180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Facts and Observations relating to JigricullUTC and 

 Domestic Economy. 

 [by the editor.] 

 ON THE USE OF SALT AS A MANURE. 

 [Continued from page 170.] 

 The following passages relating to Ihis sub- 

 ject are extracted from the " Letters of Agri- 

 Cola," hy Mr. Young, of Nova Scotia, a work to 

 which we have often been indebterl, and fre- 

 quently recommended to the attention of our 

 readers. 



" In the report of Cheshire drawn up for the 

 Board of Agriculture, the writer has meritori- 

 ously fixed his attention on the supposed effects 

 arising from salt, because it is more abundant 

 in this than in all the other counties in England, 

 and has registered some circumstances bearing 

 on the same conclusion that is derivable from 

 our experience. He has selected two facts 

 which would seem to establish that this sub- 

 stance, though applied in moderate quantity, is 

 invariably attended at first with the destruction 

 of vegetable life; but after the greater part of 

 it has been dissolved by the rains and has sunk 

 in the soil, the remainder imparts a new energy 

 to the roots of those grasses which it had pre- 

 viously well nigh killed. Time and the opera- 

 tion of the common elements of air and water 

 thus change its character and modify its eflecls. 

 After draining, he says, some sour rushy land in 

 October, refuse salt was spread on one part at 

 the rate of eight, and on another of sixteen 

 tushels per acre. In a short time, all vegeta- 

 tion vanished, and next April not a blade of 

 grass was visible. But towards the end of May 

 a rich verdure sprang up after the eight bush- 

 els, and in July a still richer after the sixteen: 

 and to this day, though ten or twelve years 

 have intervened, a superior luxuriance is the 

 effect. Again he mentions that a small quanti- 

 ty of fossil salt, was laid on a court pavement 

 to destroy the vegetation. Not a blade was 

 to be seen the first year ; but in the second, 

 the grasses started up more vigorously than 

 ever. 



" Though this barrenness grows out of an un- 

 due impregnation of the soil, it follows not, that 

 salt is deleterious in minute quantities. — In ac- 

 cordance with this view of the matter, refuse 

 salt by the Cheshire farmers is esteemed an ex- 

 cellent manure, cither lor pasture or fallows ; 

 but it should, they affirm, be first raised and in- 

 corporated with earth, roots, weeds, and other 

 substances." 



"In Alton's report of the county of Ayr 

 there is brought forward a collateral confirma- 

 tion of the utility of salt on land. Sea water 

 is taken and evaporated till the salt contained in 

 it can be merely kept in solution. With Ibis 

 strong brine, lime-shells, [I. me fresh from the 

 kiln] are slaked, and mixed to the consistence 

 of soaper's waste. This quantity is either 

 ipread singly on an acre, or made into a com- 

 ptst with forty cart loads of peat earth ; and 

 this last method is accounted the preferable of 

 the two. This new species of manure has 

 stood the test ot comparison with other kinds, 

 j»nd in no instance has it fallen short of the 

 most ardent expectations. It has been found pe- 

 culiarly favorable io the growth of wheat and 

 beans ; and all corn crops as well as the grasses 

 wftich succeed have been benefited by it. 

 "But the testimonies in favor of this saline 



body are not yet exhausted. In Cornwall the 

 refuse salt of the fisheries is anxiously looked 

 after by the neighboring farmers, and has nev- 

 er failed to produce the most wonderful effects. 

 This may be partially traced to the oil and en- 

 trails of the fish incorporated with it, which 

 afford animal matter for decomposition ; but on- 

 ly partially, for it is beyond all doubt from the 

 nature and abundance of the evidence that they 

 are referable in part to the action of the salt. 



"At the brine pits of Dmitwich, Worcester- 

 shire, where pan salt is manulactured, the re- 

 fuse was there also sought for by the farmers, 

 who preferred it to all other manures, though 

 charged with the agricultural duty : so that it 

 is clear, from so many concurring suffrages in 

 its behalf, that it has acted beneficially in these 

 places. 



" There may be more difficulty in developing 

 its mode of operation. That it is offensive to 

 grubs aud other vermin which prey upon crops 

 has, I believe, been fully proved ; but it is more 

 probable that its principal usefulness is depen- 

 dent on its forming a component part of the or- 

 ganization, as do lime, plaister, an<l the alkalies, 

 it is a substance very generally diU'used through- 

 out nature, exists in most soils, and'is a frequent 

 accompaniment of the animal and vegetable ma- 

 nures. In the usual processes of vegetation 

 it must, therefore, be present, and it is only re- 

 quired by plants in very minute portions."' 



In a treatise on fruit frees, by Thos. lliti, 

 London, the followii}g passage occurs. 



