ON MANURES. i;53 



rainy seasons, or under a humid climate, its powers seem to 

 become neutralized, and of little value. We are of opinion 

 that, on arable land, it will be found more advisable to 

 lay it on before sowing, than either with the seeds, or after- 

 wards as a top-dressing. If applied, for instance to a clover 

 ley, either a iew weeks before seed-time, or immediately after 

 the first crop is off, it would effectually banish the slug-; and it 

 has been justly observed, that, if all stubbles (not laid down 

 with seeds) were to receive a slight dressing of salt before 

 winter, it would not only tend to keep the land free from the 

 slug, but probably also otherwise benefit the soil. 



In preparing the land under the fallow-process, it has been 

 recommended to spread from 30 to 40 bushels per acre for the 

 purpose of destroying the roots and insects in the soil, and 

 breaking all the tough and adhesive clods which are found to 

 be so troublesome in working the ground. This should be 

 done in autumn, some time before the first ploughing; as the 

 salt being thoroughly incorporated with the soil during the 

 spring and summer following, its strength will be so materially 

 reduced by the time when the seed is sown, that instead of 

 injuring, it has been found to promote vegetation. With 

 regard to the destruction of insects, that object can, however, 

 be attained with half the quantity: and we must again caution 

 our readers against the indiscriminate recommendation given 

 of the use of salt, without distinguishing whether it is foul 

 or pure: on the application of 40 bushels of the latter, vege- 

 tation ceases. 



When applied in composts, it is said to have been found 

 more eflectual than lime. It has been tried in Cheshire on 

 barley and seeds, and greatly exceeded the most sanguine ex- 

 pectations that had been formed of it. A quantity of refuse 

 salt having been also mixed up with earth, and another portion 

 of the same earth with lime, the vegetation of that part of the 

 field upon which the salt was laid was by far the healthiest 

 and the most vigorous. In Ayrshire it has been mixed with 

 32 bushels of lime-shells, and either spread singly or made up 

 into a compost v/ith 40 cart-loads of peat-moss, and has thus 

 been found peculiarly favourable to the growth of wheat and 

 beans. In those parts of the coasts of Cornwall where the 

 pilchard fisheries occasion considerable quantities of salt to be 

 condemned, it is also much used as a preparation for turnips 

 in composts mixed up with sea-sand, and spoiled fish, dung, 

 and rotten slaty earth, in various proportions, to which from 



