Ko. 216.] 211 



Much has been said respecting the quality of American salt pre- 

 judicial to American interests. I apprehend that the subject has not 

 been properly understood. 



It has been urged that Onondaga salt contains a greater per cent 

 of chloride of sodium (pure salt) than Turk's Island salt, hence that 

 it is superior in quality. The quality of salt does not depend upon 

 the greater per cent of chloride of sodium which it contains, but 

 upon what other salts or substances are combined with the pure salt. 



A simple statement will ser%'e as an illustration. If two parcels 

 of sugar are to be estimated as to value for family use, one contains 

 85 per cent pure sugar, and 15 per cent pure silex; the other con- 

 taining 99 per cent pure sugar and one per cent sulphate of iron, 

 (common copperas) the one containing the silex would be depreci- 

 ated in value 15 per cent, while the other having 14 per cent more 

 pure sugar, would be unfit for use. The Onondaga salt should be 

 freed from the muriate of lime. That is the main impurity in that 

 salt. 



Sulphate of lime exists to the extent of from 8 to 15 per cent in 

 most salt imported, but that is not injurious to salt for curing pro- 

 visions, for it requires 500 lbs. of water to dissolve one pound of 

 sulphate of lime. Muriate of lime and muriate of magnesia are 

 ^combined with some salt and this renders the compound deliquiant. 

 Salt should be free from these impurities. 



Salt containing muriate of lime is the best for agricultural pur- 

 poses on account of its refrigerating properties, condensing the 

 atmosphere, and keeping the ground moist in dry weather. In using 

 salt for curing provisions, more caution should be used in selecting 

 the water of which the brine is made than is generally practiced. 

 Bad water is as injurious to the meat as bad salt. 



In the boiling of salted meat it sometimes happens that the meat 

 becomes tainted in cooking. A piece of meat put in a kettle con- 

 taining cold water and heated up slowly, will pass slowly through 

 that temperature at which putrefaction takes place, and thus it be- 

 comes tainted; whereas, if the water was in a state of ebullition 

 when the meat was put in, no such result could take place, as the 

 boiling point is higher than that in which putrefaction acts. 



I have remarked that the salt mines of Virginia are upon the 

 CQOuntains. The altitude of these mines above the level of the sea 



