INEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Pl'BLlSIlKl) HV WIIXIAM iNlCHOI.S, lUHiKRS' HUll.DINGP, CONGItl'.i^S STRKKT, (FOURTH DOOR FROM i-'l'ATK STRF.KT.) 



Vol. if. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 21, 1824. 



No. 26. 



'acls and Obsei~^alions relating to .Igricutlurc and 



Domestic Economy. 



[dv the kditor.] 



ON THE USE OF SALT AS A MANURE. 



[Conlinucd from pnge ICO.] 



I The pamphlet of Mr. Ifolinshead adverted to 



I our last observations on this subject states lliat 



for meadow [mowing] land we should advise 



e farmer to sow six bushels of salt per acre, 



jinediately after the hay is got in. This 



ould be found peculiarly beneficial in hot and 



■y summers, and upon limestone and sandy 



Is ; which, after they are mown are often so 



nch parched by the heat of the sun, that not on- 



the eddish [rowen or aftermath] is destroyed, 



t also the crop of the succeeding year is ve- 



materially injured: but by sowing it with 



t, moisture would be attracted and retained, 



fficient to assist vegetation so powerfully, as 



a short lime again to cover the face of the 



ound with grass, and by that means eflfectual- 



to screen the roots, which would otherwise 



too much exposed to the direct rays of the 



' It may indeed be said that dung will answer 

 same purpose: in some degree it might, but 

 ig cannot always be had, never in sufficient 

 mtities ; besides, if it couFd, this objection 

 5 against it, that neat cattle will not eat the 

 lish [rowen] after dung, consequently one va- 

 ble crop is lost to the farmer, which if salt 

 re used would be botii productive and whole- 



' Blr. Beck, gardener in Chorly, has constant- 



nade use of salt in his garden lor upwards of 



rty years, principally upon his onions ; and 



has invariably found the salt to exxeed eve- 



3ther kind of manure, which he could have 



d for the like purpose ; his method is to sow 



salt immediately after the seed is covered 



But as he never had any thoughts of com- 



icating the result of his observations and ex- 



ments to the public, he took no care to as- 



ain the exact quantity necessary to be sown 



n acre, and proportionably upon any smaller 



otity of ground ; yet he thinks, if he might 



ard a conjecture that he has not sown less, 



probably more than sixteen bushels per acre. 



year by way of trial he sowed the usual 



ntity of salt upon a plat of onions, after ihey 



began to show themselves above ground, 



the crop, so far from being improved was 



rely spoiled ; from this he infers that the 



erimental gardener, who may be inclined to 



e use of salt, will do well to throw it on as 



> as possible after the seed is sown." 



.6 remarks in the three following paragraphs 



ly as well to other improvements in hus- 



Iry as to those which may be made by salt. 



I know some will say that there are many 



i which cannot be improved. 1 deny the as- 



ion. Let but the farmer be properly encou- 



id to make the trial, and I am convinced he 



not lind his labor lost. If our ancestors 



always been indifierent to agricultural im- 



'ements, what must have been our situation 



Ihe present day? We might have lived on 

 haws and berries of the field ; for nature has 



not been so lavish in her gifts to this country as 

 to some others: few of Ihe necessaries of life 

 will thrive and flourish without the most unre- 

 niifling industry. By nature our apples aic crabs, 

 and our plums sloes! but art and nature have 

 chiuigcd the scene : and health giving exercise, 

 properly directed, and duly encouraged, would 

 bring the kingdom to an unexampled pitch of 

 plenty and splendor. 



"The proper cultivation of the soil is an ob- 

 ject so peculiarly interesting to the community 

 at large, that those who industriously attend to 

 it are perhaps to be esteemed the most merito- 

 rious citizens of their country. 



" Of such importance are the study and prac- 

 tice of agriculture in Scotland, that they have 

 instituted a professorship in one of their uni- 

 versities ; and it is much to be lamented that a 

 similar institution is not introduced into our 

 universities, as it would essentially tend to the 

 prfimotion of the most important department of 

 knowledge, so highly benelicial to mankind. 



" A farmer at Giasson, near Lancaster, has 

 for some time been in the habit of carting salt 

 water to put upon his dung whilst in the heap 

 iu the'yard, before it was taken to be spread up- 

 on the ground, which he has found by experi- 

 ence very much enriches the dung, and makes 

 it better manure. A great advantage might also 

 be derived to the farmer from spreading sea- 

 sand under and amongst the dung, whilst it is in 

 collecting during the winter, and also in the 

 cow-house stable, not only on account of the 

 pariicles of salt contained in it, but likewise by 

 its retaining and absorbing the urine of the cat- 

 tle, which is itself a very excellent manure." 



