134 SALTWORT. 
got in, particularly in dry and hot summers, and 
upon limestone and sandy soils. The moisture 
which the salt attracts and retains, powerfully 
assists vegetation, and produces a crop greatly 
superior in quality to that obtained by the ap- 
plication of dung. For meadows it is found to 
be an advantageous practice, to mix 16 bushels 
of salt with 20 loads of earth per acre, turning 
over the heap two or three times, that the sub- 
stances in it may be thoroughly incorporated, 
and spreading it on the surface either in sum- 
mer or spring.” 
The uses of salt as a manure in gardens, alto- 
gether additional to its uses in destroying slugs 
and worms and larvee and weeds on lawns and 
gravel-walks and worked beds, are very numer- 
ous and valuable. It acts well, in the kitchen 
garden, for carrots, parsnips, turnips, onions, 
asparagus, and other similar crops; it prevents 
the clubbing of the roots of some of the brassi- 
cas; it promotes the vigour and beauty of all 
the many bulbous-rooted flowering-plants which 
naturally love habitats in the near vicinity of 
the sea; and it forms an excellent ingredient in 
composts for carnations and some other finely 
flowering fibrous-rooted perennials. A little salt 
dissolved in the water in which cut flowers are 
kept, is well known to prolong very considerably 
their duration ; and a little salt mixed up with 
the compost of the flower-beds of the border 
and of the flower-pots of the greenhouse, might 
probably be found a pretty general promoter of 
both the beauty and the prolonged bloom of 
flowers.—JHollinshead on the Importance of Salt as 
a Manure —Sir John Sinclair on the Uses of Salt for 
Agricultural Purposes—Hannan’s Essay on Ma- 
nures.—Johnson’s Essay on Salt.—Johnson’s Far- 
mers Encyclopedia.—Darwin's Phytologia.—Don- 
aldson’s Treatise on Manures.— Danas Muck 
Manual —Gregory’s Outlines of Chemistry.—Tur- 
ner’s Elements of Chemisiry.—Fennel’s Use of Salt 
to Man and Animals.—Dacre’s Uses of Salt as a 
Condiment, and other Papers by other authors, in 
the Q. Journal of Agriculture—The Journal of 
the Royal Agricultural Society of England — 
Transactions of the Highland Society —Museum 
Rusticum.—Dickson’s Husbandry of the Ancients. 
—Hunter’s Georgical Essays.—Liebig’s Chemistry 
of Agriculture. 
SALT MARSH. See Marsu. 
SALTPETRE. See Nirrates. 
SALT-TREE. See Caragana. 
SALTWORT,—botanically Salsola. A diversi- 
fied genus of plants, of the goosefoot family. It 
has inferior, five-petaled flowers, fleshy calyxes, 
closed and calyx-embedded capsules, and spirally 
embryoed seeds. One species grows wild in Bri- 
tain; about 15 species have been introduced 
| from other countries,—principally Siberia and 
the South of Europe; and between 30 and 40 
more are known. Three of the introduced spe- 
cies are slightly tender evergreen undershrubs ; 
and all the rest are curious weedy-looking an- 
SALVIA. 
nuals, varying in height from a few inches to 
about 3 feet. 
The common or prickly saltwort, Salsola kali, 
is an annual indigen of the light sandy sea-shores 
of Britain. Its stems are spreading, bushy, hairy, 
and about a foot high; its leaves are narrow and 
somewhat rugged, and terminate each in a sharp 
bristled point, and form an armature upon the 
stems; its flowers are solitary, minute, and flesh- 
coloured, and have coloured membranous edges 
on their calyxes, and bloom in July and August ; 
and its fruit are turbinated, winged capsules, 
filled with spiral seed. This is the best of our 
native plants for yielding kelp, barilla, potash, — 
and soda; and was formerly collected, in con- 
siderable quantities, on our western coasts, and 
burned to yield soda for the manufacture of glass 
and for other purposes. Yet though it grows 
freely from seed, and does not require any great 
nicety of management, it does not seem to have 
ever been made the subject of careful cultivation. 
The cultivated saltwort, Salsola sativa, is a na- 
tive of Spain, and was introduced to Britain 
about 65 years ago, and has pink flowers, and 
attains a similar height to the British species. 
The soda saltwort, Salsola soda, is a native of the 
South of Europe, and was introduced to Britain 
in the latter part of the 17th century, and has 
white flowers, and attains a height of about 3 
feet. These two species are cultivated on the 
light sandy soils of the northern sea-board of the 
Mediterranean, and particularly on the coasts of 
Spain, for furnishing the barilla and the soda of 
commerce; and they afford the best kinds of 
these substances anywhere used in Europe. Why 
has not the cultivation of them been fairly tried 
in Britain? See the articles Barina and Sopa. 
SALTWORT (Buack). See Mirkwort. 
SALVIA. A large genus of ornamental plants, 
of the labiate order. Two species grow wild in 
Britain ; about 140 species have been introduced 
from other countries; and about 100 more are 
known. A few of the introduced species are 
hardy annuals; a few are hardy biennials ; many 
are hardy perennial-rooted herbs; some are ten- 
der evergreen herbs; a few are hardy evergreen 
undershrubs; and some are tender evergreen 
undershrubs. Most have a height of between 1 
foot and 4 feet; very many have either blue, 
scarlet, violet, or white flowers; and the great 
majority possess a high degree of beauty, while 
some are among the most brilliant ornaments of 
the flower-garden. A medicinal species is no- 
ticed in the article Sace; and the two indigen- 
ous species, and two aromatic exotic ones, are 
noticed in the article CLary. 
The spreading species, Salvia patens, is one of 
the most beautiful, and may be selected as a fa- 
vourable specimen of the whole genus. It is a 
native of Mexico, and was introduced to Britain 
in 1838. It has a perennial root, and an erect 
and hairy stem, and commonly attains a height 
of from 2 to 4 feet. The leaves are large, ovate, 
