34 
dressing for pastures, thereby correcting their acidity, destroy¬ 
ing parasitic and insect life, and restoring to some extent the 
balance of nature which has gradually but surely been dis¬ 
turbed for countless ages by the washing of soils, and the con¬ 
veying by rivers of much soluable or saline matter to the sea. 
“It may be remembered that when speaking at Keswick, on 
a recent occasion, the Hon. P. S. Wyndham, M.P., referred 
to the putting of a light duty of is. per quarter upon grain, by 
means of which ^"4,000,000 could be raised, and this tax would 
not be perceptibly felt by the population. But by giving our 
undivided attention to prevent the maladies which destroy our 
ovine animals, as rot, louping-ili, &c., according to Mr. 
Thompson—and he does not dabble in theories without trying 
conclusions—^5,000,000 per annum might be saved, which 
would be a positive gain to the country, while the hon. 
member’s plan, if carried out, would be little else than taking 
money out of one pocket and putting it into the other. And, 
further, if, by the application of such a cheap and plentiful 
commodity as salt, the disastrous diseases alluded to could be 
annihilated, the sooner the agricultural body, and the com¬ 
mercial body as well, put their shoulders to the wheel the 
better for us all. With the new era in agriculture, which 
dawned upon us when artificial manures were brought into 
the field, the ground fairly shook under the thunder of mills, 
machines, and manufactories, busily engaged in the prepara¬ 
tion of phosphatic and nitrogenous materials calculated to re¬ 
novate the worn out-soil, but the saline or alkaline elements 
have either been neglected or forgotten. These are in the 
highest degree essential to plant life, as well as being 
important elements in animal organism, for healthy functions 
and general tone of the body. Salt, as we have already 
intimated, is plentifully diffused almost everywhere, and if it 
