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THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
ON 
 
 THE ADVANTAGES 
 
 WILSON'S & BAYLIS'S PATENTS 
 
 of 
 
 SEA-WATER AND INLAND BRINE SPRINGS. 
 
 M THiE V^LTO F SALT 
 
 Directions for tie Use of the same, 
 
 BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 CUTHBERT WILLIAM JJOHNf ON, ESQ. 
 
 BARRISTER-AT-LAW, &C. 
 
ON THE ADVANTAGES 
 
 WILSON'S & BAYLIS'S PATENTS 
 
 jWanufarture of >alt, 
 
WILSON and SON Printers, 57, Skinner Street, London. 
 
ON THE 
 
 ADVANTAGES TO BE DERIVED 
 
 THE UNITED APPLICATION 
 
 OF 
 
 WILSON'S & BAYLIS'S PATENTS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 JWamrfactitre of 
 
 FROM 
 
 SEA-WATER AND INLAND BRINE SPRINGS, 
 
 WITH 
 
 ESSAY n THE VALOE F SALT 
 
 FOR AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER PURPOSES, 
 
 AND 
 Directions for the Use vf the same, 
 
 BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 CUTHBERT WILLIAM JOHNSON, Esa, 
 
 / 
 
 B. \RRISTER-AT-L AW, &C. 
 
 LONDON, NOVEMBER 1838, 
 
ON THE 
 
 WILSON'S PATENT PROCESS 
 
 IN CONCENTRATING SEA WATER AND OTHER WEAK BRINES 
 UNTIL THEY BECOME SATURATED SOLUTIONS. 
 
 THE art of extracting- Salt from weak Brines has been 
 hitherto little understood in this Country. The German 
 and other foreign Salt Makers render such available, 
 and extract the -finest Salt from Springs which have 
 not more Salt in them than is contained in Sea 
 Water. By Wilson's Patent the Salt Manufactories 
 of this Country will be placed far superior to those of 
 all Foreign States, both as regards the quality of the 
 Salt, and the small cost of its production. 
 
 This process combines together the following im- 
 portant objects : 
 
 First, It concentrates into a small space all the ad- 
 vantages that can now be obtained from solar evaporation 
 and graduating houses, avoiding all the evils and incon- 
 veniences experienced by them, from rainy and other 
 inclement seasons affording a constant supply of fully 
 
saturated Brine at all times of the year ; is adapted to 
 every situation where Sea Water and weak Brine 
 Springs exist ; and, moreover, in situations where hot 
 and dry seasons can be regularly met with, it may be 
 most advantageously used, even without any fuel. 
 
 Secondly, It is simple in its construction, and can be 
 made in detached parts, and easily conveyed to such 
 places where the erections are most desirable to be fixed, 
 as being either contiguous to the places of exportation, 
 or where the carnage will be least expensive to the 
 inland consumers. 
 
 Thirdly, The materials used in the construction will 
 not be subject to great deterioration by wear and tear; 
 the annual repairs, consequently, will be very trifling, 
 and the operation continuous, being wholly free from 
 those stoppages to which all saline evaporating works 
 are now subject. It will only require persons 
 of ordinary capacity to attend to the operation and 
 general management, and can be repaired and cleaned 
 when necessary with great facility and convenience 
 
 Fourthly, The invention combines a perfect applica- 
 tion of Fuel, heated Air, Steam, and condensed Steam, 
 without complicated or expensive machinery; the heat 
 being equally applied to every portion of the evaporating 
 surface, and the temperature regulated at pleasure. The 
 fluid to be evaporated is always kept in a hot state and 
 in constant motion, and the vapour is carried away 
 without obstruction as soon as it escapes from the fluid. 
 
The evaporating surface exposed (in the same given 
 space) to the action of the heat is upwards of 400 to 1 
 to that of the present mode of evaporating Brine for 
 making Salt in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Worcester- 
 shire, and from Sea Water by Solar heat. 
 
 Fifthly, The heat that now escapes from a variety of 
 other Manufactories, of which the fuel forms the great 
 cost of producing the marketable article, can be effec- 
 tively applied without any derangement, at a very trifling 
 expense. 
 
 Sixthly, All power required for pumping the Sea 
 Water, and for any other purpose which may be 
 connected with any of the Establishments, will not cost 
 any thing, save the machinery and repairs. 
 
 Having thus briefly explained the advantages of 
 WILSON'S PATENT, in preparing saturated Brine 
 from Sea Water or Weak Brines, we now proceed to 
 shew the importance of Wilson's and Baylis's Patents, in 
 reducing the Brine into Salt. 
 
ON THE 
 
 OF 
 
 WILSON'S & BAYLIS'S PATENTS 
 
 IN REFINING SALT FROM SATURATED BRINE 
 
 THE fuel is consumed in the most effective manner, 
 and the heat equally distributed to the largest surface 
 of brine by simple means; the pan-incrustation is 
 prevented, without complicated machinery ; the vessels 
 are preserved from the destructive action of the fire ; 
 and the expense of repairs is greatly reduced. 
 
