THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



109 



where the ground was mnnnred with ealt grow 

 faster, the green looked stronger, and at the end 

 or the season tliey produced Mie best crop. 



To this he adds the testin)ony of Mr. Collyns, 

 of Kenion, in Devonshire, who says that ' barley 

 and oats which used to yield only 15 to 20 bush- 

 els per acre, now yield Iroui 10 to 45 ; the wheat 

 is also much improved in quality but not so much 

 as was expectetl in quauiiiy. Thirty-five bush- 

 els of wheat have been produced from an acre, 

 dressed with lU bushels o( saU ; and from the 

 same field last year, after the same quality of soil, 

 140 bags of potatoes. This year, however, it has 

 only produced 20 bushels, though again manured 

 with 10 bushels of salt ; but the quality is very 

 superior, and the root of clover in it is very fine 

 and luxuriant. 



From a communication by Mr. Davies Giddy 

 on the culture ol turnips, it appears that on a 

 pari of a field which had tieen previously exhaust- 

 ed, half a crop was produced, but totally failed on 

 that part where the ordinary manure was laid 

 without salt. In another instance three acres ol 

 land, which on the preceding year had borne a 

 crop of wheat not exceeding 12 bushels to the 

 acre, were ploughed belbre Christmas, and brought 

 into fine tilth by the midsummer following. On 

 each acre were sown 20 bushels of salt, excepting 

 that two ridges, towards the middle of the field, 

 were purposely left without it ; and on these the 

 turnips totally failed, though the remainder of the 

 ground produced an abundant crop. It is further 

 instanced, that four acres of land, completely 

 worn out by successive tillage, were sown, — three 

 acres with salt, at the rale of 25 bushels, and the 

 remaining acre with 18 bushels, without any 

 other manure ; the crop was in general a good 

 one, but was visibly the best where the greatest 

 quantity of salt had been used*. 



Mr, "Hare, of Beaconsfield, in Buckingham- 

 shire, has used salt at the rate of 2 cwt. per acre 

 on a large field of very gravelly soil, part of which 

 was left without any manure, and the remainder 

 (lunged as usual ; yet the turnips produced on the 

 salted acre were just as good as those raised from 

 any other part of the ground. In the following 

 j^ear, on another field of the same quality, he 

 manured the whole of it with farm-yard manure, 

 adding to one acre of the field thus manured 2^ 

 cwt. of powdered rock salt; and on this salted 

 and manured acre, he had a larger and a finer 

 crop of turnips than was produced upon any other 

 field of equal extent in the whole parish. Sir 

 John Sinclair has also tried it, on a small scale, 

 with equally good efTeclt. 



Some comparative experiments have been like- 

 wise made with salt and soot, as well as wi;h 

 stable-dung when applied in diffierent proportions 

 to carrots and potatoes, which produced crops at 

 the following rates per acre. Those by Mr. G. 

 Sinclair, of Deptlord, were : — 



No. 1. Carrots sown without any kind of ma- 

 nure, produced 23 tons. 9 cvvts. 107 lbs. No. 2. 

 13^ bushels of salt mixed and sown with the seed, 

 produced 30 tons 12 cwts. 79 lbs. No. 3. G^- 

 bushelc of salt dug in previous to sowing, pro- 

 duced 44 tons 14 cwts. 17 lbs. No. 4. 13|- bushels 



* Annals of Agriculture, vol. xxvii. 

 fSee his Code of Agriculture, 3d edit., note in the 

 App., p. 40. 



of salt dug in previous to eowinir, produced 31 

 tons 13 cvvts. 40 lbs. No. 5. G^ bushels of salt and 

 G.^ bushels ol soot, dug in [irevious to sowing, 

 pioduced 40 tons 4 cwie. 97 lbs. 



Tiiose of Dr. Cartwri<>ht, ol' Tunbridge, upon 

 a ferruginous sand, brouglit to a due texture and 

 consistence by a liberal -covering of pond mud, 

 were : — 



Potatoes, without any manure, produced 157 

 bushels per acre. Potatoes, with 9 butjliels of sa't 

 per acre, produced 19S bu.«h(!sper acre. Pota- 

 lops, with 8 bushels of salt per acre, and 30 bush- 

 els oi' soot per acre, produced 240 bushels per 

 acre. Poiaiops, with 30 bushels of soot per acre, 

 produced 182 bushels per acre. 



The etl'ect of salt mixed with snot is remarka- 

 ble;* the roots of the carrots in No. 2 were the 

 smallest; in No. 4, the largest; and in No. 5, 

 the healthiest. The experiments made by Mr. 

 G. Sinclair upon potatoes, planted in a soil com- 

 posed of three-fourths siliceous sand, — both with- 

 out any kind of manure, and at the rate of 13.| 

 and 6^ bushels of salt with the seed, as well a.s 

 13^ bushels mixed with the soil — left no room lo 

 doubt of the advantage of 13 bushels per acre, 

 applied to the land previous to the planting, over 

 the other modes of application ; but the superi- 

 ority in either case was no! very great. 



Those of Mr. Cuthbert Johnson, upon a light 

 gravelly soil, were : — 



Potatoes, without any manure, produced 120 

 bushels per acre. Potatoes, with 20 bushels of 

 salt per acre, laid on in the previous September, 

 produced 192 bushels per acre. Potatoes, with 

 stable dung at the time of planting, produced 219 

 bushels per acre. Potatoes, with stable dung and 

 20 bushels of salt produced 234 bushels per acre. 

 Potatoes, with 40 bushels of salt alone, 20 laid 

 on in September, and 20 in the spring, after the 

 sets were planted produced 192^ bushels per acre. 

 Potatoes, with 40 bushels of salt, as in the last ex- 

 periment, and also with stable dung, produced 

 244 bushels per acre. 



The trials made by Mr. Forbes, of the Pine- 

 field Nuseries, near Elgin, upon salt, when com- 

 pared with farm-yard manure, as dressings for 

 root crops, however, tend to show the latter to be 

 in every instance superior; and also to prove that 

 when used in a large quantity it is injurious to 

 vegetation, as it will be seen by the annexed 

 table that the crops were lighter in proportion as 

 the amount of the salt employed was larger. It 

 was laid on in the proportions there stated per 

 Scots acre, and an equal measure of land was 

 moderately dunged ; but though it appears from 

 the produce that only a very small spot of ground 

 was devoted to the experiment, yet that will not 

 invalidate its accuracy. 



* Dr. Cartwright remarks, ' that there is no reason 

 to suppose that the effects of salt, when combined 

 with soot, were produced by any known chemical 

 agency upon each other. Were I to guess at the pro- 

 ducing cause, I should conjecture it to be that proper- 

 ty of saline substances by which they attract moisture 

 from the atmosphere ; for I observed those beds on 

 which salt had been used were visibly and palpably 

 moister than the rest, even for weeks after the salt 

 had been applied, and this appearance continued till 

 rain tell, when, of course, the distinction ceased. 

 This property of attracting moisture had greater in- 

 fluence possibly on the soot than on any of the other 



