on Gardening and Rural Affairs. 339 



Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. Vol. VI. Part. V. 

 London. 4to. 1 pi. coloured figure of the Mango. 



Five papers, title, contents, index, &c. The substance of which, and the 

 remainder of Part IV., we shall give in next Number. 



Johnson, Cuthbert William, Author of an Essay on the Uses of Salt for 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Purposes, &c. : Observations on the em- 

 ployment of Salt in Agriculture and Horticulture, with Directions for 

 its Application, founded on Practice. London, pamph. 8vo. pp. 16. 3d 

 edit. 6d. 



A very similar tract to that of Mr. Collyns (p. 212), but containing more 

 on the subject of the employment of salt in Horticulture. The object in 

 view will be best understood by the following letter, to which we beg the 

 particular attention of " Agronome :" 



" Great Witham, March 17, 1827. 



" Inclosed is a copy of a tract upon the uses of salt in agriculture, of 

 which I beg your acceptance. My brother has arranged it for general 

 circulation among agriculturists ; but, containing many new facts, it may in 

 some measure be considered as an appendix to his essay on the same 

 subject. Two very large impressions have been disposed of. I will take 

 this opportunity to observe, if you will allow me two or three pages of your 

 Magazine, upon some of the difficulties of the question ; premising that we 

 have no interest in enforcing salt upon the attention of the various cultiva- 

 tors of the soil, further than that which should actuate every man in a 

 cause which he may consider is for the benefit of his country. The con- 

 viction of its utility, which prompts us to advocate the employment of salt 

 as a manure, is the result of some years' experience, and is not founded 

 upon a few experiments, limited in extent and locally confined, but on trials 

 upon acres as well as yards of surface — by practical men with the bushel, 

 and by men of science with the balance. In my brother's essay are detailed 

 the experiments of 55 persons, including men of rank, plain agriculturists, 

 and scientific experimenters ; thirteen of our counties have been the 

 arenas of the experiments. But the use of salt as a manure, is not confined 

 to England ; it extends from the rice growers of Hindostan to the flax 

 cultivators of America ; it has been applied with advantage to the fields of 

 France, as well as to those of Nubia. Leaving out of the question all 

 testimony from the Scriptures, and of writers but little inferior to them in 

 date, there is not a publication in this country upon the general cultivation 

 of the soil, from Lord Bacon, in 1626, to the present day, which does not 

 advocate salt as an assistant to vegetation in some form. 



" I do not hesitate, Sir, to state as my conviction, that there is no plant 

 which is fostered either by the gardener or the farmer, that cannot be 

 benefited by a judicious application of salt; this is an axiom which Time, 

 the test of all truth, will, I believe, firmly establish. 



" It is a misfortune incident to all projects, that patience, and a desire 

 prompting to the determination of illustrating truth, are mental gifts not 

 quite so " plentiful as blackberries." Prejudice and self-sufficiency, the 

 offspring of ignorance and contracted mental powers, unfortunately are 

 abundant. 



" Facts are upon record, which demonstrate that a given crop on a given 

 soil, is benefited by the application of salt some months before sowing. 

 This is generally the case ; whilst other crops on the same soil are most 

 benefited by having it applied at the seed-time. Some crops and soils 

 show most superiority with twenty bushels per acre ; others are most pro- 

 ductive with five bushels. 



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