Jan. 1908.] 



29 



Scienvific Agriculture. 



some information on the subject, and it is confidently believed that, where a fair and 

 patient trial is given, the results cannot fail to prove satisfactory. 



A PROVIDER, OF PLANT POOD. 



It has been proved by experiments that the solvent powers of salt in solution 

 are twenty times greater than those of rainwater for breaking up the soil and setting 

 its constituents free and available. Salt may therefore be described as a powerful 

 chemical agent for providing and preparing soluble food for plants from the 

 materials present in the soil. This is a most important consideration when we 

 remember that in all soils there are about two-thirds lying dormant, and only one- 

 third in an active condition. Being a disintegrator, salt makes stubborn soils 

 easier to work if applied just before the land is broken up. In all cases salt hastens 

 weathering, and keeps the soils soft in frosty weather. 



AN ABSORBENT, 



Salt not only absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, but retains such mois- 

 ture in the soils, thus compensating for a deficiency of rain. 



In accordance with well-known action of the fixed alkalies, it is also believed 

 that soils which contain a sufficiency of salt absorb a certain amount of ammonia « 

 from the atmosphere, by which the nitrogenous plant food is increased ; in other 

 words azotised manures are rendered more effectual. 



Reports have come to hand from many quarters that the best crops were 

 found where salt was applied early in 1898 before the drought. 



A PURIFIER AND CLEANSER, 



Salt purifies and cleanses the land by decomposing all inert matter, neutral- 

 ising sourness, and assisting in the circulation of stagnant water. 



A DESTROYER OF WEEDS AND INSECTS. 



A heavy dressing of salt is the most effectual means of exterminating weeds 

 and insects. Autumn applications are strongly recommended for this purpose. In 

 some cases 7 cwt., but in the majority of cases lOcwt., per acre, is necessary to destroy 

 wireworms and deeply rooted weeds. 



SALT IMPROVES GRASS LAND AND RENOVATES OLD PASTURES. 



From 5 to 10 cwt. of salt per acre, according to soil, and in average cases 

 10 cwt. per acre, sown broadcast, either in Autumn or eai-ly Spring, has an excellent 

 effect, making sour grasses sweet and palatable for cattle and sheep. Old "foggy " 

 pastures, where there are quantities of rough grass and coarse herbage, are wonder- 

 fully improved by liberal applications of salt. Owing to their fondness for salt, 

 the animals crop the grass closely, with the result that a finer and sweeter herbage 

 springs up. Ground rocksalt is often used for this purpose. 



SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS WITH SALT IN CULTIVATION OF GRAIN CROPS. 



The results of experiments conducted by the Bath and West of England 

 Society upon twenty-five farms in nine countries are summed up in the Society's 

 journal as follows : — 



" As a general rule the salt plots produced a better sample of corn, 

 with decidedly stiffer and stronger straw. In some instances, the crop on 

 the plots without salt (though not heavier) was much laid, while that on the 

 salt plots stood up well, Mr, Ashcroft, a careful observer and one of our 

 most valued experimenters, says : The corn on the unmanured plots was 

 the most uneven of the three samples, and the salt plots have an advantage 

 over the unsalted, in colour, evenness and size of grain, by, I should say, quite 2«. 

 per quarter. The salt makes the grain and straw perceptibly whiter. I am 

 convinced, from four years' experience, that it is the right thing to add." 



