SALT, COMMON. 



SALT, COMMON. 



grasses, such as clover, lucern, sainfoin, &c. ; ' 

 and, as such, I will give the chemic.il analysis, 

 for ihe information of the cultivator, of the re- 

 fuse of the marine and fossil salt-makers. 

 The pan scale of the Lymington marine salt- 

 makers consists, according to the analysis of 

 Dr. Henry, of 



Parts. 



Muriate of magnesia 29 



Desiccated sulphate of magnesia - 18 

 Carbonate of lime and magnesia - 127 

 Sulphat),of lime - ... 216 

 Muriate of soda (sea-salt) - - - 610 



1000 



Of the pan scale of the fossil salt-refiners of 

 Norwich, two specimens were examined by 

 Dr. Henry ; the first was composed of 



Parti. 



Common salt ..... 950 

 Carbonate of lime ... - 10 

 Sulphate of lime .... 40 



1000 



The second variety was composed of 



Part*. 



. . . 100 

 - no 



Common salt 

 Carbonate of lime 



fulohate of lime 



- 790 

 1000 



Salt, it should be remembered, rarely causes 

 the wheat plant to grow larger or taller, but it fills 

 up the ear better, and brings the weaker plants 

 forward. Mr. Sinclair informs us, that " salt 

 appears to lessen the produce of straw, and 

 increase the weight of grain." I have never 

 been able in my experiments, nor in any I have 

 witnessed (with salt alone), to observe any in- 

 creased quantity of straw, even in cases where 

 there was an increased produce, by means of 

 salt, of 6 bushels of wheat per acre. The salt 

 should be applied sometime before sowing the 

 seed, not less than 10, and not more than 20 

 bushels per acre. In my own experiments upon 

 a light gravelly soil, at Great Totham, in Essex, 

 the use of this quantity of salt per acre (in 

 1819) produced an increase of 5 bushels per 

 acre. The following statement of the result 

 of some trials in 1820, on a light and gravelly 

 soil, will show how important may be the result 

 to the country at large by its judicious applica- 

 tion. I regret that incessant employment of a 

 very different nature has hitherto prevented my 

 continuing these experiments. 



Produce per Acrr. Bushels. lb. 



No. 1. Soil without any manure for 4 years- 13 26 



2. Soil manured with stable dung to the 



previous crop (potatoes) 26 52 



3. Soil with 5 bushels of salt per acre, 



and no other manure for 4 years 26 12 



The testimony of a plain Essex farmer cor- 

 roborates these results. " The soil," says Mr. 

 James Challis, of Panfield, " that I described to 

 you to be of rather a loose, hollow description, 

 had a dressing of salt in November, after the 

 wheat was sown, about 14 or 15 bushels per 

 acre : it produced at the rate of 6 bushels per 

 acre more than that which was not dressed, 

 and it may be stated to be 11. per load of 40 

 bushels better in quality." (Essay on Salt, p. 45.) 



It is a custom in most counties of England, 



to apply salt and water as a steep to prevent 



the ravages of the disease in wheat, called 



smut; the value of this is known to almost 



122 



every farmer. Recent experiments have sug 

 gested that it may even be of use, when em- 

 ployed in larger quantities, as a preventive 

 of mildew ; the most dreadful of the numerous 

 diseases to which the cultivated grasses are 

 exposed. The experiments of the late Rev. E. 

 Cartwright strongly evidence, that when salt 

 and water are sprinkled with a brush upon 

 diseased plants, it effects a complete cure, even 

 in apparently the most desperate cases. (My 

 Essay, p. 49.) "The proportion, one pound to 

 a gallon of water, laid on with a plasterer's 

 brush, the operator making his casts as when 

 sowing corn, is instant death to the fungus." 

 The time and expense are trifling. It appear- 

 ed, in the course of some inquiries made by 

 the Board of Agriculture, that a Cornish farmer, 

 Mr. Sickler, and also the Rev. R. Hoblin, were 

 accustomed to employ refuse salt as a manure, 

 and that their crops were never infected with the 

 rust or blight. See MILDEW. 



Experiments demonstrate the efficacy of salt 

 on barley and oats. In 1820, on a good alluvial 

 soil, at Heybridge, in Essex, in a field of barley, 

 the results of two experiments were 



Bushels. 



1. Soil dressed with 6 bushels of salt per acre, and 



20 loads of earth and stable dung, at turnip- 

 time, produced per acre - - - - 65- 



2. Soil dressed with 20 loads of dung and earth - 60 



In the same year, at Sproughton, in Suffolk, 

 on a sandy, barley soil, belonging to Mr. Ran- 

 some: 



Bushels of 

 Barley. 



1. Soil without any manure produced, per acre 30 



2. Soil dressed with 16 bushels of salt per acre 



in March 51 



The following table contains the results of 

 fourteen experiments, made in 1819, by the late 

 Mr. George Sinclair, at Woburn,on the uses of 

 salt to the barley crop. The soil had, the pre- 

 vioas year, carried a crop of turnips, and was 

 composed of three-fourths silicious sand: 



In these experiments upon oats, the quantity 

 of salt applied was evidently too great. Mr. 

 Legrand states, that in his experiments upo 

 barley, " it gradually advanced in its effects 

 16 bushels, and as gradually diminished 

 bushels, when vegetation was stopped." 



969 



