Experi7nenis o?i Sali^ as a Manure, 457 



and supplied at as cheap a rate as we can buy it of the 

 Chinese? If such a thing could be accomplished, it would 

 be one of the greatest colonial improvements ; amending the 

 condition of the lower classes of that populous country, add- 

 ing greatly to the revenue and trade of the East India Com- 

 pany, as well as to the wealth and power of the British nation. 

 Part of the United States and South America, and much of 

 the south of Europe, are in climates favourable for the growth 

 of tea ; but, in any of these situations, the cost of its manufac- 

 ture would greatly exceed its value. 



The Chinese drink their tea without either milk or sugar ; 

 they partake of it plentifully at their meals, and very fre- 

 quently in the course of the day. One mode of using it, amongst 

 the higher ranks, is formed by grating into the cup balls made 

 of the most valuable leaves, cemented together by some kind 

 of tasteless gum. 



I am. Sir, yours, &c. 

 Chelsea, Feb. 20. 1827. J. Main. 



Art. IV. Some Eocperimefits on the Value of Salt, as a Manure. 

 By Mr. William M'Murtrie. 



Sir, 

 In compliance with your desire (Vol. II. p. 6.), I this sea- 

 son tried salt upon one half of my carrot ground. It having 

 been previously thrown up in ridges, I sowed the salt at the 

 rate of a cubic inch to a square yard : I then levelled down 

 the ridges, and sowed the carrot seed immediately. The part 

 that was salted did not differ at all in appearance from that 

 which was not, with regard to the growth of the tops. When 

 the crop was taken up, I could not perceive that there was the 

 slightest difference in the two parts ; therefore, it would appear 

 that that quantity of salt to a square yard does neither good 

 nor harm. I sowed the same proportion upon the sui'face of 

 my shallot ground, after the shallots were above the ground, 

 with the idea that it would prevent that rot at the roots which 

 they are so subject to ; but I could not perceive that it had 

 any effect whatever. In the month of March, I also sowed 

 four square yards of grass with salt, in the pleasure-ground, 

 to see what effect the different proportions would have on its 

 growth. In the first yard I strewed one cubic inch over it ; 

 in the second, two ; in the third three ; and, in the fourth, four 

 cubic inches. In the first and second yards, the salt had no per- 

 ceptible effect ; in the third yard,^ it rather retarded the growth 



