THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



107 



now fo consider of ils employment for that pur- 

 pose. We llierelbre neither accord in all liial has 

 been assumed in its favor, nor yet in iis disapproval ; 

 and limiting our examination to its operation upon 

 the land, we shall now state some minuies ol'ihc 

 experiments whicii have been tried, from vvhicii 

 every inieiiigent farmer may draw his own con- 

 clusions. 



Experiments on salt. — In Holland's Survey o( 

 Cheshire, instances of its influence in destroying 

 weeds and insects are mentioned ; and ils effects 

 on fallows are thus detailed : — 



' To account (or the diiierence of eflect arising 

 from the application of salt as a manure, we may 

 reler principally to two causes : viz., a diderence 

 in the mode and degree of application, and a 

 difference in the nature of the soils on wliich 

 experiments have l>een made. The first of ihese 

 causes must undoubtedly have the most import- 

 ant influence. Regarding its action upon vege- 

 table matter as that of a stimulus, it is natural to 

 conclude that its effects must be varied very 

 greatly by the proporiion applied. If used in 

 large quantity, it has a tendency — like ever}' other 

 excessive slimulus — to disorganize and destroy 

 the vegetable substances with Vi?!iii-h it comes inio 

 contact : when a smaller proporiion is applied, or 

 when it is mixed up into a compost and employed 

 in this state, it may be regarded, by the moderate 

 stimulus it gives to the action of the vessels in the 

 plants, as a promoter of vegetation, and conse- 

 quently as a valuable manure. In this respect its 

 effects are analogous to those produced by a 

 eimilar application of lime; the influence of both 

 substances upon vegetation being varied greatly 

 by the proportions employed. In some instances, 

 as when tlie land is lying in fallow, it would 

 appear probable that the application of salt might 

 be productive of advantage, by effecting the de- 

 struction of all useless vegetable and animal matter. 

 Its quantity would also be so far diminished by the 

 lime the seed was put into the ground, as to fit it 

 for affording that degree of slimulus which is most 

 beneficial to veseiaiion ; for, by being mixed 

 sufficiently with the soil before the grain is sown, 

 it adds a strong nutriment, and ensures the best of 

 crops. 



To this some observations to the following 

 effect are added by Sir Thomas Brooks, in his 

 tract upon the eall-dutiee, from inlbrmation ob- 

 tained through Mr. Hollinshead, of Chorley, in 

 Lancashire, a gentleman who devoted a great 

 portion of his long life to a scientific and practi- 

 cal inquiry into the uses of salt as a manure. 



With regard to the quantity to be applied*, lie 

 observes, that ' When a farmer intends to fallow 

 a piece of ground, he ought first to sow it with I 



such a quantity of salt as would be sufficient fo 

 destroy vegetation,— namely, 40 bushels per sta- 

 lute acre, which, by cutting and dividing the 

 viscous substances in the earth, would redTice it 

 into a proper stale to become food for plants. 

 The farmer must take notice that this salt is to 

 be sown on the ground some time before he be- 

 gins to work his (allows with the plough: the 

 autumn will be the most proper season, in order 

 to give the salt sufficient time to -destroy the grass 

 and other roots upon it, before he begins to work 

 it. The salt, being thoroughly mixed and in- 

 corporated with the soil during the spring and 

 summer (bllowing, will, while the land is°under 

 the plough, be reduced, by the time the seed is 

 sown upon it, to that streni^th which is the most 

 proper for effectually and vigorously assisting and 

 supporting vegetation when the grain Is in the 

 ground. This method of sowing the intended 

 (iillows with salt will therefore serve very much 

 to lessen the labor of the husbandman in working 

 his grounds ; (or the lough and adhesive clods 

 and lumps, which are generally so troublesome, 

 especially upon clayey soils, will be so completely 

 broken and dissolved by the operation of the salt 

 as to give much less obstruction to the harrow 

 at the first working.' Such is the practice which 

 he recommends on deep loamy dry soils ; but, for 

 other corn lands, sown in the usual way afier 

 a spring ploughing, he advises the spreading of 

 16 bushelsof salt per acre immediately after the 

 grain is covered in by the harrow, and afterwards 

 sowing 10 bushels per acre annually, by which 

 means he affirms that ' these lands will be ever 

 after considered exceedingly productive.' 



In the Report of the Committee of the House 

 of Commons, various experiujents, are also stated 

 in which salt has been applied to fallows : one, 

 representing the crop as nearly treble in proportion 

 to the rest of the same field, and both the grain 

 and the succeeding crop of clover, as of a supe- 

 rior description ; but it appears from the same 

 report, on the testimony of respectable indivi- 

 duals, that in three of liiose cases it was of no 

 use whatever as manure. In two of the experi- 

 rnents, however, the quantity has not been dis- 

 tinctly stated ; and in the third, which was made 

 wilh great accuracy, ihe utmost amount laid upon 

 the land did not exceed 10 bushels in one instance 

 and 12 in anotherf; whereas nothing less than 

 (rom 30 lo 40 bushels of foul salt per acre can be 

 employed upon fallows with any prospect of 

 success. 



On its application to corn, the following experi- 

 men^s in the field practice are taken from Mr. G. 

 Sinclair's Prize Essay, communicated to the 

 board of agriculture, in 1820|: : 



Wheat after barley. 



Soil, without manure - 



, dressed with 11 bush, of salt 



Wheat after flax. 



Soil, with 11^ tons of spit manure 

 Soil, with 6^ bush, of salt on the surface 



produced 16^ bush, per acre. 

 " 22| " 



produced 16^ bush, per acre. 

 K 22 " 



» It should here be remarked that the quantity 

 mentioned applies to /ouZ sa/f, the strength of which 

 is not more than generally one-third, or at the most 

 one-half, of that of pure salt ; if the latter be used, it 

 should therefore be diminished in a similar pro- 

 portion, t Rep. of Salt Com. pp. 152, 162. 



X This essay contains tables of the result of a great 

 variety of experiments upon the comparative use of 

 salt, lime, soot, dung, and oil-cake ; as well as trials 

 of the effects of salt upon wheat, when applied after 

 various preceding crops, and affords much curiouJ and 

 important information. 



