364 



NEW E N G L A N D FAR M K R 



!IIA > 



COMMON SALT AS A MANURE. 



G. Salt renders earth more capable of absorbing 

 live moisture of tlie atmospliere — a properly of llie 



Vcrv few experiments Willi salt have been made , , i i„ i, .i,„ 



•, • .1.;= ,.o„nfr,7 wo bolievc But first mportance, since tlioso soils winch absorb the 



Willi any care in this country, wo ueiieve. oiu i r > _ . 



since the article is common, and can be tried by 

 every farmfr, wo hope lo draw attentiim to it by 

 copying a chapter upon " common salt," by C. W. 

 Johnson, an Kn^'lish writer upon manures. Many 

 of his facts and experiments are curious and in- 

 structive. 



"The fertilizing properties of salt, when applied 

 to land, m-iy be described as five in number. 



1. In small proporlintis, it promotes the decom- 

 position of animal and vefretable substances— n 

 fact first ascertained by Sir James Pringlc and Dr 

 Macbridc. Salt, therefore, promotes the rapid dis- 

 solution of the animal and vegetable remains con- 

 tained in all cultivated soils. 



The recent discoveries of M. Mncairc, with re- 

 gard to the e-xcretions of vegetables, impart consi- 

 derable ii\formation as lo the use of common salt 

 in promoting tho putrefaction of veget:ible sub- 

 stance in the soil : since it has been shown by this 

 gentleman that tho brown excretory matter of a 

 plant is exceedingly m.xious to those of its own 

 species ; the; salt, therefore, by its presence in the 

 soil, and promoting the pulrcfaction of tlio excre- 

 tion, naturally assists in removing the offending 

 matter ; and in so doing, the excretion, as it putre- 

 fies, certainly affords nourishment to the plant 

 which produced it. 



2. It destroys vermin and kills weeds, which 

 are thus converted intfi manure. 



3. It is a direct constituent or food of some 

 plants ; ami it has been clearly ascertained, that if 

 salt is applied to a soil, then the vegetables after- 

 wards growing on the land are found to contain an 

 increased proportion of common salt. All marine 

 plants contain it in considerable proportions. 



4. Suit acts on vegetable substances as a stimu- 

 lant. Dr. Priestley tried various experiments, all 

 supporting this supposition. lie added to phials 

 containing an ounce and a half of v.ater, various 

 proportions of common salt, from ouejtto twelve 

 grains, and in the solutions placed varies sprifs 

 of mint and other vegetables. In thnsc solutions 

 which contained more than twelve graioe, the plants 

 died immediately, and the rest died in their order, 

 to that which contained three grains of salt, •which 

 seemed to grow as well as the plants growing in 

 simple water. It was remarkable, however, that 

 this plant, as well as all those that died in the 

 stronger solutions, seemed lo floiirish al first more 

 than those which were growing in simple water, 

 and that that which had three grams of salt, and 

 that which had one grain only, continued to live 

 afler the plants in simple water were dead. 



That vegetable substances are capable of being 

 stimulated by chemical solutions, is well known. 

 A solution of chlorine in water will make certain 

 seeds vi^getate which would otherwise rot in the 

 earth ; and a mixture of camphor, &c., has been 

 found to bo very beneficial in restoring vitality lo 

 cuttings of various exotica too long delayed on 

 their passage. 



.'). Salt preserves vegetables from injury by sud- 

 den transitions in the temperature of the atmos- 

 jihcre. That salted soils freeze with more reluc- 

 tance than before the salt is applied, is well known ; 

 and that crops of turnips, &.C., am preserved from 

 jujury by the frost by an application of salt, is 

 fritcr has often 



greatest proportion of moisture from the almos 

 phere are always the most valuable to the cultiva- 

 tor. 'ItafTord.V said the illustrious Davy, 'one 

 method of judging of the produdivencss of land." 

 'I'he following experiments of mine were made with 

 the object of ascertaining the extent of the increas- 

 ed absorption of a soil improved by an application 

 of salt : — 



1000 parts of a very rich soil, near Maldon, in 

 Essex, worth 42,5. per acre, dried at a temperature 

 of21'2^, absorbed in 18 hours, liy cxpcisure to air 

 saturated with moisture, nt a temperature of 02 , 

 25 parts. 



1000 parts of the same soil, which had been 

 salted with (i cwt. of salt per acre, under the same 

 circumstannes, gained 27 parts. 



1000 parts of tho same soil, salted with 3 cwt. 

 per acre, gained 20 parts. 



The absorbent powers of common salt, compared 

 with other manures, may bo judged by the results 

 of the following carefully conducted experiments: 



1000 paits of refuse salt, dried at 212'', absorbed 

 in three hours, by exposure to air saturated with 

 moisture at 00', 40 1-2 parts. 



Under the same circumstances. 



The absorbent powers of common salt, therefore, 

 are greater than those of six other well known ma- 

 nures. 



