PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 207 



Again, sonic plants are more benefited hy the application of salt than 

 others-, and hence, liy not understajiding- the Avants of the crop, tlu^ appli- 

 cation may not,, as far as that particular crop is concerned, produce any 

 eflect; or, if it does, it may be an unfavorable one. 



Failures are many times caused by supposing that, inasmuch as one ap- 

 plication was good for a crop of corn, another will benefit the succeeding 

 one of oats; but, if the first application was a liberal one, it will not, 

 because the soil already contains enough of the constituents of salt needed 

 for that crop, but sooner or later the second application will begin to show 

 itself. 



One of the main benefits which I have derived from the use of salt, as a 

 manure, has been when I have turned under a heavy crop of clover or rye 

 for wheat. I find it has a tendency to stiffen the straw and prevent its 

 falling down, as is often the case when green manuring is practised. I 

 usually sow it broadcast at the rate of one sack (three bushels) to two acres. 

 The most suitable time which I can find is either just before the last har- 

 rowing or before the drill, if the seed is put in in that manner. It is very 

 easy for those who have been used to broadcast sowing to arrive at the 

 proper amount. 



I found, from experiment, that salt has the ctfect of increasing the weight 

 of the grain. In one case of two lands, side b}^ side, one of which, in addi- 

 tion to a good coat of manure, was top<lressed with salt at the rate of one 

 and one-half bushels to the acre, and the other had nothing but the maruire; 

 the wheat upon these two lands, and in fact upon the whole, was heav}--, 

 particularly so in the straw. On the salted land it stood up well and the 

 straw was bright; while, on the remainder of the field, it was all more or 

 less lodged and down. The salted land produced wheat weighing three 

 pounds more per bushel than that on the remainder of the field. During 

 the winter the wheat on the land to which the salt was applied Avas of a 

 deeper green, and from the time the wheat was up until harvest, an}^ novice 

 could select the one land from the remainder of the field. 



In one experiment the above Avriter gained a ton of hay from an applica- 

 tion of six busliels of salt. 



In anotiier case, when sown from wheat, at the rate of one hundred and 

 sixty pounds per acre, it increased the crop seven bushels per acre, making 

 the additional wheat cost about twelve cents per bushel. 



In a tiiird experiment, when applied to oats, at the rate of one hundred 

 and twelve pounds per acre, it decreased the; crop (as compared with a plot 

 exactly similar in soil and size) at the rate of six bushels of grain per acre, 

 and the straw at the rate of three hundred pounds per acre, making it harsh 

 and Ktifl". 



All the experiments wdiich have been tried have tended to prove that salt 

 is not favorable to the increase of oats crop, and, if applied to the corn at 

 the rate of more than one or one and a half bushels, it will decrease the 

 succeeding cr(jp of oats; but they tend to prove that it may be applied to 

 wheat in any amount from one to twelve busiiels without any danger of a 

 bad result. 



