206 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



Is there any cheap and expeditious way of tanning", which would enable 

 farmers to tan pelts and skins either with or without the wool or hair on? 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — Then the sooner you learn to do without fence, the 

 better, "for to that complexion must we come at last," unless soniething 

 is discovered for making- live fence that proves more successful than any- 

 thing yet tried in America. One of the great errors in American farming 

 is fencing too much. The Tribune has sliown by indisputable statistics 

 that the fence tax is greater than all other taxes put together, and is a 

 most onerous burden upon the farmer. 



Some of the Club are as much in favor of the honey locust as the Roches- 

 ter nurserymen. For my part I have no faith in it; nor, indeed, in any 

 plant that naturally grows to the size of a tree. It is true it is not as lia- 

 ble to the attack of the borer as the yellow locust. I have never seen the 

 bar!)erry tried for hedging, but from the character of the plant I should 

 think favorabl}' of it. 



There are modes by which every farmer could tan his own skins. The 

 only question is whctlier it would be profitable for him to do so. Sheep- 

 skin may be dressed with the wool on, by saturating the skin wliile in a 

 fresh state with an equal mixture of salt and alum. Afterward, scrape oflF 

 all particles of flesh with a dull knife, and wash the skin and wool per- 

 fectly clean, and rub it continuallj-, just before it is entirely dry, to make 

 it soft. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter. — I consider the honey locust as one of the best 

 plants for hedges. It is not so much affected by borers as the other locusts, 

 and does not sprout up all around the plant. If I was to abandon the use 

 of stone walls, I should use the honey locust. It should be pruned twice a 

 year, in Spring and Fall. It will make a good fence in four years, and will 

 turn any kind of c;ittle. The barberry would be an ornamental hedge for 

 a few 3'ears, but I doubt whether it will be valuable as a farm hedge. 



Salt as a Manure. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — A book was published in ItJrS, in England, by 

 Owen Brownrigg, who contended that the whole kingdom might be enriched 

 by applj-ing salt to the soil. In tiiis he was correct — though others follow- 

 ing his advice would be liable to disappointment. Salt is no more a manure 

 than rum is food. Both may stimulate the bodies to which they are applied. 

 While we earnestly recommend the application of salt, particularly to bar- 

 ren pastures and hide-bound meadows, we fully agree with a writer in The 

 Germantoion Telegraph, who has tlie following sensible remarks upon the 

 use of salt, which we commend to the attention of all fanners: 



It is certain that, in man}' instanc(;s of the application of salt, tliose who 

 apply it are disappointed with the result, wliich, in all cases, I think, may 

 be attributed to a want of knowledge of its ejects, and may bf accounted 

 for by one or more of the following reasons: Salt furnishes to the soil but 

 two constituents, namely, sod-i and chlorine, and hence it cannot, like barn- 

 yard manure, be applied ad lihilum, for, unlike the latter, it does not furnish 

 all tlie saline parts needed hy the crop, and hence, because the soil already 

 contains sufficient of these two constituents, a second application of salt 

 ma}^ produce little or no immediate effect, and disappointment ensues. 



