No. 10. 



Sail — a Fertilizer. 



313 



bined with soot, were extraordinnry, 3icldinii 

 in a row two liundred and folly potatocv", 

 whilst one hundred and filly only were pro- 

 duced from the row manured with lime. It 

 was observable also, wiicre salt was applied, 

 whether by itself or in combination, the roots 

 were free from that scriibbiness which ollcn 

 infects potatoes, and from which none of the 

 other beds — and there were in the field near 

 forty more than made part of the experi- 

 ments — were altogether exempt. So much 

 for foreign experiments; now let us see what 

 has been done in this country. 



From the information which I have been 

 enabled to collect, I am inclined to believe 

 that salt, when sparingly applied, is valuable 

 as a fertdizer, and useful in destroying the 

 grub and wire-worm, which often injure, and 

 sometimes even destroy whole crops; and it 

 has been found by experiments the past 

 season, that the scab, or disease which has 

 proved so disastrous to the potatoe crop in 

 all sections of the country, has never been 

 found upon land that had a proper dressing 

 of salt. 



Judge Hamilton, of Schoharie, informed 

 the writer that he had found great benefit 

 from using salt on his potatoe ground last 

 spring. After ploughing he caused four 

 bushels of salt to be sown broadcast on the 

 furrow, upon one acre of the field, and har- 

 rowed in. Potatoes were then planted. Part 

 of the field was not salted. Although the 

 season was remarkably dry, the salted acre 

 was observed to maintain a green, vigorous 

 appearance, while the other part of the field 

 looked sickly and stunted. On lifting them 

 in the fall, those potatoes where salt had 

 been applied were of good size, smooth skin, 

 sound, and of good quality, and yielded a 

 fair crop, while those on the unsalted part 

 of the field, although the soil was fully 

 equal to that of the salted portion, the yield 

 was considerably less, potatoes small, and 

 much eaten by worms. 



His neighbour had a field of potatoes on 

 the opposite side of the road, soil similar to 

 his own, who planted them the usual way, 

 , and the consequence was, his crop was 

 small, inferior in quality, and most of them 

 rotted soon after digging — they were dis- 

 eased. 



Dr. Bogart, who has charge of the Sail- 

 ors' Snug Harbour on Staten Island, in- 

 formed the writer that he applied four bush- 

 els of packing salt to one acre of his potatoe 

 ground last spring, and thinks he derived 

 great benefit from it. Though the crop was 

 not a large one, the potatoes on the salted 

 portion were of much greater size, skin 

 smooth, and free from disease. The vines 

 were more vigorous, remained green, while 



those on land of the same quality adjoining, 

 which was not salted, shriveled and dried 

 prematurely; the tubers small and watery; 

 produce less. 



J']. M. .Stone, in a late number of the N. E. 

 Farmer, says : " Last spring I tried an ex- 

 periment on potatoes. I planted in my gar- 

 den fifty or sixty hills, placing the sets di- 

 rectly on the manure. To about one-half 

 of the hills I applied a table-spoonful of salt, 

 after slightly covering the seed to prevent 

 immediate contact. I then finished cover- 

 ing. The hills so treated, yielded potatoes 

 entirely free from blemish, and of excellent 

 quality. The produce of the residue was 

 badly affected by rust, or scab, and worms, 

 and was hardly worth harvesting." 



Professor Morren also directs attention to 

 the importance of salt as a means of repel- 

 ling the disease. He recommends the tu- 

 bers to be placed in a steep composed of 

 54 lbs. of lime, 7 lbs. of salt, and 25 gallons 

 of water. 



Mr. J. E. Teschemacher speaking of the 

 potatoe disease in the N. E. Farmer, says: 

 "I think that salt, lime, and several chemi- 

 cals will destroy the disease. I prefer salt, 

 because when mixed in the soil it may get 

 into the juices, and circulate through the 

 whole plant. Lime or lime-water would do 

 the same, to a certain extent, but it is far 

 less soluble than salt." 



The following very interesting detailed 

 experiment with salt, was communicated in 

 the 9th vol. and 5th No. of the Cultivator, 

 by J. C. Mather, a very intelligent and spi- 

 rited farmer of Scaghticoke. He says: — 

 " In the spring of 1838, we broke up six 

 acres of sward land that had been mowed a 

 number of years, intending to plant it to 

 corn, but observed when ploughing, that the 

 ground was infested with worms — the yel- 

 low cut, or wire-worms, and black grubs: — 

 as we had mostly lost our corn crop the 

 year previous, by having the first planting 

 almost entirely destroyed by the corn W'orm 

 above described, we expected a like calam- 

 ity would follow the present year, unless 

 some preventive could be used to destroy 

 the worms. And having frequently and un- 

 successfully used all the recommended reme- 

 dies to destroy the corn worms, we were in- 

 duced, at the suggestion of an English 

 labourer, to try salt. After the ground was 

 thoroughly harrowed, five bushels of salt 

 per acre were sowed broadcast, leaving a 

 strip of near half an acre on each side of 

 the field, to satisfactorily test the experi- 

 ment. The whole was then planted to corn 

 and potatoes. The corn on the part where 

 no salt was sown was mostly eaten up by 

 the worms, and was re-ploughed and planted 



