SALT FOR ANIMALS. 59 



I did not wish to be understood, neither do I now, as saying 

 that salt may not be useful on the hills of Berkshire ; but it is a 

 settled fact, from the experience of my friends and myself, that 

 on the seacoast no good result follows its application, even to 

 an asparagus bed. 



Mr. Beebe of Beartown. I have used salt, from a bushel to 

 three bushels to the acre, with good success on oats, potatoes 

 and wheat. Grass is very much improved by the application of 

 salt as a top-dressing when the land is seeded down. I simply 

 sow the salt on the sod with the grain, harrow the whole in 

 together, and then put the grass-seed on top, without stirring 

 the soil. 



Li regard to the feeding of salt to animals, I think it likely 

 to be very injurious, unless great care is exercised. I believe 

 that nine-tenths of the cattle that are said to die of murrain in 

 New England, are killed by the feeding of salt to large numbers 

 of cattle, without taking proper care that tlie young animals do 

 not get too much. I have seen several die in my pastures in 

 two or three hours, when inexperienced men have come in and 

 thrown down salt. 



Take one bushel of salt and three bushels of marl, and let it 

 lie four months under a shed, and then add five bushels of this 

 compost to a cord of muck, and I warrant you one of the best 

 manures that was ever made in Berkshire County, for all your 

 sandy land. That is a recipe Prof. Mapes gave my brother for 

 twenty dollars, and he tried it on sandy land near West Stock- 

 bridge, ten or fifteen years ago, and that land still produces 

 double the quantity of grass that is yielded by the same quality 

 of land adjoining. I think, also, that it is the greatest prevent- 

 ative of rot in potatoes that I have ever used. 



I have used salt on land that I planted with oats, and find it 

 very beneficial in stiffening the straw, as well as in increasing 

 the weight of the grain. It raised my oats six inches above tlie 

 crop standing side by side, with the same cultivation except the 

 application of salt. 



Mr. Butler. I believe that salt on our Berkshire land is 

 decidedly beneficial. Col. Wilder undoubtedly will tell me that 

 his animals require little or no salt running at large in his fields. 



Col. Wilder. Not a bit. 



Mr. Butler. I thought you would say so, sir. Now, my 