 The pans which make the Stoved Salt will produce 
 double the quantity in vessels of equal capacity to 
 those now in use at Wharton, Anderton, and all other 
 Salt Works in England, (which has been proved on a 
 large scale ;) consequently the steam that arises from 
 these Fine Salt Steam Pans being properly consumed 
 will make double the quantity of common and other 
 Salt to what is now manufactured at Wharton. The 
 heat and vapour that now escapes into the atmosphere 
 from the common Salt pans will be applied by simple 
 means to the crystallizing of Fishery and Bay Salt. 
 
9 
 
 The great loss of heat from radiation of the external 
 parts of vessels is prevented, as are also the evil con- 
 sequences of the fire that arise to Steam Boilers in 
 general from the impurities contained in the water that 
 feeds them. The furnace and fire-bars, too, are pre- 
 served from the destructive effects of the fire ; giving- 
 every required temperature at pleasure, in a uniform 
 manner, and not liable to the risk of explosion. The 
 apparatus is capable of being conducted by persons of 
 ordinary capacity, and affords every facility of repairing 
 or cleaning when necessary. 
 
 The impurities contained in the Brine can be ex- 
 tracted before it goes into the Crystallizing Pans, 
 without much additional expense or loss of heat. 
 
 The refineries can be erected and set to work with 
 great facility in any situation ; and the immense ad- 
 vantages will be manifess to all parties of common 
 understanding, by inspecting a more than ordinarily- 
 sized working model, made to afford an opportunity of 
 contrasting the advantages over all other modes of 
 making Salt: in short, the produce will be more than 
 double in quantity, the Salt of superior quality, with the 
 same quantity of fuel now used, at a cost not exceeding 
 Five Shillings per Ton, where Saturated Brine can be 
 procured*. 
 
 The principal expenses in the manufacture of Salt 
 from saturated Brine Springs are, 
 
 * This model may be seen at Portland Chambers, No. 75, Great 
 Titchfield Street. 
 
10 
 
 First, The cost of raising 1 and payment for the Brine ; 
 
 Secondly, The Coals, which are brought to the various 
 Salt Works by Canals and Rivers, at a considerable ex- 
 pense, and are used in the proportion of about 15 cwt. 
 (of 112lbs.) to produce a Ton of Salt of the average 
 Qualities ; and where the Brine is not fully saturated, 
 considerably more ; 
 
 Thirdly, The Labour ; 
 
 Fourthly, The Repairs, owing to the destruction of the 
 vessels by pan-incrustation; and, where Rock Salt is used, 
 the additional expenses of mining, raising, and con- 
 veyance. 
 
 Twelve Shillings per Ton is the lowest average cost 
 price of making the various qualities of Salt, from satu- 
 rated Brine, throughout the kingdom (except at the 
 Wharton Works in Cheshire) by the present Manufac- 
 turers, who make about 400,000 Tons annually. The 
 whole demand for British Salt is now about 500,000 
 Tons per Annum, and this quantity is at present sup- 
 plied from several Districts 
 
 Cheshire supplying Liverpool and the North ; 
 Staffordshire, Hull and the East ; 
 
 Worcestershire, Gloucester, Bristol, and the West : 
 each County supplying a portion to London, and the 
 South, by Canals and Sea. 
 
11 
 
 The present prices at Liverpool are : 
 
 Carriage- 
 
 For Fine Stoved Salt, 19s. or 20s. per Ton 3s. 22s. to 23s. 
 
 Butter 16s. 3s. I9s. 
 
 Common 14s. 3s. 17s. 
 
 Large Grain .... 25s. 3s. 28s. 
 
 The Carriage of Salt from Cheshire to Liverpool has 
 for many years been a separate branch of Trade, which 
 Carnage, of 3s. per Ton, is paid by the purchasers of the 
 Salt on delivery. 
 
 The two largest establishments as Salt Works in 
 Cheshire are the Wharton and Anderton, both of 
 which were built by the Trustee of Baylis's and 
 Wilson's Patents, who is therefore fully conversant with 
 their situation, as also with the minor Works in Cheshire, 
 forming what is called (( The Coalition," to the great 
 injury of the public. Particulars of this coalition, 
 together with the creation of the Wharton and An- 
 dertoii Works and Mines, and those Companies, will 
 be best understood by a reference to a ic Narrative 
 of Facts'* now published, which may be had gratis on 
 application at Portland Chambers, No. 75, Great Titch- 
 field Street, Marylebone. 
 
 The Wharton Salt Works are the most extensive in 
 England (probably in the world), and were the best 
 and most economical until abused; but now sink into 
 insignificance, as Baylis's and Wilson's Patents will pro- 
 duce Salt full 40 per cent, cheaper, besides obviating all 
 
12 
 
 the imperfections and disadvantages which those works 
 have to contend with ; also making a much greater quan- 
 tity of Salt, of superior qualities, from a given quantity 
 of fuel. 
 
 Next in magnitude to the National Patent Salt Com- 
 pany's Refineries and Salt Mines, at Wharton, stands 
 the Anderton, called the British Rock and Patent Salt 
 Company, held on lease for 60 years, from 1825, from the 
 Earl of Mansfield, and underleased to Messrs. Brough- 
 ton, Sutton, and Co., at many thousands a year rental, 
 which forms the only source of dividends to the Share- 
 holders of that Company ; and for this dividend they 
 are indebted to the Trustee of Baylis'sand Wilson's pa- 
 tents, in aiding them in 1827 and 1828 (returning good 
 for evil), as appears by the " Narrative of Facts" before 
 alluded to. 
 
