THE 



ARDENER'S MAGAZINE, 



JANUARY, 1827. 



PART I. 



ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. 



Art. I. On the Employment of Salt as a Manure in Gardening. 

 By Mr. G. W. Johnson, of Great Totham, Essex. 



Sir, 

 A S horticulture requires that its professors should be men of 

 science, and consequently of expanded minds ; as it is 

 patronised and practised by the fairest, the wealthiest, and 

 the most talented inhabitants of every well civilised country, 

 it may be justly expected to take the lead of its sister art 

 agriculture, in all that relates to the cultivation of the soil, 

 since the practitioners of the latter are in general much behind 

 those of the former in everything but mere empirical knowledge. 

 In most cases this expectation is fully justified. The examin- 

 ation of the value of salt as a manure is an exception, and 

 rather a remarkable one. Its employment, recommended on 

 strictly scientific principles is slowly overcoming the prejudices 

 of the agriculturist, whilst nothing like a general application 

 of it to the crops of the garden has been known to have been 

 attempted by any, even of its most enlightened advocates; 

 it certainly is not commonly esteemed as one of the gardener's 

 sources of fertility. In calling your attention to the subject, 

 I shall merely throw together some ideas and facts which 

 have lately occurred, referring you, sir, and those who wish 

 to enter into the examination of the subject more in detail, to 

 my brother's essay on its employment in agriculture, &c. 

 (Encyclopaedia of Agriculture, p. 1170, A.D. 1820.*) That 



* An Essay on the uses of Salt for Agricultural Purposes, with Instructions 

 for its Employment as a Manure, and in the Feeding of Cattle, &c. By 

 Cuthbert William Johnson, London. Svo. 1820. 



Vol. II, No. 5. b 