" To show an acquaintance of mine the ef- 

 fecls and advantages of salt properly applied to 

 vegetables. I made the following experiment 

 in an extreme dry summer; upon a bare piece 

 of pasture land, out of which the cattle were 

 taken for want of grass ; I marked four places 

 with stakes, each of which I watered nine nights 

 successively, in the following maimer : — the first 

 with spring water alone, to the quantity of a 

 gallon ; the second with the same quantity of 

 water, adding an ounce of common salt; the 

 third and fourth with the same quantity, mix- 

 ing the water in the third place with two oun- 

 ces of salt; and that in the fourth with three 

 ounces, which produced the following differ- 

 ent effects. 



" The grass in the second place grew more 

 and of a darker green Ihah that in the first ; in 

 (he third it only grew by spots for part of it 

 was killed where the greatest quantity of wa- 

 ter fell, and the fourth was quite brown for a 

 greater compass than the third; by which it 

 appeared that an ounce of salt to a gallon of 

 water had a better eSect than the water had 

 ainne ; and that three ounces of suit, mixed 

 with a gallon of water was more than the grass 

 could immediately receive ; but the fourth 

 place in the spring was the most fertile of them 

 all.'' 



L. R. Legrand, Esq. whose Observations on 

 Manure are recommended as being very valua- 

 ble in Young's Annals of Agriculture, vol. v. 

 page 149, recommends "sixteen bushels to be 

 a projjer quantity for one acre," a fact which 

 he says he ascertained by repeated experiment. 

 Forty bushels to the acre, he says, will destroy 

 vegetation. 



A pamphlet was published in England, enti- 

 tled, " Hints to country Gentlemen and Farmers, 

 on the importance of using salt as a general ma- 



nure. By the late J. Holinshead, Esq. of Q( 

 ley. Third Edition, ■[802.''''* i 



This writer says in substance, that comd^ 

 salt is the most powerful manure in nature, i 

 is besides a certain destruction to weeds " 

 insects — that it gives luxuriance and salu 

 to grass lands, and adds, " When a farmer 

 tends to fallow a piece of ground, he oi 

 first to sow it with such a quantity of sail 

 would be sufficient to destroy all vegetation 

 forty bushels per acret; which by cutting 

 dividing the vicious substances which ar« 

 the earth, weuld reduce it info a proper 8| 

 to become food for plants. The farmer igi 

 fake notice that this salt is to be sown on 

 ground sometime before he begins to work 

 fallows with the plough, (the autumn will be", 

 most proper season) in order to give the I 

 suthcient time to destroy the grass and of'' 

 roots upon it, before he begins to work i 

 The salt being thoroughly mixed and inco 

 rated with the soil, during the winter and ! 

 mer following, whilst the land is on the plo, 

 will by the time the seed is sown upon it, 

 reduced to that strength which is most pro| 

 for effectually and vigorously assisting and gi 

 porting vegetation while the seed is in 1 

 ground, and such lands will be found to prodl 

 a crop superior to those under any other rn> 

 of cultivation. (to be continued.) 



* I''or copious extracts from this Pamphlet, see .Aa 

 ic:in Farmer, vol. v. page 269, and sequel. 



t The quantity refers to/oui salt. Of pure r-nlti 

 the quantity would meet the views of the writ, i 



Reports of the several Committees of the Worcy 

 Agricultural Society. 



REPORT No. IV. 

 Committee on Sxioinc. 

 Lovett Peters, of Wcstborough, Cliairman .- .lo) 

 Hinds, of West-Coylston ; Silas Urooks, of VVorcest 



The Committee on Swine, having atteni 

 to the duties of their appointment, respectfii 

 Report, — 



That there were in the pens 48 Swine, 

 excellent appearance, and some of the dfsl 

 nearly equal in quality, that the Commit 

 found it very difficult to determine which wi 

 entitled to the premiums; but finally award 

 follows, vtz. 



To Samuel Harrington, for the best Boat 

 months old, the premium of ^10; lo Jonaii 

 Knight, for the best bree<ling Sow, 18 mon 

 old, the premium of g6 ; to Messrs. Ward ic Hi 

 for the best weaned Pigs, G months old, tho p 

 mium of ^4. 



The Committee particularly noticed llie Si 

 and Boar and 4 pigs of Mr. Silas Dudley — I 

 lioar and Pigs of Mr. Isaac Temple — the .S 

 and Pigs of Mr. Asa Rji-.e — the Sow of Mess 

 Ward &. Rice — the Sow and pigs of Col. Her 

 Penniman — the sow and Boar of Hon. Oli^ 

 Fiske. 



The pigs of Mr. Jacob Hinds, though sir 

 in size, are good shaped. 



The 15 pigs of Mr. Stephen Salisbury, I 

 their goodness of shape and equality of' sL 

 are a very extraordinary lot of Pigs for sucj 

 number. t' 



If any of the Swine which were in the pf 

 are not noticed, if is by mistake, not by desi 



Considering the verv fine exhibition of Sw: 



