1846. 



GENESEE PARMER. 



129 



Salt as a Fertilizer. 



We have the satisfaction of anno'./ncing to our 

 readers that the duty on a barrel of Onondaga 

 salt has been reduced from 30 to 5 cents, or from 

 6 to 1 cent a bushel. We set this ball in motion 

 some th.ee years since, and have advocated the 

 abatement of this most unequal tax on salt, .both 

 in and out of the Legielature, as many of our 

 readers are well aware. The next step in the 

 matter, according to our view of the subject, is to 

 learn how to use salt in the most profitable way 

 as a fertilizer of the soil. We read in the Bible 

 of "salt which is not fit for the dung heap,'' — 

 thus clearly indicating that this article was used 

 in an early day, to improve the quality of manure. 

 The value of "the salt of the eartli," not merely 

 as a preservative of flesh, and a condiment pro- 

 motive of the health of man, and his domestic 

 animals, but as a fertilizer, was as well known 

 to the ancient Jews, as to the most intelligent 

 nation now living. Chemical science, however, 

 has thrown some new and valuable liglit on the 

 properties of this compound mineral, and the 

 best manner of feeding it to cultivated plants. — 

 Boussingault found that when salt was ap'^.lied 

 to a soil containing lime, the salt was decom- 

 posed. Its chlorine uniting with the lime to 

 form the chloride of calcium, and the carbon- 

 ic acid formerly combined with the lime, leav- 

 ing it to unite with the soda in the salt, form- 

 ing an efflorescence of the white carbonate of 

 soda on the ground. This alkali thus derived 

 from common salt is of great value in rendering 

 silica (common sand) soluble, so that il can be 

 taken up into the stems of plants. In case there 

 is no lime in the soil, or its amount is '.ery small, 

 the chlorine in the salt will not be separated, and 

 no alkali will be liberated. To obviate this dif- 

 ficulty, and at the same time form a general fer- 

 tilizer of great value, in our last Report to the 

 Legislature, we gave the following directions 

 for using salt ; " Take ten bushels newly slaked 

 lime, i. e. ten before it is slaked, and mix it 

 thoroughly with twenty bushels of loam or veg- 

 etable mold. Add to the heap five bushels of 

 common salt and an equal amount of plaster of 

 Paris ; nioiston till the mass is like damp earth." 



The object of the loam or mold is to form a 

 body in which the double decomposition of salt 

 and carbonate of lime can be effected, as is 

 known to occur in calcarious soils, when salt is 

 sown upon the same. Perhaps ten bushels of loam, 

 instead of twenty, would answer quite as well. 



Salt being very soluble, and liable to waste, 

 by running off into rivulets and brooks, it should 

 be applied in small d«ses and often. On com- 

 mon limestone lands we should use only one 

 bushel of lime to one of salt ; but on most soils 

 in this State two of lime to one of salt will be 

 nearer the proper compound than the former. 



A few bushels of salt added to a compost ma- 

 nure heap will be of essential service. It is also 



a valuable auxiliary when mixed with ashes, 

 whether leached or unleached. Salt, however, 

 is not equal in value to the urine of animals, for 

 the simple reason that the latter contains the ele- 

 ments of ammonia, magnesia, and phosphates, a.s 

 well as the chloride of sodium. We recommend 

 and use gypsum with salt in order to gain the 

 benefit of the sulphur in the gypsum, which 

 plants need, and salt lacks. In a w^ord, we aim 

 to supply each crop witli the precise things that 

 nature uses in forming the same, so far as it i.s 

 wanting in the soil where the crop grows. We 

 have no idea of making bone earth (phosphate of 

 lime) out of pure salt, nor plaster of Paris (sul- 

 {)hate of lime) out of iron, silica, or alumina, or 

 [)ure sand and clay. According to the analysis 

 of Letellier, in 100 lbs. of the ash of Indian 

 corn there are 50 lbs. of phosphoric acid, 30 of 

 potash and soda, and 18 of lime and magnesia. 



Wash fok Stone or Brick Buildings. — 

 Take one bushel of unslaked lime ; half a gal- 

 lon of vinegar; 8 lbs. tallow; 8 lbs. alum; l"i 

 lbs salt; 4 lbs. ground rice. Slake the lime with 

 boiling water; then, while hot from slaking, 

 add the other ingredients, (the tallow to be melt- 

 ed, and the rice flour to have been dissolved in 

 boiling water,) and stir till fully incorporated ; 

 the longer it stands the better. Apply two coats 

 with a whitewash brush. 



Some of the public buildings at Washington 

 have been washed with this composition, and 

 experience has decided it to be the most valuable 

 of any that has ever been employed for .such rt 

 purpose. 



To Preserve Peas and Beans. — To preserve 

 these nutritious and excellent vegetables through 

 the winter as sweet and succulent as when picked 

 from the vines, can be accomplished by plucking 

 them when green, and putting them in vessels 

 filled with a weak solution of sugar, and boiling 

 moderately for ten or twelve minutes, and re- 

 moving them to an oven moderately warm, where 

 they should remain till perfectly dry. They are 

 then to be bottled and corked tight. In this way 

 they may be preserved for any length of time, 

 and are said to be as sweet in mid-winter, or early 

 spring, as when fu'st taken from the vines. 



To Cure a Burn. — A lady, preacher of the 

 Society of Friends, in New York, was so success- 

 ful in curing burns, that man}' supposed her pos- 

 sessed of the power of working miracles. The 

 following is the receipt for the medicine : Take 

 one ounce of beeswax, with four ounces burgun- 

 dy pitch, simmered in an earthen vessel together, 

 with as much sweet oil as will soften them into 

 the consistency of a salve when cool — stir the 

 liquid after taking from the fire until quite cool. 

 Keep it from the air in a tight box or jar. When 

 used, spread it thinly on a cloth and apply it to 

 the part injured. Open the burn with a needle 

 and let out the water till it heals. — Ex. 