" Salt is the mother of manures, as every kind 

 is higher or lower in value according to the salt 

 it produces ; and every kind of manure is por- 

 tioned out to the land according to the quantity 

 of salt or nitre it is thought to have in it. For- 

 merly salt was thought to be an impoverishcr of 

 land, but experience has taught us wisdom ; it 

 is now found to be otherwise, provided it is du- 

 ly proportioned to the state the land is in, and 

 mixed to mollify it as follows: take ten bushels 

 of salt, and six bushels of dry ashes, and mix al- 

 together ; then spread them on the land, and 

 harrow them in with the seed : this is a suffi- 

 cient dressing for an English acre, as it is better 

 to repeat the dressing than to lay too much on 

 at once. By being thus mixed the particles in- 

 corporate with and mollify each other. Salt 

 itself is rather too severe and harsh in its na- 

 ture, and if laid too thick on, might prove of 

 bad consequence ; but if conveyed into the earth 

 by a soapy smooth method, will prove the real 

 enricher the earth wants to send forth vegeta- 

 tion ; this dressing will last for three crops." 

 — From C. Variey, Esq. communicated to the 

 Chester Chronicle by the Rev. B. Dacrc of Mostly, 

 near Manchester. 



The following is said to be from the pen of 

 the Right Honorable Lord Erskine. 



" The science of agriculture is by no means 

 at its height ; and in the almost miraculous ad- 

 Tance of chemistry new means may be found 

 trom the concentration of known composts and 

 Ihe discovery of new, to lessen the costs of cul- 



ture and increase its returns. But here asrain 

 your revenue stalks like a ghost across my path 

 which ever way I turn; as otherwise you have 

 a superior unbounded source of im|)rovement 

 trodden under your very feet, and cast as refuse 

 into your rivers, beyond all that chemistry is 

 evpj- likely to discover. You have salt in end- 

 less abundance. But your necessity turns it into 

 money, even to for*y times its value, instead of 

 spreading it abroad for various uses to rise up 

 in property, which no money could purchase. 



" Do you know what salt alone would do for 

 you ? Can you be so ignorant as not to know, 

 that by taking the tax upon it directly as money, 

 you rob yourselves of fifty times its amount in 

 the productions of your soil, in your lisherios and 

 manufactures, and iu the universal prosperity of 

 the country ? 



" Lime, >vhich has caused to start info life the 

 most inert and sterile parts of Great Britain, is 

 ju.«t nothing as a manure when compared with 

 s,4LT, which dificrs Irom it besides in two re- 

 markable qualities, decisive of its superior 

 value. 



" Lime, and I believe all otffer known com- 

 posts, are powerful only according to (he quan- 

 tities in which they are used ; whereas salt to 

 be useful must be sparingly applied; it corrvpts 

 vegetable substances when mixed with them in 

 small quantities, but ^;)-c.se/-x)<;s them, when it pre- 

 dominates in a mass. It is needless therefore to 

 add, that in<lependently of its comparative light- 

 ness, the expense botji as to the article and its 

 carriage musi- be grpatly diminished. Yet yon 

 rob the mother of our people of this food which 

 indulgent nature has cast into her lap, sufficient 

 as you will see hereafter, to feed all her chil- 

 dren, even if their numbers were doubled." 



Another English writer informs that " Salt 

 answers best as a manure for green crops, es- 

 pecially for turnips and clover. It is not of 

 much uenelit to barley or wheat, if sown ; but 

 in compost it proves very advantageous using 

 thirty Cornish or forty-five Winchester bushels 

 per Cornish acre, which is larger than the Stat- 

 ute acre nearly in the ratio of six to five. Pre- 

 pare the ground for turnips, and sow the salt a 

 fortnight before the seed, or longer if a larger 

 quantity of salt is used. 



" Mr. Seckler, at Henver, in the parish of 

 Gwinear, has just applied salt in the above pro- 

 portion to poor exhausted land ; being clay, in- 

 imical to turnips: the effect has been a heav3', 

 rich crop, which I have had an opportunity of 

 seeing. It is such a one as a hundred tons of dung 

 per acre would scarcely produce in the same 

 land. The salt employed is that which is con- 

 sidered refuse after having cured the fish, and 

 been condemned by the excise. Over this they 

 throw some dirt, and it is then sold to the farm- 

 ers by the fish curers. If the duty were taken 

 off salt, for every bushel now used, there would 

 be at least a hundred bushels employed for this 

 purpose. It has been said that the value of re- 

 fuse salt, as manure, depends upon the soil and 

 animal matter which adheres to it ; but the farm- 

 er knows from experience, that salt is to be pre- 

 ferred which has cured only one bulk of tish ,- 

 and they give a higher price for it than for that 



