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SALT. 
state that I last year analyzed the rain which 
fell at Penicuik, and found it to contain so large 
a proportion of salt, that, calculating the fall of 
rain at 31 inches per annum, each acre would 
receive 641 lbs. or nearly 6 cwt. of salt from this 
source alone. From detailed accounts of various 
experiments with salt, made in different situa- 
tions, and published in the Transactions of the 
Highland Society, we find, that on the farm of 
Forest near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire, a spot 
freely exposed to the frequent east winds com- 
ing directly from the German Ocean, salt either 
entirely failed, or acted very injuriously, and in 
no one experiment produced an encouraging re- 
sult,—that at Barnyards in the county of Aber- 
deen, a place somewhat similarly situated, no 
effect whatever was produced by salt as a ma- 
nure,—that at Mount Annan, Dumfries-shire, 
near the Solway Firth,where the south-west winds 
will bring the spray to shore, salt produced little 
or no effect upon wheat, turnips, or flax, but was 
found useful for pasture, on which it had nearly 
as much effect as shell-lime,—that at Almond 
Myrehead, near Linlithgow, where, whatever be 
the direction of the wind, it must sweep over 
several miles of land before it can reach this 
spot, salt was found beneficial in every instance 
where it was judiciously applied, giving an in- 
crease both in measure and weight of grain, and 
in potatoes producing 114 bolls more per acre. 
And, in the experiments with salt published in 
Professor Johnstone’s ‘ Suggestions,’ the most 
beneficial results were obtained in the neigh- 
bourhood of Glasgow and Paisley.” Every far- 
mer, then, who would judiciously use salt as a 
fertilizer, particularly in any direct application 
of it in the way of top-dressing or of ordinary 
manuring, ought to ascertain as exactly as pos- 
sible the natural constitution of the soil to which 
he intends to apply it; and should withhold it 
altogether, or give partial or full doses of it, ac- 
cording as the land receives ample supplies of it, or 
limited ones, or scarcely any, from sea-vapours or 
other natural sources. Another and all-important 
precaution in the use of salt as a direct fertilizer, 
just like a nitrate or gypsum or lime or any 
other special manure, is not to rely on it alone 
for feeding and rearing a crop, but to see that 
all the other requisite principles of the crop’s 
food be present in the soil. See the article Sra- 
WATER. 
In using salt in aid of the fallow process, for 
destroying slugs and larve and other small ver- 
min in the field, and for assisting to disintegrate 
hard clods, to pulverize adhesive ones, and to 
mellow the whole texture of the ground, it may 
be sown in autumn, some time before the land is 
ploughed, at the rate of from 30 to 40 bushels 
per acre. “The salt being thoroughly incor- 
porated with the soil during the following spring 
and summer,” says Sir John Sinclair, “the 
strength of it will be so much reduced, when the 
seed is sown, that instead of injuring it will pro- 
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131 
mote vegetation; and the lands, it is said, will 
be found to produce a crop superior to those 
under any other mode of cultivation, the advan- 
tage of which will be experienced for several suc- 
ceeding years.” 
Salt, in suitable circumstances of place, time, 
and quantity, acts well upon the cerealcrops. R. 
Legrand, Esq., sowed it on a barley tilth, at the 
rate of 16 bushels per acre, immediately after 
the crop was covered by the harrow ; and he 
found the verdure in spring greater, and the 
ripened appearance in autumn many degrees 
whiter, than he had ever before witnessed. Mr. 
Hollinshead recommends the sowing of 16 bushels 
of salt per acre on potatoes, as soon as they are 
covered with earth,—and maintains that, by this 
means, alternate crops of them and of wheat 
might be permanently produced on the same 
soil; and though this opinion is far too sanguine, 
and requires to be greatly qualified, yet, when 
viewed as coming from a man who made scienti- 
fic and practical enquiry into the uses of salt dur- 
ing a period of upwards of twenty years, it must be 
received as a strong testimony, in a general way, 
to the beneficial action which this manure exerts 
on wheat. Cuthbert W. Johnson, Hsq., made 
comparative trials of it, on a light and gravelly 
soil at Great Totham in Essex; and found the 
produce per acre on a part which received no 
manure at the time, and which had not been 
manured for four years, to be 13 bushels and 26 
Ibs.,—on a part which he manured with stable 
dung to a crop of potatoes on the preceding year, 
to be 26 bushels and 52 lbs..—and on a part: 
which he manured with 5 bushels of salt per 
acre, and which had received no other manure 
for four years, to be 26 bushels and 12 lbs.; and 
he recommends that salt for wheat be applied 
some time before sowing the seed, in a dose of 
not less than 10 and not more than 20 bushels 
per acre. Mr. Hannam made comparative trials 
of salt and other special manures upon oats, bar- 
ley, and wheat; and arrived at the general con- 
clusion respecting salt, that, in the case of oats, 
it has a tendency to increase both the quantity 
and the quality of the grain, and to increase the 
quantity of grain in a greater ratio than the 
quantity of straw,—that, in the case of barley, it 
has a tendency to increase the quantity of grain 
in a greater ratio than the straw, to improve the 
quality of the grain, and to render the straw 
white and brittle and to promote its ripening,— 
and that, in the case of wheat, it tends slightly 
to increase the produce of the grain, to increase 
the weight of it per bushel, and to decrease the 
weight without diminishing the bulk of the 
straw, and may therefore be advantageously used 
as an auxiliary to other manures. The quantity 
he used per acre was 24 stones; and the results 
he obtained, comparatively with those from ni- 
trate of soda, nitrate of potash, guano, and rape- 
dust, were highly favourable. See the section 
“ Special Manures” of the article Manurz. Mr. 
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