268 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 1, 1832. 



(e®siLLsai3/Er;i^'ii'0}3i©viea 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND. FARMER. 



SALT AND SHEEP 



Jamaica Plain, Feb. ii, 1833. 



T. G. Fessenden, Esq. 



DjAR Sir— In your New Eiigliiiul Fanner of 

 22d inst. is an abridged artiele from the New York 

 Medical Repository, of a letter from Dr Mitchell, on 

 (as he styles it) the destructive qualities of Liverpool 

 salt. This charge is a very heavy one, and I 

 suspect not sufficiently well founded. I have been 

 looking, into " Holland's Views of Clieshire," pub- 

 lished in London, in 1813— (in that County almost 

 all the salt which is exported from Liverpool, is 

 produced or manufactured) — and in which, is a 

 very long article on the subject of the^r mineral 

 salt, salt springs, the maiuifacture of salt, and' an 

 analysis of all the sorts made there. ' Extracts 

 from which, I should recommend yom- publishing. 

 Great pains seems to be taken to make it as pure 

 as possible, and when we know from the publish- 

 ed accounts, the great length of time, and the im- 

 mense quantity manufactured and exported from 

 that county, it seems almost impossible that it can 

 possess the injurious qualities attributed to it by 

 Dr M.* We know that the Liverpool salt weighs 

 but 56 lbs. per bushel, and that from the Bahainas 

 84 lbs. per bushel — therefore in many instances 

 I doubt not damag^ may have taken place, from 

 using it by measure when weight would have been 

 more correct. 



I intend to collect samples of the ditjerent sorts 

 of Liverpool salt, also of Spain, Portugal, the 

 Mediterranean dad the West Indies, as well as our 

 own sea-board ; and if I can procure any from the 

 Interiorof New York, shall add it — and I have the 

 expectation that an eminent chemist will analyze 

 them all ; in which case I hope to furnish you the 

 result for publication. ^ 



You will recollect, it is not long since I noticed 

 in your paper the losses I had sustained in a val- 

 uable flock of sheep, which I thought might have 

 been produced by their eating the leaves of the 

 wild-cherry. I begin now to suspect it may have 

 been caused by a too free use of salt. Last May 

 I put into the care of the Society of Shakers, at 

 Canterbury, New Hampshire, a small flock of 

 New Leic(;^ter sheep, which I had kept at Jamai- 

 ca Plain for two years, and were in perfect health. 

 Here, we have never given any salt to our ani- 

 mals. In December last, one of tiieir people qi^^, 

 came to me to ask what could be the matter with 

 these sheep, as some of the last spring lambs had 

 iied and they feared the loss of more, as they - 

 scoured very much, and they could not prevent 

 it. Two days paSt, one of their people came 

 again to say they believed they had discovered the 

 cause, and the sheep were now doing very well. 

 On opening the last one that died, they found 

 nothing but very thin slimy matter in the intes- 

 tines. They had had salt at nil times to go to ; and 

 by watching, they tbund as soon as they had eaten 

 salt they immediately went to drink; they then 

 took away the salt, and give it now but sparingly, 

 say once in ten or fifteen days, Mid since tlieu 



doubtless were weakened by .so much drink, 

 (though of pure water.) 



For about six .years, I have fmnished the min- 

 eral rock salt to my sheep in New Hampshire, 

 being mcire convenient and economical — they have 

 had it at all times to go to, in winter and summer, 

 and plenly of water at hand. But although for 

 several years past we have lost a great many, 

 (lambs more particularly under one year old,) we 

 had never thought of salt injuring them, which I 

 now believe must have been the cause ; and in 

 future shall allow only a small quantity, and not 

 oftener than once in ten or tifteen days. Previous 

 to procuring the mineral salt, the sheep had com- 

 mon Liverpool salt once a fortnight ; at that time 

 our losses were not many. 



Yoms truly, JOHN PRINCE. 



P. S. — Since writing the jireceding, a gentleman 

 has loaned me " Ure's Dictionary of Chemistry, 

 4th edition, 1831," in which I find a very particu- 

 lar analysis of the difterent salts of England, and 

 some foreign ones ; it will therefore be unneces- 

 sary to have it again done here, but I shall hojie to 

 obtain it of some others, particularly the American 

 sorts. I inclose you the analysis, with IMr Ure's 

 note ajipended. I have no doubt of the correct- 

 ness of his remark, that large grained salt is impor- 

 tant in salting meats and fish, in keeping the pieces 

 separated by being longer in dissolving, so as more 

 thoroughly to penetrate the meat. 1 can have no 

 doubt that the English salt for even' purpose, is as 

 good as any other, if the same state offincyiess and 

 weisht is used. 



On my farm, where my own family butter for 

 winter use is made, I have always used the Liver- 

 pool bag or table salt, and it has always kept i)er- 

 fectly well, and in May we think is better than new 

 butter, (before grass feed.) I am well convinced that 

 the badness of butter is more owing to the want of 

 proper care of the milk, and in not thorousMy tr- 

 tracting the buttermilk, than in the salt ; for we 

 know the Dutch are famous for their butter keep- 

 ing well, even when sent to the East Indies, and 

 they use vert/ little salt. 



From Ure's of Clieniislry,4lh edition, London, la?!. 

 ANALYSIS OF SALT, BY DR YOUNG — 



ON 1000 PARTS. 



count of their greater solubility, even better^ 

 provided they be equally j)ure. His experi- 

 ments show that in compactness of texture, the 

 large grained British salt is equal to the foreign 

 bay salt ; their antiseptic qualities are also the same. 