 Nearly the whole of the Salt Refineries and Rock- 
 Salt Mines in Cheshire are held on long leases at 
 high rents. These Proprietors and Coalitionists cannot 
 now prevent the patents of Baylis and Wilson from being 
 introduced to the greatest extent f as those by whom 
 they may be introduced are sure of having every facility 
 afforded them in all localities where they bring a new 
 trade, affording thereby employment,, and creating riches 
 for its inhabitants, with a decrease in price of this neces- 
 sary article of life. Therefore, unless the Salt Manufac- 
 turers can actually manufacture salt of equal quality 
 at 5s. per ton, and transport it, in addition, free from all 
 charges for Carnage and other expenses, to such places, 
 
13 
 
 for instance, as Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Bristol, 
 the ports of Scotland, Ireland, North and South Wales, 
 and her Majesty's Colonies, they must submit to the 
 loss of their trade. 
 
 It has always been admitted, that if at any period 
 a discovery should be made to concentrate Sea 
 Water to saturation, with great facility by simple and 
 cheap means, so as to form a substitute for the inland 
 saturated Brine Springs and Rock Salt, it would imme- 
 diately change the position of the Salt Trade of England, 
 and limit the supply from the present Salt districts to 
 those few inland situations which they could command 
 by a cheaper rate of conveyance than would be available 
 in the new localities. 
 
 It must also be borne in mind that the consumption of 
 Salt is very trifling in the neighbourhood of the Salt 
 districts; thus it has to be conveyed long distances to 
 market, and from its being a heavy staple article (like 
 Coals) the transit becomes a serious charge; in most 
 instances more than doubling the cost of manufacture, 
 which consequently abridges and prevents its consump- 
 tion in situations where it might be advantageously 
 applied if procured at a cheaper rate. 
 
 The Rock-Salt Mines in Cheshire will be compara- 
 tively useless when the new Works are established, as the 
 demand for Rock Salt principally arises for the export 
 trade. Foreigners will not purchase Rock Salt in 
 
14 
 
 In 1827 the same bed, without any additional manure, being sown with 
 peas, presented a most remarkable appearance ; for when the peas on the 
 unsalted portion was only four inches high, the salted were at least sixteen 
 inches, and nearly in bloom ; they yielded five or six times as many pods, 
 and those full three weeks earlier than the unsalted portion. 
 
 Will not the market gardener be able to avail himself of this curious 
 property of salt ? I can testify from my own experience, that salt forwards 
 the growth of potatoes, &c. And in the year 1834, all those seed potatoes 
 which had been treated with salt, or, before planting, had been soaked for 
 some hours in a weak solution of salt and water, produced excellent po- 
 tatoes, notwithstanding the general failure of the potatoe crops of that 
 year. 
 
 I have, in my Essay, given at length, the experiments of Dr. Priestley, 
 upon various plants vegetating in salt and water. He found that the use 
 of salt materially protracted the existence of the plant. Flowers, kept in 
 water vases, continue much longer in bloom, if a portion of salt be added 
 to the water. It is a common custom with the importers of exotic plants, 
 to dip cuttings into salt water. Before the adoption of this plan, they 
 almost invariably perished in the passage. 
 
 To explain these curious facts, it is supposed that the salt acts as a sti- 
 mulant to the plant ; a word, however, merely used for the want of a 
 better, as most of the amazing processes and wondrous phenomena of 
 vegetable life are too inscrutable but for the eye of Him 
 
 " Who spoke the word, and Nature moved complete." 
 
 Among the very last letters received on the use of salt in the cultivation 
 of plants, was one from an eminent florist, near Paddington, Mr. Thomas 
 Hogg, and I will here transcribe his own words : 
 
 " From the few experiments that I have tried with salt as a garden manure, I am fully prepared 
 to bear testimony to its usefulness. In a treatise upon flowers, published ab9ut six years since, 
 I remarked, that the application of salt, and its utility as a manure, was yet imperfectly under- 
 stood. It is a matter of uncertainty, whether it acts directly as a manure, or only as a kind of 
 spice or seasoning, thereby rendering the soil a more palatable food for plants. 
 
 ' The idea that first suggested itself to my mind, arose from contemplating the successful cul- 
 ture of hyacinths in Holland. This root, though not indigenous to the country, may be said to be 
 completely naturalized in the neighbourhood of Haerlem, where it grows luxuriantly in a deep 
 sandy alluvial soil : yet one great cause of its free growth, I considered, was owing to the saline 
 atmosphere: this induced me to mix salt in the compost ; and 1 am satisfied that no Hyacinths 
 will grow well at a distance from the sea without it. I am also of opinion, that the numerous 
 
 others, should either have salt or sea sand in the mould used for them. 
 
 " I invariably use salt as an ingredient in my compost for carnations; a plant which, like 
 wheat, requires substantial soil and all the strength and heat of the summer to bring it to psrfec- 
 tion ; and I believe 1 might say, without boasting, that few excel me in blooming that flower. 
 
