678 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 11 



with compost or stable manure. This agrees with 

 the practice laid down by Chaptal and others. In- 

 deed sah, Hl<e all other stimulating manures, must 

 have somethinp: to act upon. I'o assume the 

 comparison which we have already used, like ihe 

 human appetite after beino; excited by spices, it 

 must have cjood wholesome'food to nourish it. 



In addition to the information ati()rded by Mr. 

 Seabrook, several gentlemen on Edisto Island 

 have made similar experiments, with the same 

 success. Though few of them have applied salt 

 in its unmixed state, they have, most of them, 

 applied it when mixed with compost and other 

 nutritive manures. As to its effects, all seem to 

 agree, that it acts beneficially upon plants ; and 

 more so, perhaps, upon the cotton plant than upon 

 any other. 



That it has a direct tendency in producing fine 

 cottons, is abundantly testified by circumstances 

 ■within' the observation of every one who knows 

 anything of that plant. We must all acknow- 

 ledge, that, the farther removed from the salts 

 the soils is, upon which the cotton grows, the 

 more it deteriorates in quality. Dr. Ure, of Eng- 

 land, who has written an interesting work on the 

 cotton manufacture, and on the natural history 

 and husbandry of the plant, once made an experi- 

 ment upon two parcels of cotton, to see what 

 quantity of salt they each contained. The first 

 Avas upon 5 lbs. of very fine sea-island cotton, 

 which had brought 6s. in Liverpool: the other 

 was from 5 lbs. of a coarser cotton of the same 

 sort, which brought only 4s. Both of these were 

 burnt, and the salt separated from the. ashes of 

 each. We have not the exact result of the expe- 

 riment before us ; but we recollect, that, the ashes 

 of the fine cotton contained a much larger i)ropor- 

 tion of salt than that of the coarser. From this 

 experiment, and similar others. Dr. Ure was per- 

 suaded, that a due proportion of salt entering into 

 the plant, always improved the staple of the cot- 

 ton. 



If these facts be correct, and no one can doubt 

 them, does it not behoove our planters to give the 

 thing a trial? Salt can be readily purchased, at 50 

 cents per bushel ;i and if the sweepings of t^e cel- 

 lar are purchased, it can be had for much less. 

 At the rate of 1 pint per task-row, 10 quarts and 

 a half (allowing 21 rows to the task) will manure 

 the task, and a little more than a bushel and a 

 third will manure an entire acre. Let our plant- 

 ers consider this matter well ; and let them make 

 the experiment. 



Before concludino-, we would mention one other 

 practical instance of salt having been applied with 

 success to cotton. The late Wm. Edings of Ed- 

 i.sto Island, fi'om a barrel filled with sea-water, 

 watered a portion of his field, after listing in the 

 land. The water was poured upon the list, so as 

 to saturate it moderately. The cotton grew well 

 and bore well ; and he often assured us, that no- 

 thing prevented his making a general practice of 

 the experiment, but the want of proper carts to 

 carry the water. We mention this experiment, 

 not that we would advise its adoption, but only to 

 add another proof of the beneficial effects of salt 

 when applied as a manure. When we take into 

 consideration the small expense of this manner, 

 the ease with which it may be applied to the land, 

 and its undoubted beneficial results, we predict 

 that its general adoption will produce the same ef- 



fects upon the agricultural interests of this state, 

 that the introduction of calcareous manures have 

 done for Virginia. 



EDITOR OF S. A. 



From the Memoirs of tlie Pliiladelphia Agric. Society. 

 ON RECLAIJIING MARSH LAND. 



By R. G. Johnson. 



Salem, A\ J., Feb. 10, 1819. 



Sir — Being disposed to submit my observations 

 and experience in practical agriculture, for a pe- 

 riod of twenty-eight years past, to the perusal of 

 the readers of the "Memoirs of the Philadelphia 

 Society for promoting Agriculture,'' I shall be suffi- 

 ciently gratified should any thing be gleaned from 

 what I have wrhten, which may tend to throw 

 some light upon a subject connected with rural 

 gconomy, and v/hich in some parts of our country, 

 is but imperfectly understood; I mean the reclaim- 

 ing and bring into a dry and profitable state, the nu- 

 merous wild marshes, which line our bay, river, 

 and creeks. 



' The wild marshes are made from the sediment 

 carried on them by the flowintr of the tides, and 

 deposited among the diflerent species of wild 

 grass, which every season spring up, and in the 

 autumn decay, and then become incorporated with 

 the sediment of the preceding year, mixing with 

 the various putrescent animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances of which the quagmire is composed. 

 From this mass is produced a soil, which, when 

 brought into good cultivation, continues its extra- 

 ordinary fertility for many years. I have ob- 

 served, that on such marshes, the line of distinc- 

 tion may be easily traced by the eifecis of the salt, 

 and the brackish water, upon the numerous species 

 of aquatic plants which grow thereon. As far up 

 the Delaware as Reedy Island, grow two species 

 of salt grass — the rosemary salt-sedge, and the 

 red salt-sedge, and two species of reeds ; from 

 thence, to about the mouth of the Christiana 

 Creek, or Deepwater Point, grow the three 

 square, the two kinds of reeds, and fresh rose- 

 mary; and from thence up the river, (the water 

 being fresh,) grow the hull rush, three square, 

 only one kind of reed, wild oats, flags or cat-tails, 

 fox-tail, spatter dock, and the water lily. For 

 briniring into cultivation such unproductive marsh-^ 

 es. the universal practice throughout our country 

 (until a few years airo,) was, to dig a ditch paral- 

 lel, and about six feet distant from the footing of 

 the intended bank, and from that to inake a bank 

 of such form and size as accorded with the judg- 

 ment; of the owner. After the bank had stood a 

 year or two, it became apparent that it had not 

 only settled, but that the foundation had inclined 

 towards the large ditch. To keep up the bank to 

 its proper height, it was then thought necessary 

 to dig a ditch about ten or twelve feet in the 

 inside, and pack that on the bank ; but even this 

 method did not permanently remedy the defect. 

 The evil of such proceedings was apparent, be- 

 cause the foundation could never be made suffi- 

 ciently firm to support so great a quantity of mud, 

 without settling so low as' to admit the tide over- 

 flowing the same, unless frequent additions of 

 fresh mud from time to time were made to keep it 

 up to its former height ; and even then the expense 



