SALT, COMMON. 



only killed every weed, every seed, and every 

 grub, but that these heaps were then converted 

 into so many parcels of the most fertilizing 

 manure ; the good effects of which, especially 

 upon potatoes and carrots, were very decided. 

 It was well known, too, that a single grain of 

 salt v placed upon an earthworm speedily de- 

 stroyed it ; that if brine were poured upon the 

 lawn, all the earthworms were immediately 

 ejected from that spot; and that if it were 

 sprinkled about over a portion of the grass, to 

 this salted portion all the deer, sheep, or the 

 horses of the park constantly repaired, in pre- 

 ference to any other part of the field. Salt evi- 

 dently, therefore, destroyed weeds and worms, 

 and rendered grass more palatable to live- 

 stock ; and, upon consulting the old agricultu- 

 ral writers, it was found that the notices of salt 

 as a manure were many and important; and 

 that salt had been employed in various agri- 

 cultural operations from a very early period. 

 Thus it is referred to in St. Luke, xiv. 34. Vir- 

 gil reprobates a salt soil. Cato, 150 years B. c., 

 commends it for cattle, hay, straw, &c. ; as 

 does Virgil, lib. 3, v. 394. The early German 

 farmers knew of its value for sheep ; and for 

 the same purpose, in Spain, it has been em- 

 ployed from the earliest ages. In 1570, Conrad 

 Heresbach commends it as being a certain pre- 

 vention of the "murrain or rotte." In 1653, 

 Sir Hugh Platt speaks of salt as a fertilizer in 

 his usual visionary manner, and details the 

 result of a very successful experiment on a 

 "patch of ground" at Clapham; from which 

 some late writers upon the uses of salt have 

 led their readers into great blunders, by stating 

 that this experiment was performed on an acre 

 of land. 



The use of salt by the cultivator, since 

 the repeal of the duties in 1823, has been 

 considerable, however, in many districts of 

 England, in spite of these blundering instruc- 

 tions, ill-contrived experiments, and ignorant 

 conclusions. If to this be added the natural 

 difficulty of obtaining correct results in any 

 experiments in which vegetable life is con- 

 cerned, we need no longer be surprised that 

 many contradictory statements have been made 

 with regard, not only to salt, but to all other 

 fertilizers. 



Common salt is composed of 35-42 parts of 

 chlorine, and 23-3 of sodium. This is not the 

 place to enlarge upon its almost universal pre- 

 sence in almost all waters, soils, and situa- 

 tions, nor of the masses with which our country 

 is endowed. Its fertilizing properties, when 

 applied to land, may be described as five in 

 number. 



1. In small proportions, it promotes the" de- 

 composition of animal and vegetable substances 

 a fact first ascertained by Sir James Pringte 

 and Dr. Macbride. Salt, therefore, promotes 

 the rapid dissolution of the animal and vege- 

 table remains contained in all cultivated soils. 

 The recent discoveries of M. Macaire, with 

 regard to the excretions of vegetables, impart 

 considerable information as to the use of com- 

 mon salt in promoting the putrefaction of vege- 

 table substances in the soil ; since it has been 

 shown by this gentleman that the brown excre- 

 tory matter of a plant is extremely noxious to 

 966 



SALT, COMMON. 



those of its own species ; the salt, therefore, by 

 its presence in the soil, promoting the putre- 

 faction of the excretion, naturally assists in 

 removing the offending matter ; and, in so doing, 

 the excretion, as it decomposes, certainly af- 

 fords nourishment to the plant which produced 

 it. We are fully aware that this hypothesis 

 may be disputed : we therefore offer it merely 

 as an hypothesis. But it is true that salt, pro- 

 perly used, enables land which has been de- 

 teriorated by one crop to bear another with 

 advantage. 



2. It destroys vermin and kills weeds, which 

 are thus converted into manure. 3. It is a di- 

 rect constituent or food of some plants ; and it 

 has been clearly ascertained, that if salt is 

 applied to a soil, the vegetables afterwards 

 growing on that land are found to contain an 

 increased proportion of common salt. (Mr. 

 George Sinclair, Prize Essay on Salt as a Ma- 

 nure.) All marine plants contain it in consider- 

 able proportions. 4. Salt acts on vegetable 

 substances as a stimulant. Dr. Priestley tried 

 various experiments, all supporting this suppo- 

 sition. He added to phials, containing an 

 ounce and a half of water, various proportions 

 of common salt, from 1 to 12 grains, and 

 in the solutions placed various sprigs of mint 

 and other vegetables. In those solutions which 

 contained more than 12 grains, the plants died 

 immediately, and the rest died in their order, 

 except that which contained 3 grains of salt, 

 which seemed to grow as well as plants grow- 

 ing in simple water. It was remarkable, how- 

 ever, that this plant, as well as all those that 

 died in the stronger solutions, seemed to flou- 

 rish at first more than those which were grow- 

 ing in simple water, and that that which had 

 3 grains of salt, and that which had 1 grain 

 only, continued to live after the plants in sim- 

 ple water were dead. (Nat. Philos. vol. i. p. 

 106.) That vegetable substances are capable 

 of being stimulated by chemical solutions, is 

 well known. A solution of chlorine in water 

 will make certain seeds vegetate which would 

 otherwise rot in the earth ; and a mixture of 

 camphor, &c., has been found to be very bene- 

 ficial in restoring vitality to cuttings of various 

 exotics too long delayed on their passage. 

 5. Salt preserves vegetables from injury by 

 sudden transitions in the temperature of the 

 atmosphere. That salted soils do not freeze so 

 readily as usual when salt is applied to them, 

 is well known ; and that salt preserves crops 

 of turnips, cabbages, &c., from injury by the 

 frost, is equally well established. (Johnson's 

 Essay on Salt, pp. 6 68.) 



6. Salt renders earth more capable of ab- 

 sorbing the moisture of the atmosphere a 

 property of the first importance, since those 

 soils which absorb the greatest proportion of 

 moisture from the atmosphere are always the 

 most valuable to the cultivator. " It affords," 

 said the illustrious Davy, " one method of 

 judging of the productiveness of land." (^gr. 

 Chtm. p. 184.) See EARTHS. 



The impure picking of scalings of the salt- 

 makers is usually to be obtained by the farmer 

 at a very low rate, and from its being a mixture 

 of common salt and gypsum (sulphate of lime), 

 it is excellently adapted as a manure for the 



