\X. Xl>. *(\. 



AND n R T f C U L T LI R A r. R EG IS T E R 



.^65 



list 'Ji'., I8.'(i, Sir Thoiiina AcUiul, U»rt., 

 " w itli llio rollaniiij «tate[iiciit ("rom liie 



St experiinont I iiimie of sail for manure, 



ven aerosol" Iniid fur mmisjcl wiirzel. I 



■il out tlio liolJ with carlli, t'.irly licaps lo 



i^.. . .!>- Is usually done for lune : I llicn put in 



(I iioap .'{:) lbs. of salt, and mixed it well witli 

 earth, and let it lie a fortni^'lit before I spread 

 r the hnd ; after that, I plowed iho land three 

 8 bofcire [ sowed the seed, and I had roots 

 e 'M lbs. each. Since that lime, I prepared o 

 of five acres, in the same way, for turnips ; 

 third part of the Held with lime, one third with; 

 and iho other piirt with hearth nshes. When 1 

 eed came up first, the turnips appeared most, 

 Ismj; where the earth ashes were; but after 

 lirst month, the turnips did nut grow so fast os 

 re the salt or lime was; after that time, the 

 ps, where the ground w,is maiuireJ with salt, 

 V taster, and the green looked stronj^er and j 

 or, and at the end of the season was the best 

 The next year I put the lield to barley ; 

 where the salt was put, it was the strongest 

 best crop. After that lime, it was a great deal 

 ier to work ; therefore I cAnsider it a good 

 ure for li^ht sandy soils, but not calculated fur 

 or heavy lands.' 



Potiitocs. 

 here have been various experiments made with 

 as a manure for potatoes. The jiithor of this, 

 ■^17, on a pravelly soil, at Great Totham, in 

 X, made the following trials : — 



Bitshtls. 

 Soil simple, produce per acre J20 



Soil with 20 bushels of salt in Septem- 

 ber, 192 

 Soil with stable manure, 20 loads in the 



spring of the year, 219 



Soil with 20 loads manure and 20 bush- 

 els of salt, 234 

 Soil with 4i) bushels of salt alone, ]92j. 

 Soil with 40 bushels of salt and 20 

 loads of manure, 244 

 he Rev. Edmund Cartwright, of Hollenden 

 6C, in Kent, in 1804, made various important 

 I. The soil on which the experiments were 

 }, consisted of three fourths sand. The re- 

 of some of them were as follow : 



Bushels. 

 ■)il without any manure produced per 

 acre, 1.57 



lit 8 bushels, soot 30 bushels, 240 



handler's graves, 9 3-4 cwt. 220 



lit 8 bushels, wood ashes 60 bushels, 217 

 ult 8 bushels, gypsum peat 3(J:B bushels, 

 lime 121 bushels, 201 



lit 8, lime 121, dung 363 bushels, 199 



lit 8 bushels, 198 



lit 8 bushels, graves 9 3-4 cwt. 195 



)ot 30 bushels, 192 



resh dung :ir>i bushels, 192 



tit 8, malt dust 60 bushels, 189 



'ood ashes 60 bushels, 187 



lit 8, decayed leaves 363 bushels, 187 



alt 8, peat asiics 3&i biishels, 185 



aw dust 60 bushels, 184 



lit 8, lime 121, pent 363 bushels, 183 



lit 8, sawdust 3a3 bushels, 180 



• It 8, peat 363 bushels, 178 



ecoyed leaves ■76-'j bushels, 175 



alia lime 121 bushels, 175 



Salt 8. prat .•|i;:) l.iislifl.-., 171 



Suit 8, liiiie 121 bushels, ](;7 



l>cat 'Mil bushels, ]S9 



Kawdust 363 bushels, 1S5 



Lime l.'l husheli', l.-iO 



■ Uf ten difTercnt manures,' said this agricnUu- 

 nst, 'salt, a manure hitherlo of an ambiguous char- 

 acter, is, (one only excepted) superior to them all. 

 Tho elTi'Ct of the mixture of salt and snot is re- 

 markable.' The writer of this witnessed the same 

 result on carrois, where 16 bushels of salt ond 16 

 of soot were applied per acre. 



I'eniiiu. 



There is, perhaps, no agricultural use of com- 

 mon salt more undoubted than in the destruction 

 of vermin. The effect, too, ia direct, and the re- 

 sult immediately apparent. For this purpose, from 

 live to ten bushels per acre ore abundantly siilii- 

 cient. The ugricnllurist need be under no appre- 

 hension that the salt will destroy his crop, for 20 

 bushels of salt per acre may bo applied to young 

 wheat with perfect safety : I have seen even 2.5 

 bushels used with advantage. 



No person has, perhaps, used salt for this pur- 

 pose to a greater extent than Mr Busk, of Pons- 

 bourn, in Hertfordshire. ' I have used it,' said 

 this gentleman, in a communication to the Jiuthor, 

 ' in this and the last season ( 1830-31,) as a top- 

 dressing to nearly 200 acres of wheat; having al- 

 most exclusively in view the destruction of worms 

 and slugs, with which my land was very much in- 

 fested ; and this object it very satisfactorily ac- 

 coinpli-fhcd. Some part of my Innd is light and 

 sandy, but the generality of it stiff and strong — 

 well adapted to the growth of beans and wheat. 

