On the Extraction of Salts from Sea-Water. 109 



future, to discover an economical and unfailing source of potash. 

 The new process of Mr. Balard appears to fulfil the conditions re- 

 quired, and will, for the time to come, render the arts indepen- 

 dent of the supplies to be derived from vegetation. 



In more ways than one, this result will be advantageous for 

 our country ; the importance of potash salts as a manure, is now 

 beginning to be understood, and it is seen that the removal from 

 the land in the shape of ashes, of the alkali which during a cen- 

 tury has been taken up from the earth aud stored in the growing 

 forest, is really an unwise economy, for the same alkali restored 

 to the soil becomes a fertilizer of great value. It is to be feared 

 too that in many parts of the country, the colonist wishing to 

 render the forest available as an immediate source of gain, has 

 thought rather to cut down and burn the wood for the sake of its 

 ashes, than to cultivate the land thus cleared. The effect of this 

 short-sighted policy in thus destroying our forests, is already be- 

 ginning to be seriously felt in some parts of our country, where 

 the early settlers looking upon the forest as their greatest enemy, 

 sought only to drive back its limits as fast and as far as possi- 

 ble, and have thus left the borders of the St. Lawrence nearly des- 

 titute of wood, so that the cultivator is often obliged to bring from 

 a distance of many miles that fuel, which in a country like ours, 

 is such an important necessary of life, and now commands in our 

 large towns a high price, which is annually increasing. But apart 

 from their value as sources of fuel, the importance of occasional 

 forests in breaking the force of winds, and tempering both the 

 cold blasts of winter, and the heat and dryness of the summer, 

 should not be overlooked in a country which like ours, is exposed 

 to great extremes of temperature. The unwise policy which former- 

 ly levelled with an unsparing hand the forests of Provence, has 

 rendered portions of that country almost a desert, exposed to the 

 strong winds which descend from the Alps. Future generations 

 may plant forests where we are now destroying them. 



But to return from this digression ; it is worthy of consideration 

 whether the extraction of salt from sea-water, for the internal 

 consumption of the province, as well as for the supply of the im- 

 mense fisheries on our coasts, might not be made a profitable 

 branch of industry. The shores of the lower St. Lawrence, or 

 of the Bay of Chaleurs, would probably afford many favorable lo- 

 calities, for the establishment of salines ; the heat of our summers 

 which may be compared to those of the south of France, would 



