82 



Salt f MS a Manure. 



Art. IV. On Salt, as a Manure, mth the Details of various 

 Experiments. By Mr. Robert Forbes, of the Pinefield 

 Nurseries, near Elgin. 



Sir, 



For several years past I have occasionally entertained the 

 idea of attempting the use of salt as a manure, but it was put 

 off fi'om time to time, without being carried into effect; the 

 scarcity of litter last winter, and the consequent diminution 

 of the dunghill, led me to think seriously of trying it with 

 some crops this season, and I accordingly purchased a quan- 

 tity of salt for that purpose. 



Your Magazine for January, 1827, (Vol. II. p. 6.) recom- 

 mended experiments with salt to a number of gardeners and 

 farm-overseers in different counties in England, and I have 

 every reason to suppose (if your recommendation has been at- 

 tended to) that you are, by this time, in possession of more 

 valuable information, and more decided conclusions, than my 

 present communication can furnish, in which case I shall have 

 no objection to rank amongst your rejected contributors. 

 Aware that several farmers in my neighbourhood had used 

 salt, I made enquiry amongst them regarding its effects, and the 

 proportion applied to an acre. Its effects had either not been 

 observable, or appeared rather injurious, and no attention had 

 been paid to the quantity applied. One farmer alone thought 

 his crop improved by a top-dressing of 15 bushels of salt to a 

 Scotch acre, with the usual allowance of manure for barley. 

 I therefore set about satisfying myself by actual experiment, 

 and gave up the idea of using it to any extent, as a substi- 

 tute for manure, till after the result of these experiments 

 should be known. This result I now subjoin : 















Mode- 





r 



2 Tons 



IJ Tons 



ITon 



J Ton 



rate 



Manured with: Salt, at the Rate of \ 



per 



per 



per 



per 



Dung- 





c 



Acre.* 



Acre. 



Acre. 



Acre. 



ing. 



Oninns fsowii March 20. ', 

 unions ^taken up September 6. . 



produced in 

 Imperial lbs. 



8 



Si 



lOi 



15 



20 



Tarrnto f sown April 23. 

 carrots l^t^ken up October 31. 



ditto. 



13 



17 



201 



24 



28 



T„-„-„„ Tsown June 19. 

 ^^P^taken up October 31. 



ditto. 



30 



32 



30 



27 



34| 



T>„t„f„„,. fplanted April 23. 

 Potatoes Yi2^^&xy up September 9. . : 



ditto. 



11 



11 



12 



14 



24i 



x!„-i„ , f sown June 5. 



^^"^ley icut October 9. .: 



ditto. 



2 15i 



3 8i 



3 10 



3 12i 



3 15 



Mangold f sown April 22. 

 Wurtzel (.taken up November . \ 



ditto. 



m 



40 



41 



40 



401 



* The Scotch acre is here used, and the proportion which the Imperial 

 acre bears to the Scotch, is (according to the best authority) as 1 to 

 1*261 18545 ; but it will be sufficiently exact, for any ordinary purpose, to 

 consider four Scotch acres as equal to five English or Imperial, in which 

 case 2 tons of salt to a Scotch acre would be in the proportion of 52 cwt. 

 to an English. 