 " if 1 wished to refresh and improve a soil of what is called an old worn-out garden exhausted 
 by fifty years' cropping, or more, L would give it ( or 3 part at a time) a good dressing of lime in 
 tlie autumn, spreading it as soon as it was slacked, and forking it in immediately. 1 would, a week 
 
 or two after that, dig and trench it well in the rough, and lay it up for the frost to act upon ; and 
 good dressing of salt (not less than six bush 
 ould be manifest for two or three years after." 
 
 , 
 
 then in the spring, I would give it a good dressing of salt (not less than six bushels to an acre,) 
 d effect of such treatment would be manif 
 
 In the inundations of the sea, as in Frieslaud for instance, in 1825, various 
 curious effects were produced by the salt water. The oak, the mulberry, 
 pear, peach, and others with deep roots, did not suffer ; neither did the 
 asparagus, onions, celery, &c., for they were never finer, or more luxuriant. 
 But the vines and gooseberries contracted a salt taste ; and the apricots, 
 apples, cherries, elms, poplars, beech, willows, c. } could not bear the over 
 
15 
 
 dose of sea-water. They pushed out a few leaves, but speedily perished. 
 Sharon Turner's History, 117. 
 
 Similar results were noticed, after an inundation of the sea, in the garden 
 of the late talented Richard Gower, Esq. near Ipswich, in Suffolk, in 
 November, 1824. In this instance a portion of the garden remained 24 
 hours under the sea water. The asparagus beds were materially improved 
 in their produce. The cherry trees, in the following year, actually pro- 
 duced a numerous crop of cherries, which tasted, however, so very salt that 
 they could not be eaten, although very fine in appearance. These trees all 
 died in the following year, 1826. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 From the statements which I have now been enabled, through the kindness 
 of my friends, to lay before the farmer, he must agree that the use of salt 
 in agriculture is of the highest importance ; he cannot but acknowledge 
 this, unless, indeed, he believes that all those who have tried salt as a 
 manure, were alike deceived ; that Messrs. Brooke and Ransom, in Suffolk ; 
 Messrs. Baynes, Butler, Wood, and Challis, in Essex ; Mr. Ross, in Kent ; 
 Mr. Burrell, in Sussex ; Mr. Long, in Hampshire ; Mr. Benett, in Wilt- 
 shire ; Mr. Sinclair, in Bedfordshire ; Mr. Hollingshead, in Lancashire ; 
 Messrs. Sickler and Hoblyn, in Cornwall ; Mr. Hogg, in Middlesex ; Mr. 
 Collyns, in Devonshire, and a host of others, were all deceived in their 
 experiments, and in error in their conclusions. 
 
 That salt is alike beneficial to all kinds of land, and at all times, is an 
 assertion too absurd to need refutation, for such an universal property 
 belongs to no other manure ; even chalk or lime will not suit all soils. 
 Stable manure may be employed without benefit. When chalk is applied 
 to some soils, years must elapse before its good effects are visible to the 
 farmer; "and yet," said the late eloquent Lord Erskine, "chalk, which 
 has caused to start into life the most inert soils, is just nothing as a manure 
 compared with salt." And, let me ask, what would have been the fate of 
 chalk as a manure, had its early advocates decided upon its merits, without 
 first employing that patient spirit of investigation so especially necessary 
 in all agricultural pursuits ? Would chalk, or gypsum, or lime, or bone 
 dust, ever have been generally employed as a manure, had their advocates 
 been infected with a spirit of impatience, and proud contempt of the ex- 
 periments and rules of those who went before them ? Chalk and gypsum 
 had their opponents ; they too, had to encounter ignorance in all shapes ; 
 but they triumphed at last, and so will the advocates of salt. 
 
 It is not intended to be concealed, that salt has been employed some- 
 times with detriment to the crop under experiment, often without any 
 effect ; yet there are no proofs even of its inutility. Some soils require 
 it to be applied in the autumn, others in the spring ; some crops are most 
 benefitted by having it applied long previous to their insertion, others at 
 that immediate period. Neither let any farmer imagine, because it is 
 beneficial to his light soils, that it cannot be equally so to more tenacious 
 ones : its gently moistening powers render the first more fertile, the latter 
 friable, and more open to every agricultural operation in the driest seasons. 
 On the richest soils it may be employed with advantage, were it only to 
 destroy the predatory vermin with which they more than usually abound. 
 Those who have studied the subject the most, and witnessed the greatest 
 
16 
 
 should ever revive a duty on Salt it will enable the Excise 
 to collect it with the greatest facility, economy, and 
 security, against fraud or evasion. 
 
 JdT Proof, as to the practicability of delivering Salt in the Agricul- 
 tural Districts, at a price to insure the general adoption of it, will be 
 fully demonstrated to all who may engage in the establishment of the 
 proposed Provincial Salt Companies ; and printed Forms of the Pros- 
 pectus, together with Plans of the requisite W\>rks, according to the 
 intended scale of operation, will be furnished, as soon as the Site for such 
 works, and the parties applying for the Licenses, are approved. 
 
 *** Further particulars may be obtained by applying (if by letter, 
 post paid) to the Trustee for the Proprietors of Wilson's and Baylis's 
 Patents, at Portland Chambers, No. 75, Great Titchfield Street, Mary- 
 lebone ; or to Mr. R. Cort, No. 8, Manchester Buildings, Parliament 
 Street, London, their general Agent for the establishment of Salt 
 and other Works connected therewith. 
 
