On the Employment of Salt as a Manure. 3 



which may afford a hint to the protectors of this and others 

 of the palms in our hot-houses to assist them by the appli- 

 cation of salt. The fact which has often been noticed, and 

 satisfactorily explained, that brocoli and other members of 

 the brassica tribe growing on soils manured with salt, endure 

 the rigour of winters which destroy others growing upon 

 unsalted ground, may also serve as a memento to the curator 

 of every hot-house to try its protecting powers upon some of 

 the tenderest of its tenants. 



The benefit of salt when applied to flowers is unequivocal ; 

 even those separated from their parent stems and placed in 

 vases are preserved longer in vigour by having a few grains 

 of this saline stimulant dissolved in the water. The late 

 T. Andrews, Esq. of Coggeshall informed me, that tulip seed- 

 lings sooner acquired their perfect colour if the beds were 

 manured with salt, than those in similar beds untreated with 

 this manure. The benefit arising to bulbous-rooted flowers, &c. 

 from its use is farther confirmed by the following communic- 

 ation lately received by my brother from Mr. Hogg, florist, 

 Paddington : — " From the few experiments that I have tried 

 with salt as a manure, I am fully prepared to bear testimony 

 to its usefulness. I am satisfied that no hyacinths will grow 

 well at a distance from the sea without it. I am also of opi- 

 nion that the numerous bulbous tribe of Amaryllises, especially 

 those from the Cape of Good Hope, Ixias, Alliums, &c. &c. 

 should have either salt or sea sand in the mould used for 

 them. I invariably use salt as an ingredient in my compost 

 for carnations, and I believe I may say, without boasting, that 

 few excel me in blooming that flower." 



In concluding these irregular observations, the chief object 

 of which is to call the attention of gardeners more generally 

 to the subject, I shall only pause a minute to deprecate ill- 

 judged experiments and hasty conclusions. Let the same 

 patient resolution in the pursuit and desire for the illustration 

 of truth be found as is exhibited in the table of experiments 

 by Mr. G. Sinclair, given in my brother's essay; let them 

 not conclude, with a friend of mine, that salt is destructive to 

 plants, at all events, to potatoes, because not a single set vege- 

 tated in those rows where he filed the holes made by the dibble 

 with salt after putting in the potatoe ! but let them at least be 

 guided by the directions of those who have had some ex- 

 perience in the research ; let them investigate without pre- 

 judice, and they may perhaps agree in repeating the enthusiastic 

 declaration of Mr. Cline, of medical celebrity, " salt is of as 

 much benefit to land as to the human constitution." 



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