I will now proceed to give a few of the facts al- 

 ready ascertained with regard to the use of com- 

 mon salt as a fertilizer. Salt, it should be remem- 

 bered, rarely causes the wheat plant to grow larger 

 or ii'ilnr, but it fills up the ear better, and brings 

 Ib.i weaker plants forward. We have it on the 

 authority of Mr Sinclair, that 'salt appears to les- 

 sen the produce of straw, and increase the weight 

 of grain.' I have never been able in my experi- 

 ments, nor ill any I have witnessed, to see any in- 

 creased quantity of straw, even in cases where 

 there was an increased produce, by means of salt, 

 of fix bushels of wheal per acre. I cannot enforce 

 this too much upon the attention of the agricultu- 

 rists. Let not the farmer be deceived by appear- 

 ances; let him have tho salted and unsalted por- 

 tions, at harvest time, carefully separated and ex- 

 amined by weight, if the plots are small, or by 

 measure, if extensive. A few square roods, or 

 even yards of each, will be sufficient; and ho will 

 find, on most soils, the result highly in lavor of salt. 

 The salt should be applied some time before 

 sowing the seed, not less than ten, and not more 

 than twenty bushels per acre. In my own experi- 

 ments upon a light gravelly soil, the u.se of this 

 quantity of salt per acre, (in 1619.) produced an 

 increase of five bushels and a half per acre. The 

 following statement of the result of some trials in 

 1820, will show how important may bo the result 

 [to the country at large, by its judu ious application. 

 Product of H'hcat per acre. Husk lbs. 



equally well established. The ^^iicr na, nuc„ , ^ ^ Soil without any mannre for four 

 witnessed this in his own garden, in the case ol 

 cabbages, cauliflowers, &c 



years, 



13 20 



2. Soil manured with sUble dung to 



tlio previous crop, (potatoes,) 26 



3. Soil with five bushels of salt per 



acre, and no other manure for 

 four years, 26 



The soil was, in these trials, light and gravel! 

 The testimony of a plain Essex farmer corrol 

 rates these results. ' The soil,' says Mr Jai 

 Challis, of Panneld, ■ that I described to you « 

 of rather a loose, hollow description, had n d 

 ing of salt put on it in November, after the ^ 

 was sown, about fourteen or fifteen bushels 

 acre : it produced at the rate of six bushels 

 acre more than that which was not dressed, am 

 m.iy be stated lo be il. per load (of forty bushi 

 better in quality.' 



It is a custom in most counties of Englaji 

 apply salt and water as a steep to prevent the ral 

 ges of the disease in wheal, called smut ; the va' 

 of this is known to almost every fanner. Rce 

 experiments have suggested, that it may even 

 of use, when employed in larger quantities, 

 preventative of mildew — the most dreadful of 

 numerous diseases to which the cultivated grai 

 are exposed. Tho experiments of the late 

 E. Cartwright strongly evidence, that when 

 and water are sprinkled with a brush upon discai 

 plants, it is actually a complete cure, even in 

 paieiitly the most desperate cases. The propdr' 

 tioii, one pound lo a gallon of water, laid on with i 

 plasterer's brush, the operator making his casts u 

 when sowing grain; it is instant death to the fu» 

 gus. 'I'he lime and expense are trifling. U t^ 

 peared ir. the course of some inquiries made by dM 

 Board of Agriculture, that a Cornish farmer, Vr 

 Sickler, and also the Rev. R. Hoblin, were accos- 

 turned to employ refuse salt as a manure, and tht 

 their crops were never infected with the rust or 

 blighU 



Experiments tpilh Salt upon Barley and Oati. 

 In 1820, on a good alluvial soil, at Ileybridgs, 

 in Essex, in a field of barley, in two experimenU: 



Bull 

 1. Soil dressed with bushels of salt per 

 acre, and 20 lo.ids of earth and stable 

 dung, at turnip lime, produced per acre (JS 

 3. Soil dressed with 20 loads dung and 



earth, GO 



In the same year, at Sproughton, in Siifibli, 

 on a sandy barley soil — 



BuK 

 1. Soil without any manure, produced of 



barley per acre, S** 



8. Soil dressed with 16 bushels of salt [Kjr 



acre in Man'h, 51 



Oats. — The following experiments were mtii 

 in 1819, by the late Mr George Sinclair: 



;?uiii 



1. Oats sown without any manure, 'i8 3-4 



2. Salt wiih the teed, (44 bush.) 17 l-< 



3. Salt mi.xed with the soil, (44 bush.) 27 

 In these experiments upon oats, (made upon om 



acre,) the <iuanlity of salt applied was evidently lot 

 great. Mr Legrand states, that in his expcriineoU 

 upon barley, 'it (salt) gradunlly advanced in iU ef 

 fects lo 10 bushels, and as gradually diminished t« 

 40 bushels, when vegetation was stopped.' 

 7'urnip»—Manf;cl Jf'urzel. 

 I select from various communicstions, the follow- 

 ing from Killerton, in Devonshire. In a letlei 



