1846.] Salt a Fertilizer. 73 



result from its employment in all the various modes of culture 

 adopted in this country, will require several long series of experi- 

 ments; we would, therefore, suggest to the executive committee 

 of our State Agricultural Society, that they offer rewards to such 

 persons as shall give them an account of the best experiments 

 with this mineral substance, in the different branches of farming 

 and general agriculture. 



The safest way for a farmer to adopt, is to use his salt sparingly 

 at first, and in all cases to leave a small portion of the same land 

 without salt, so that the real effects produced by the salt may be, 

 by comparison, in eveiy instance, self-evident and palpable. 



That salt is an excellect manure, experience, the most satisfac- 

 tory of all evidences, clearly proves. 



It is stated in an English publication, that " a farmer in the 

 county of Sussex, some years since, had a field, one part of which 

 was very wet and rushy, and that grass produced upon it was of 

 so sour and unpleasant a kind that the cattle would not graze 

 upon it; he tried several methods to improve it, but to little pur- 

 pose; at last having heard of the benefits of salt as a manure, he 

 determined to try that; for which purpose he procured a quantity 

 of rock salt, which in a random way, without any regard to the 

 precise quantity, he threw upon the rushy ground, fencing it off 

 from the other part of the field, the effect of which was a total 

 disappearance of every kind of vegetation. In a short time, 

 however, it produced the largest quantity of mushrooms ever seen 

 upon an equal space of ground in the country. These, in the 

 spring following, were succeeded by the most plentiful and luxu- 

 riant crop of grass, far exceeding the other part of the field in 

 richness of its verdure and the quickness of its growth ; the cattle 

 were remarkably 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 the Revd. E. Cartwright, will be 

 found in the 4th Vol. of Communications to the Board of Agri- 

 culture (England), which is conclusive as to the application of 

 salt as a manure for potatoes. It appears from this communica- 



VoL. II., No. 1. 7 



