CHEMISTRY. 523 



SALT AS A MANURE. 



Some thirty years ago, Pavkes, the author of the well kno'wn Chemical Cate- 

 chism, published a pamphlet setting forth the extraordinary properties of common 

 salt (chloride of sodium) as an agricultural fertilizer. At that time a heavy excise 

 duty was imposed upon the article in England, so that only the merest refuse 

 could be used for the purpose of manure. Subsequently, as the tax became 

 diminished and at last totally repealed, salt was extensively tried in various parts 

 of the British Islands, either by itself or in conjunction with farm-yard dung, as 

 a dressing for several kinds of crops. The results, however, at that time do not" 

 appear to have been very encouraging, since the practice rapidly declined. I^ot- 

 withstanding, the application of salt to manure heaps, and to hay and straw as 

 fodder for cattle, has more or less extensively obtained in the best managed dis- 

 tricts, particularly since the repeal of the duty ; and we find, from more recent 

 British agricultural periodicals, that the article is again claiming the serious atten- 

 tion of practical farmers. 



A correspondent in a recent number of the Agricultural Review and Journal of 

 Hural Economy, published in Dublin, details the results of his trials of the appli- 

 cation of salt to different kinds of crops. Four Irish acres were prepared and 

 sown with Swedish turnips, manured with thirty-five tons of farm-yard dung per 

 acre. To one half of the field ten cwt. of salt was applied to the acre. In August 

 mildew was found seriously affecting the turnips on the portion not salted, but 

 where that article had been applied the disease was hardly perceptible, and the 

 plants continued to grow vigorously to the end. It was found by weighing that 

 the ultimate produce was seven tons per acre over the unsalted. 



It has been commonly supposed that as the atmosphere of the British Islands 

 must be largely impregnated with saline matter from the surrounding seas, the 

 artificial application of salt to the cultivated crops was superfluous and attended 

 with comparatively trifling benefit. Recent trials, however, carefully conducted, 

 seem to strengthen an opposite conclusion. And from all we can learn of the 

 effects produced by salt when applied as a manure, either to the cereals or root 

 crops in Canada, there appears, upon the whole, substantial reasons in favor of 

 its fertilizing and healthy influence upon vegetation in general. As a condiment, 

 given directly to the domesticated animals of the farm, or sprinkled over hay and 

 straw when gathered into the barn or rick, and intended for feeding purposes, its 

 healthy influences are generally well known and appreciated on this continent. 



G. B. 



MAKING GRASS INTO HAT. 



As a general rule, both grass and grain are allowed to stand too long before 

 they are cut. The more nutrient portions of them, — starch and sugar, — by per- 

 mitting the seed to become perfectly ripe before cutting, are in a great degree 

 converted into woody fibre, a substance that is to animals comparatively innutri- 

 tions. In the case of wheat, it has been demonstrated, by carefully repeated 

 experiments and analyses, that the grain, as soon as it emerges from the milky 

 state, and before the straw gets perfectly yellow, possesses the maximum amount 

 of starch and gluten ; in other words, has the largest amount of nourishing ingre- 

 dients, and consequently the highest commercial value. In the process of perfect 

 ripening, a portion of the nutrient qualities of the grain are changed into the 



