SALT FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
63 
SALT FOR CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
In the preface to an article under this title in 
your last number, you invite arguments in op¬ 
position to the doctrine therein advanced. I do 
not wish to present any argument against the 
practice; but I will give some facts which may 
go for what they are worth, to prove that salt 
is no more necessary to the brute creation, than 
spirituous liquor is to the human portion. 
During one of the winters of my residence 
upon the western prairies, salt became very 
scarce and difficult to obtain, even at $10 or 
$12 a barrel, the price it was universally held 
at; and many persons who had always consid¬ 
ered it as an article of positive necessity for 
cattle and sheep, were obliged to dispense with 
the use of it for several months. One acquain¬ 
tance of mine, who is a very observing man, 
found his cattle required much less water than 
in any previous winter, and actually kept in 
better condition with the same feed, than dur¬ 
ing the seasons they had all the salt they de¬ 
sired. He came to the conclusion that cattle, 
when fed with an abundant supply of salt, in 
winter, are inclined to drink more cold water 
than is beneficial to their health. His cattle 
never wintered better than they did that year, 
nor were more free from disease. 
During several summers, I have had cattle 
running upon the prairie, that never tasted salt 
from the time they left winter quarters in the 
spring, until brought up again in the fall; and 
I never have been able to see the least difference 
between such, and those that had all they de¬ 
sired every day through the season. Certainly, 
better beef never was eaten than I have butch¬ 
ered, entirely grass fed, without salt. 
I had always been very careful to salt my 
sheep just as much as they would eat, and con¬ 
sidered it quite necessary to their health, until 
it so happened, one summer, that the biggest 
part of the common flock came to be owmed by 
my neighbors, who thought as my sheep always 
got plenty of salt, it would be no more than 
neighborly to let theirs eat with them. But I 
thought proper to let the whole lot try the ex¬ 
periment of a long feed upon fresh grass, and I 
certainly never have had a more healthy flock 
than I did that year. There are several other 
observations I made, which have inclined me 
to the opinion that cattle and sheep can do 
without salt, just as well as wild deer, goats, and 
buffaloes; that the taste for salt which all animals 
manifest, is like some of the apparent natural 
tastes of numbers of the human family—more 
artificial than natural—more acquired than 
necessary. 
It is a fact worthy of notice, that the Rocky- 
Mountain hunters who had been used to the 
stimulant of salt all their previous lives, and 
looked upon it as an actual necessary, instead of 
a luxury, have not only learned to do without 
it, but actually grow fat and enjoy better health 
than they did in civilised life. It is, therefore, 
a mooted question, whether salt is at all neces¬ 
sary for man or beast. Solon Robinson. 
ENGLISH RAY GRASS AND ITALIAN RYE GRASS. 
I send you a specimen of rye-grass seed 
raised from seed purchased of you. It is a mix¬ 
ture of English and Italian. I have caused to 
be planted some twenty-five acres mixed with 
clover. The Italian comes forward rapidly, 
growing seed the first season. The English 
does not yield seed until the second year. The 
English I prefer for lawns, and to mix with 
other grasses. It is a beautiful grass, of a dark- 
green, and very glossy, and I presume will re¬ 
main here, as in England, for years, without 
running out. The Italian is of a much lighter 
green, although a coarse grass, and will run 
out in two to three years. It yields a much 
greater burden of grass, per acre, than the Eng¬ 
lish. On very rich land, two heavy mowings 
a season may be made. Both make excellent 
hay for horses or horned cattle; but if severely 
pastured, the stock are so fond of it, that they 
will continue to eat it very late in the season, 
and are apt to pull it up by the roots. 
Both bear the winter better than most of our 
other hay grasses, and continue green till very 
late in the year. At this time, while I write, I 
am surrounded with it, as green as in the sum¬ 
mer ; and seed planted twenty-five days since, is 
now up and growing uninjured by several se¬ 
vere frosts, which have been upon il. Some of 
the crop of seed sent you, was planted about 
the 10th of August, with turnips, and the ground 
is now covered with a mat of it, six to eight 
inches long. This is in clayey land, and rather 
wet at this time. 
I also deem it one of the most valuable of 
grasses; and when we shall properly under¬ 
stand it, I think no farmer will be without it 
upon his land. The Italian is extensively used 
for soiling, in Europe, and I take the liberty of 
sending you an extract from the speech of the 
Earl of Erne, at Lisnaskeigh, in Ireland, to his 
tenantry, in September last. Speaking of the 
use of tanks for liquid manures, which, by-the 
bye, he very highly recommended, he says: 
“ You will hardly believe me when I tell you 
that I saw upon Mr. Kennedy’s farm, in Ayr¬ 
shire, Scotland, land which produced five good 