 .SON AND SON, PriHters, 57, SWnner Street, London. 
 
OBSERVATIONS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EMPLOYMENT OF SALT 
 
 AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE 
 
 WITH 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR ITS APPLICATION, 
 
 FOUNDED ON PRACTICE. 
 
 CUTHBERT WILLIAM JOHNSON, ESQ., 
 
 BARRISTER AT LAW, 
 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE MARYLAND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, AUTHOR OF AN ESSAY 
 ON THE USES OF SALT FOR AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL PURPOSES, &C. &C. 
 
 TWELFTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SIMPKIN AND MARSHALL; J. RIDGWAY ; AND WM. S, ORR AND CO, 
 
 1838. 
 
CONTENTS, DIRECTIONS, &c. 
 
 "Wheat. Apply ten to twenty Bushels per Acre. See page 7 
 
 Barley and Oats. Ten to sixteen. See page 8 
 
 Worms, Grub, &c. See page 8 
 
 Grass Lauds. Ten to fifteen. See page 9 
 
 If you wish to have a new turf entirely, then from forty to fifty Bushels. 
 
 Beans, Peas, and Potatoes. Ten to twenty Bushels per Acre. See page 10 
 
 Hay. Half a Bushel to every Load. Seepage 11 
 
 Live Stock. See page 12 
 
 Horticulture 13 
 
 Fallows. To destroy weeds, &c. fifteen to forty Bushels according to the state of the soil, as 
 
 early as possible after the ground is cleared of the preceding crop. 
 Turnips and all green Crops. Five to fifteen Bushels about three weeks before seed time. 
 
 See page 9 
 
 In any researches upon the uses of common salt, the agriculturist must not forget that it is 
 comparative experiments alone that are of value, as guides to future operations. For this purpose 
 it will be advisable that the experiment should be 
 
 1st. On as bold a scale as possible ; and on different soils. 
 
 2ndly. That part of the field only should be salted, and the produce on both salted and inisalted 
 soils carefully measured or tceiyhed. 
 
 Srdly. That the salt should' be applied in more than one proportion, and at different periods ; 
 as a fortnight before seed time, at the time of sowing, and when the corn is well out of the 
 ground. 
 
 4thiy. Its use when combined with other manures, as soot, lime, bone-dust, &c., should be, if 
 possible, ascertained. W. Collyns, Esq., of Kenton, in Devonshire, is decidedly in favour of 
 employing, as a Manure, the common Salt made from the Sea Water. 
 
 I cannot conclude without again assuring the friends and opponents of Salt for Agricultural 
 purposes, that I shall always be willing to assist in any experiments, receive any communications, 
 and to answer any enquiries, in a cause which is now proceeding so triumphantly.- for thousands 
 of tons of Salt are now annually employed in Agriculture. 
 
 Just as this Edition was sending to Press, I have received a communication from Mr. Kimber- 
 ley, a practical farmer of 500 acres of land, with the sentiments of which I so entirely concur, that 
 I deem no apology necessary for inserting it in this place. The letter is dated from Trotsworth. 
 near Eghain, Nov. 19, 1838. 
 
 " Understanding from Mr. Cort that you are about to publish another Edition of your valuable 
 Treatise on Salt, and that you are desirous of having my opinion on the subject generally, and as 
 regards its applicability to my Liquid Manure, 1 have great pleasure in giving you every informa- 
 tion in my power. 
 
 " 1 have used decomposed Salt for upwards of ten years past in considerable quantity, and with 
 the most satisfactory results, principally in the way now so strongly recommended by yourself. 
 1 have also used it for cattle, sheep, horses and pigs, with undeviating success, not only as a 
 preventative, but cure of disease ; in fact, I am not aware of any condiment equal to Salt properly 
 administered, that so much assists in improving the condition of all kinds of stock, while it in- 
 creases the dunibi'ity and value of their manure. With reference to the applicability of Marine 
 Salt for my Liquid Manure, I have no hesitation in stating that it is one of the most valuable 
 ingredients of its basis ; and a material that every farmer should have in his possession, as one of 
 the most important means of supplying himself with manure at all times, and therefore any mea- 
 sure that will cheapen and facilitate the introduction of Salt into the agricultural districts, as now 
 contemplated by Mr. Cort, will confer an incalculable benefit on the Landed Interest, as 1 consider 
 Salt, in its various combinations, one of the most essential of our artificial manures. It also 
 appears to me, that if the proposed Local Salt Companies could be established contiguous to chalk 
 or lime-stone, so that both can be prepared with the same fuel, and Salt as well as lime delivered 
 at half its present price, there can be no question but that an immense continuous increase in the 
 consumption of Salt would take place, and the land might be dressed at a cost of from 15s. to 20s. 
 per acre, equal to the bent Horse Manure. 
 
 " I am now preparing for the press a Pamphlet fully disclosing the description and method of 
 making and using the 1 rotsworth Liquid Manure, which I propose to deliver to subscribers of I/, 
 each early in the* ensuing Spring, and any gentleman wishing fora copy may signify the same by 
 letter, post paid.'' 
 
 (Signed; GEO. KlMBERLEY." 
 