 In applying the salt, little attention was paid to the 

 quality of the land, or the season of the year ; but 

 those spots and those times were selected, whore 

 tho number and ravages of tho vermin seemed most 

 apparent; and in every situation, and at every 

 time, the effect appeared equally beneficial. A 

 little more experience may, perhaps, suggest some 

 more accurate rule as to season ; hiitl am of opin- 

 ion that the earliest will, in general, be found the 

 best; — at any rate, I would ovoid sowing, if I 

 coulil, immediately after a fall of snow — as snow 

 produces, on places recently sprinkled with salt, 

 an unpromising appearance. We sow it out of on 

 ordinary seed shuttle, at the rate of 4 or 5 bushels 

 per acre. In the morning, each throw may be dis- 

 tinguished by the quantity of slime and the number 

 of dead slugs lying on the ground. The finer and 

 drier the salt is the better. The positive advan- 

 tage,' adds Mr Uusk, 'I cannot stale accurately in 

 figures, but 1 am confident it has, in every instance, 

 been considerable ; and in some fields it has been 

 the means of preventing tho total destruction of 

 the crop.' 



For destroying the worms and other vermin in 

 oats, salt has been successfully employed by Mr 

 Walker, of Rushyford, in Durham, at the rate of 

 six bushels per acre. 



For the same important purpose salt has been 

 regularly employed by Mr Archibald, gardener to 

 Lord Sheffield, at Fitcham, in Sussex ; as well as 

 for promoting the destruction of weeds. He tren- 

 ches the ground, and sprinkles it with salt every 

 winter, and is never troubled with predatory ver- 

 min. When .Mr .Archibald first came to Sheffield 

 Park, in 1828, he found the peaches and nectarines 

 regularly eaten and destroyed by some kind of ver- 

 min. Getting up early in the morning, he found 



it was done by the miails ; which, an soon as tt ' 

 aim was risen, so os to shine with power on t> « 

 ■oiith nspocl, retired back to the northern side. 

 Ilo iminedivtcly laid a thick layer of salt nlonff the 

 top of tho wall, and found then, as ever since, tl.ut 

 it proved a mo^t effectual barrier lo the incumiims 

 of the moils ; and that it has certainly no bud iii. 

 Ilueiico upon the trees or fiiiit. 



H'lcdi. 

 Salt has been of late year* used at tho rnlo of 

 from 20 to 40 biislielti per acre, to kill wccd<i anil 

 to cleanse fallows, with great advantage ; it also, 

 in the large proportion no hove iiained, will de- 

 stroy coarse, sour grass, Slc. ; and ll;ougli for a 

 time, nil vegetation is destroyed, yet in a short pe- 

 riod, a much superior turf is produred. If the cul- 

 tivator can collect weeds, parings of turf, ditches, 

 banks, &.C., of the most foul description, and spread 

 evenly on the surface of the heap half a bushel of 

 salt to every ton of the collection, he will find every 

 weed, in tho course of a few weeks, killed and dis- 

 solved away. This plan I have long followed my. 

 self, on a light gravelly soil ; and upon spreading 

 this salted mixture, at tho rate of 14 or 15 loada 

 per acre, its beneficial effects can be troced to an 

 inch. 1 have principally used it as a dressing for 

 turnips and oats. 



Rrmarks. 

 On heavy lands, the use of salt has never been 

 so strikingly advantngcoiis as upon the lighter, 

 more thirsty upland soils; and that may probably 

 be accounled for by the absorbent powers of com- 

 mon salt on such lands being less needed ; at any 

 rate, on those heavy soils where the corn is usually 

 partially or entirely destroyed by the worms or 

 other vermin, salt must be adv.intagcnusly employ- 

 ed. Tho expense, loo, is trifling, for five or six 

 bushels of salt per acre is found to be abundantly 

 sufficient for llic purpose of protection from vermin, 

 and thus a ton of salt would suffice for eight acres. 

 The mixture of salt with other well known fertili- 

 zers, is a question every way worthy of the far* 

 mer's attention. I olludc to the decomposition 

 which occurs when it is mixed with lime, ond lo 

 its excellent effect when mixed with weeds, pond 

 mud, scrajiings of diielics, &c. ; and to the fad 

 ihat it has been found to produce extraordinary 

 effects when mixed with soot, as a manure for 

 wheat, and ^Bnccially carrot.s. There is hardly » 

 soil on wliiali. if f rnio form or other, it must not 

 be an advantageous application ; and if its use has 

 not hilherto been so general as might be expected, 

 yet when we consider the difficullieis of the re- 

 search, and the many sources of error which en- 

 cumber all inquiries of this description, we ought, 

 perhaps, not to be surprised that the adoption of 

 salt has not been hitherto rapid as a manure.*' 



A black snake which had discovered the nest of 

 a woodpecker, climbed up the tree, and putting his 

 head into the hole, swallowed the woodpecker. 

 Alas! when he would havo withdrawn, he found 

 his throat so much distended by his supper, that he 

 could not get back ; so he died with his length ex- 

 posed, dangling from the woodpecker's hole — an 

 admonition to all who passed by, not to get into n 

 scrape until they had contrived how to gel out of 

 it — Picai/unt. 



Labor to purify thy thoughts: if thy thoughts 

 are not vicious, neither will thy actions be so. 