ON MANURES. 



Mr Fessenden — Will you or some of your cor- 

 respondents, inform whether in all cases it is ne- 

 cessary to put dung under a roof or in a cellar, as 

 it is cleared out from the stall ; and if anything 

 should be done with it while under the roof or in 

 the cellar; and if it should be put immediately 

 from thence on the land and ploughed in, or made 

 first into compost. And if while under cover aiid 

 while kejit from the rain, there is any moisture 

 added to assist its putrefaction ? * 



I know that Arthur Young says, that they who 

 spread their dung on the top of their grouud and 

 let it reniiiin theie, and those who leave their dung 

 heaps uncovered in the open air, do little more 

 than maimre the atmosphere. And, if I under- 

 stand Sir Humphry Davy, he says, that after 

 dung has gone through the putrescent fermenta- 

 tion, it is no longer manure, which I for one do 

 not exactly believe. 



Is it yet a question whetlier the strength of 

 dung, or that part of it which is food for plants, 

 is in the exhalations or decoctions, or in both .' 

 Some say that " a very considerable quantity of 

 moisture is necessary in a dung heap, to excite 

 fermentation, to qualify it for a proper state as a 

 maiuu-c, and that what is not absorbed and re- 

 tained in it, is exhaled in as pure a state as when 

 it desceuded from the clouds ; and although that 

 which is spread on the top of the ground has be- 

 come tlry and hai'd some days after rain, yet it 

 retains all the strength, which has not drained 

 through it into the ground, when it was soaking 

 wet with ruin, and will continue to do so again 

 whenever it is thus wet; until it has gone to decay; 

 and I am sure I cannot disjiute the position. We 

 know that spirit is the product of fermented sub- 



FORF.IGN BAY SALT. 

 y trace 3 3 23^ 



13 do. 3^ 3i 



10 do. 



191 



4.i 38 40 %n 



6 25 40), aw; 



4J 235 35S 964j 



nnlTISH SALT FROM SEA-WATER. 



nmon) 



114 



15 I7J 



J4 



324 64 

 I64 29 



mf<\ 



there has been no sickness among theno ; they 



*In the year 1S05, upwards of 56,000 tons of rock or 

 mineral salt were sent down the river Weaver, to Liver- 

 pool; the principal p.irt of it was exported to Ireland and 

 the north of Europe, and ports in the Baltic, and in the 

 same year 178,000 tons of white or nianutactured salt. 



4 



Scotch (en 



Scotch Sun<la.vj I do. 



Lytiiiigtoii(common)9 do. 



(cat) 1 do. D o 1 o 

 CHESHIRE S.VLT. 



Cnishcil rock, 10 0.1-16 " 3-'0 O.J « — 



Fishery, 1 O.l 3 1 HJ — 



fommuii, 10] O.J I 144 - 



Stovcd, 1 O.J O.J 1 15J — iOi JiJ ao.'S 



That kind of salt, then, says this able chemist, 

 whiA possesses most eminently the combined 

 properties of hardness, compactness, and perfec- 

 tion of crystals, will be best adajited to the i)iir- 

 pose of packing fish and other provisions, Ijecause 

 it will remain pemianently between the different 

 layers, or will be gradually dissolved by the fluids 

 that exude from the provisions ; thus furnishing a 

 slow liut constant supply of saturated brine. On 

 the other hand, for the purpo.se of preparing the 

 pickle or the striking the meat, which is done by im- 

 mersion in a satiu-ated solution of salt, the smaller 

 grained varieties answer equally well ; or, on ac- 



* jYotes by the Editor. We helieve there is no prin- ( 

 ciple in agricultuie better established, than that dung 

 should be exposed as little as po.ssible to>un, rain, and 

 air, before its application to the soil. A slight degree of 

 ferineniaiion may be of use, by assisting to break dowa 

 and decompose the woody fibre, but too much fermenta- 

 tion dis-ipates anil destroys the most useful part of ma- 

 nure, and in its effects resembles combustion. Vou may 

 as well sulfur your hay to be luow- burnt, as your dung to 

 be in part con<urtied by feiiiienlalion. 



Sir Humphry Davy says, " In the writings of scien- 

 tific agriculturists, a great mass of facts miy be found, in 

 favor of the application of dung in its recent ^.tate. Mr 

 V'oung, in his Kssay onMatiures, adduces a number of 

 excellent authorities to support the plan. Many who 

 have doubted, have lately been convinced ; and perhaps 

 there is no subject of investigation, in wliich there is such 

 a union of theoretical and practical evidence. 



" Mr Coke has entirely given up the system formerly 

 ad.ipled on his far>'. of applying fermented dung; and 

 he "nlornis me that his crops have been since as good as 

 they ever were, and that his manure goes nearly twice 

 as far. 



'■ When dung is to be preserved for soiio time, the sit- 

 uation in which it is kept is of importance. It should, if 

 possible, be defended fi om the sun. To preserve it under 

 sheds would be of great use; or to male the site of a 

 dunghill on the north side of a wall. The floor on which 

 thfcilung is heaped should, i( possible, he paved with flat 

 stones; and there should be a Utile inilinaiion from each 

 side towards the centre, in which there .-hnuld be drains 

 connected with a sitiall we'l, ftirni.shed wilh a pump, by 

 whi;h the fluid mailer may he collected lor the use ofth» 

 lanti. It too often happens that a dense mucilaginous and 

 extracUve fluid, is suffered to drain away fiom the dung- 

 hill, so'as to be entirely lost to the farm." 