 14, GRAY'S 
 
 December, 1838. 
 
OBSERVATIONS, &c. 
 
 IN tlie year 1820, when the attention of the public was first generally 
 excited to the impolicy of the Salt Tax, by the late Sir Thomas Bernard, 
 I published an Essay on the Uses of Salt in Agriculture, which has since 
 been tv.ice reprinted with many valuable additional testimonials, especially 
 those of another valued correspondent, the late Mr. G. Sinclair, of New 
 Cross, the author of the " Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis." But as it 
 has often been repeated to me, that the farmer has little time for the 
 perusal of long statements, I now offer to him a few observations which 
 shall at least have the merit of brevity; being most anxious that SP 
 valuable a substance may be made known to, and employed by, the mosf 
 practical, as well as the most scientific agriculturists. I implore, therefore 
 the old English farmer's attention to the few following facts, for the sake, 
 not only of himself, but of our country ; and if he should be led to try the 
 very smallest experiment with this Fertilizer (and an acre may now be 
 manured with it for ten shillings), attending carefully to the directions of 
 those who have gone before him, he will enrich not only himself, but the 
 Land which gave him birth. 
 
 In the first ages of the world, salt could not have remained long un- 
 noticed or unemployed ; its inhabitants must have soon remarked that the 
 animal tribes had a strong predilection for this saline mineral ; as even the 
 thoughtless savages of North America make the observation, that, near to 
 their salt licks, their game always abounds ; and the Laplanders, to this 
 clay, bring their rein-deer periodically to the sea- side, for the purpose of 
 drinking the salt water. 
 
 The briefness" of some of the writers of the Old Testament has often 
 and very justly been regretted. I cannot but consider as another object 
 for this feeling the short account given of the healing by Elisha, of the 
 waters of Jericho, by means of salt. (2 Kings, c. ii. v. 19, 22.) It was 
 the universal custom among the eastern nations to irrigate their lands ; 
 and if the waters in the neighbourhood were unfit for this purpose, the 
 soil, from the heat of the climate, was rendered unproductive. This 
 appears to have been the case at Jericho, and to heal them, Elisha threw 
 in salt. The smallness of the quantity added could, in the natural course 
 of things, have had no influence : whether he directed it to be often 
 repeated is not stated, nor is it material as regards the observations I have 
 to make upon it. The agent employed in these miracles had usually 
 a typical meaning, or conveyed useful instruction thus, when Moses 
 healed the waters of Marah (Exodus, c. xv. v. 25), he threw in the branch 
 of a tree ; which, although we are not told so there, yet afterwards is said 
 Eccclesiasticus, c. xxxviii. v. 5), to have been done to inform the people of 
 its sanative qualities. Salt had been held up as the cause of barrenness, 
 and had been sown by Abimilech, with that typical representation, over the 
 
ruins of Sechem (Judges, c. ix. v. 4, 5) ; it was now employed perhaps as 
 a means of conveying the information, that in small quantities it produced 
 a very different effect. I have thus early been induced to remark upon 
 observations in the Old Testament, because I know that these, the earliest 
 notices of salt being applied to land, are in the hands of every farmer, 
 and are very justly looked upon, by him, as volumes from whose state- 
 ments there is no appeal. 
 
 That salt was very early applied as a manure in the East, we have 
 abundant testimony. " Salt," said our Saviour, in one of the addresses 
 to his disciples, " is good ; but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith 
 shall it be seasoned? it is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill, 
 but men cast it out." (St. Luke, c. xiv. v. 34). What was meant by 
 salt losing its savour, has puzzled even some of that school whom Southey 
 has, more emphatically than poetically, denominated the Satanic. Mr. 
 Maundrel, however, in his journey to Jerusalem, has cleared up, in some 
 degree, the mystery ; for it appears that there is found in Syria a peculiar 
 kind of fossil or rock salt, which in progress of time, by exposure to the 
 air, though to all appearance as crystaline as ever, loses almost entirely 
 its taste, except in the very centre of the lumps. How this is effected, it 
 is perhaps difficult to explain ; for it has not, to my knowledge, been sub- 
 jected to chemical analysis ; but it is probably a mixture of salts ; for in- 
 stance, crystalized sulphate of lime (gypsum) and common salt : the first 
 quite tasteless, and nearly insoluble in water ; it is consequently very little 
 altered by exposure to the dew r , rain, &c., but the common salt mixed with 
 it would, in moist situations, readily dissolve away, leaving the remaining 
 mass little altered in appearance ; its savour would be gone, and the re- 
 sidual sulphate of lime little fitted either for the land or the dunghill. 
 
 In the works of early writers upon rural affairs, we find little notice of 
 salt as an agricultural agent. Virgil reprobates a salt soil ; for he had 
 probably observed, that where the sea overflowed its usual boundaries 
 vegetation was completely destroyed, and the 'poet paused not to consider 
 what would have been the result had any other manure been applied in a 
 similar excess ; for instance, if an ocean of chalk and water had inundated 
 the same land ; and a suspicion that a small quantity might have quite an 
 opposite tendency, was an idea too refined even for the court of Augustus. 
 He says, however, that it must not be a salt soil ; and in that conclusion 
 every one will agree with him. He commends the use of salt for cattle 
 very highly, as does Cato, the earliest of the writers upon rural affairs 
 whose writings have come dow r n to us : he says, " sprinkle your best 
 straw with salt, then to serve it for hay !" Lord Bacon, who died in 
 1626, recommends its use for the garden. 
 
