung, gypsum, 

 or composts of any kind, used lor 

 other grasses.* 



SALT. Salt is one of the es- 

 sential ingredients of the nourish- 

 ment of plants ; and some kind of 

 salt is contained in every plant. 



Salt is of essential importance to 

 the farmer as a manure. It may be 

 applied to the soil, either by itself, 

 or mixed and dissolved in compost. 

 In the latter method, I have found 

 it to be a great fertilizer of land. 



But if salt be applied unmixed 

 and undissolved, it will endanger 

 the existence of tender plants. 



In June, 1 786, 1 salted one bed 

 of my onions, one bed of my car- 

 rots, and one bed of my early tur- 

 nips ; laying the salt under the sur- 

 face, in the centres of the intervals, 

 between the rows; at some distance, 

 perhaps six inches, from the plants, 

 that the salt might have time to be 

 dissolved, and altered, before the 

 fibrous roots should reach it. The 

 cariots of the salted bed, evidently 



* Sainfoin will not answer in Massachu- 

 setts, nor, we suspect, in any of tiie New- 

 England States. It is too apt to be winter 

 killed. 



grew much larger and better than 

 the rest of the carrots ; but I could 

 not perceive that the salt was at 

 all beneficial to the onions, or to 

 the turnips. 



According to Mr. Ford's experi- 

 ment in salting flax ground, salt 

 seems to be highly beneficial to 

 that crop. He spreads the salt 

 over the ground, at the time of 

 sowing the seed; and thinks that 

 the quantity of salt should be dou- 

 ble that of the seed. From three 

 acres in flax salted, he had fifty 

 bushels of seed, and an excellent 

 crop of flax. It was thought that 

 the advantage of salting appean d 

 more in the seed than in the hnrJe. 



Mr. Eliot speaks of five bushels 

 of salt being applied to one acre of 

 iiax, which is a much larger pro- 

 portion, and that it had an extra- 

 ordinary efff^ct : And also of a ' rop 

 of wheat being increased by salt. 



Salt is esteemed more efficacious 

 when mixed in composts than when 

 applied to the soil in its crude state. 

 All the salts will operate as ma- 

 nures, but if too much common salt 

 be applied to lands at once it will 

 prove injurious, for awhile at least, 

 '' Salt," says Sir John Sinclair, '' is 

 particularly useful when mixed 

 with a dunghill, or strewed over 

 farm-yard manures, at the time 

 they are carried to the field." A 

 mixture of soot and salt is recom- 

 mended by the same writer, as 

 preferable to any other manure. 

 Salt is likewise of use in prevent- 

 ing mildew. See Mildew. 



It is said to be an excellent prac- 

 tice to keep salt under cover in 

 such a situation that cattle or sheep 

 may have recourse to it at plea- 