 Sir Hugh Platt, in 1658, bears testimony to its value for grass lands. 
 Frederick Hoffman, in 1742, and Dr. Brownrigg, in 1748, celebrated its 
 importance as a condiment for cattle. 
 
 Amid, therefore, such an almost universal conviction of men of all ages 
 and countries as to the value of salt in agriculture, it may be perhaps 
 inquired why its general use has been so much prevented ? One reason 
 is sufficient in reply to such an apparent objection. From the days of 
 King William the Third, to the year 1824, salt had been burthened with 
 an increasing tax, hampered with restrictions, overwhelmed with prohi- 
 bitions ; but still, in spite of these burthens, the use of salt in agriculture 
 
never entirely ceased. Every ostler knew that it was good for his horses. 
 The farmers of the West of England still used sea-sand, as their ancestors 
 did before them ; for that was not under the controul of the exciseman 
 that could not be warehoused : thus the farmers in the neighbourhood of 
 Padstow Harbour annually employ nearly 54,000 single-horse cart loads 
 of sea- sand ; and they are so convinced of the superiority of this salted 
 sand, that they prefer, says Dr. Paris, " sending four or five miles 
 to the shore to obtain this calcareous sand, which has salt in it, although, 
 at much less expense, they might procure drifted sand, which does not 
 contain salt, at their own doors*/' 
 
 Every farmer has it in his power, even in the most inland situations, 
 to procure soda for the use of his farm, by means of a mixture of two 
 parts of lime and one part of common salt, made into a thick mortar with 
 water, and suffering the mixture to remain incorporated in a shady place, 
 or covered with sods, for two or three months a plan which I suggested 
 some years since t, and which has been recently, I believe, successfully 
 adopted by Mr. Benett, in Wiltshire. By this process a gradual decom- 
 position takes place, muriate of lime and soda are formed, the whole mass 
 speedily becoming encrusted with alkali. There is another advantage to 
 be derived from the adoption of this process, besides the formation of soda, 
 viz., that the muriate of lime is one of the most deliquescing or moisture- 
 absorbing substances with which we are acquainted ; and in consequence, 
 whenever it exists in a soil, the warmth of the sun has in summer much 
 less influence upon it than it would otherwise have. The use of this 
 mixture of salt and lime was noticed, I find, in the year 1800, by Mr. 
 Hollingshead, of Chorley, in Lancashire, who observes : " Lime prepared 
 for manure should be slacked with salt springs or salt water ; lime so 
 slacked will have a double effect J." And in 1816, Mr. James Manley, of 
 Anderton, in Cheshire, when giving his evidence before a Committee of 
 the House of Commons on the salt duties, mentioned, that in getting marl 
 (which is a mixture of carbonate of lime, alumina, and silica), he had 
 found that, by mixing it with brine instead of water, that the portion of 
 the field on which the brined marl was used yielded five bushels of wheat 
 per acre more than that portion on which the watered marl was employed ; 
 and it may be well to remember that the celebrated salt sand of Padstow 
 Harbour is composed of 64 per cent, of carbonate of lime ; and that, in 
 the experiments of the late Rev. Edmund Cartwright upon potatoes, of 
 twenty-five manures or mixtures of manures, salt and lime were found 
 superior in their product of potatoes to nineteen others. 
 
 I would especially warn those who try the effect of a mixture of salt 
 and lime, to attend carefully to the directions I have given, and not, as 
 some farmers have done, to use the mixed salt and lime immediately, 
 before any decomposition has taken place. After it has been well mixed 
 with water into a thick mortar, it should be allowed to remain two or 
 three months undisturbed, and then applied at the rate of from twenty-five 
 to thirty bushels per acre, either by sowing it out of a seed basket, or 
 mixed with earth, and spread in the usual way, It is necessary to give 
 the mixture time, since the decomposition proceeds very slowly, and is 
 not to be hastened by any simple process. 
 
 * My Essay on Salt, p. 30. t Ibid. p. 32. 3rd Edit. 
 
 t Hints to Farmers, p. 20. Edition 1800. Communications to the Board of Agriculture, p. 370- 
 
The mixture of salt with soot produces the most " remarkable'* effects, 
 especially when trenched into ground prepared for carrots. Mr. G. Sin- 
 clair found that when the soil, unmanured, produced 23 tons of carrots 
 per acre, that the same soil, fertilized with a mixture of only 6|- bushels of 
 salt, and 6| of soot, yielded 40 tons per acre*. Mr. Belfield describes the 
 mixture as equally beneficial for wheat t ; and Mr. Cartwright found, that 
 when the soil, without any addition, yielded per acre 157 bushels of 
 potatoes, that, dressing the same land with a mixture of 30 bushels of 
 soot and 8 bushels of salt, made it produce per acre 240 bushels J. 
 
 Some farmers feel a difficulty in believing that a salt can be a manure ; 
 but let such be assured that almost ail the most valuable fertilizers are 
 actually salts. Need the intelligent farmer be told, that chalk (carbonate 
 of lime) is known by every chemist to be a salt, and must he be informed 
 that gypsum (sulphate of lime) is another salt ? 
 
 The fate of gypsum well illustrates the progress made and making by 
 salt as a manure in this country. When gypsum was first proposed as a 
 fertilizer, it was laughed at and ridiculed, especially by those who knew 
 least of its properties and powers ; and then it was used for every thing 
 and for every crop, in defiance of the remonstrances of its early advocates, 
 who warned the agriculturist that it operated only as a direct food for some 
 plants, and that only three commonly-cultivated grasses contained it in 
 sensible proportions Lucern, Sainfoin, and Red Clover, to which may be 
 added the Turnip. The failure, therefore, of gypsum, in the first instance, 
 was general and complete ; time, however, enlightened its enemies, for 
 time polishes even a block of granite, and gypsum is now generally and 
 scientifically used to these four crops only, for it does not, like salt, possess 
 properties useful to vegetables of all kinds. 
 
 Phosphate of lime is another salt extensively employed in agriculture, 
 for bone-dust contains of it 55 per cent. Every tiller of the earth knows 
 that the ashes of the soap-boiler abound with salts of various kinds, both 
 of soda and potash. And, let me ask, what but the presence of twenty 
 different salts (common salt among the rest) makes the urine of animals 
 so valuable as a fertilizer ? And what would be the value of the largest 
 dunghill, so justly splendid in every farmer's eyes, without the presence of 
 these salts ? Would it be of more value than so much tanners' bark or 
 peat ? and does not every farmer know what Lord Meadowbank has so 
 ably illustrated, that even inert peat becomes a manure by being putrified 
 and mixed with the salts of the dunghill ? 
 
 I have elsewhere endeavoured to prove that salt is a manure to plants in 
 six different ways, and I refer the farmer to my Essay on Salt for the 
 proofs and illustrations. 1. By promoting, in small proportions, putrefac- 
 tion. 2. By destroying weeds, grubs, &c. 3. As a constituent, or direct 
 food. 4. According to Dr. Darwin and Dr. Priestly, as a stimulant to the 
 absorbent vessels of plants. 5. By preventing injury from sudden tran- 
 sitions in the temperature of the atmosphere. 6. By keeping the soil 
 moist. In this tract, however, I have no intention of entering into such 
 detail, nor is it perhaps requisite, though always useful, that the farmer 
 should in every case understand the chemical processes he is daily witness- 
 ing, or the laws by which he cultivates the earth. 
 
 * My Essay on Salt, p. 146. t Ib. 44. t Ib. 86. 
 
WHEAT. 
 
 Whoever makes trial of salt as a manure must be attentive to the rules 
 laid down by those who have for years employed it for such purpose ; 
 otherwise, without any beneficial result, every experiment will merely 
 serve to prejudice others against its more judicious employment : thus, 
 salt, it should be remembered, rarely causes the wheat plant to grow larger 
 or taller, but it fills up the ear better, and brings the weaker plants for- 
 ward. We have it on the authority of Mr. Sinclair, that " salt appears 
 to lessen the produce of straw, and increase the weight of grain." I have 
 never been able in my experiments, nor in any I have witnessed, to see any 
 increased quantity of straw, even in cases where there was an increased 
 produce, by means of salt, of six bushels of wheat per acre. I cannot 
 enforce this too much upon the attention of the agriculturists. Let not 
 the farmer be deceived by appearances ; let him have the salted and un- 
 salted portions, at harvest time, carefully separated and examined by 
 weight, if the plots are small, or by measure, if extensive. A few square 
 roods, or even yards of each, will be sufficient ; and I have no hesitation 
 in saying, that he will find the result highly in favour of salt : but if, on 
 the contrary, after having carefully applied salt to half of the field, he 
 judges at harvest time merely by his eye, in such an unfortunate case, let 
 me request of him, for his own credit's sake, not to mention his experiments 
 upon salt manure ; how carefully he tried it, and how complete was its 
 failure : let him be assured that such modes of investigation, though very 
 common, are worse than useless to the agriculturist ; are marks of obsti- 
 nacy and presumption to be excused only on the plea of ignorance. 
 
 Let the salt be applied some time before sowing the seed, not less than 
 ten and not more than twenty bushels per acre. I regret that I cannot 
 transcribe from my Essay on Salt the experiments of Mr. G. Sinclair upon 
 wheat (page 39) ; they are too numerous for this Tract, and too valuable 
 to be mutilated by an abridgment. 
 
 In my own experiments upon a light gravelly soil, at Great Totham, in 
 Essex, the use of twenty bushels of salt per acre, (in 1819,) produced an 
 increase of five bushels and a half per acre. 
 
 The following statement of the result of some trials in 1820, will show 
 how important may be the result to the country at large, by its judicious 
 application. I regret that incessant employment of a very different nature 
 has hitherto prevented my continuing these experiments. 
 
 PRODUCE PER ACRE. Bhls. Ibs. 
 
 No. 1. Soil, without any manure, for four years 13 26 
 
 2. Soil manured with stable dung to the previous crop (Potatoes) . . . . 28 52 
 
 3. Soil with five bushels of salt per acre, and no other manure for four years . . 26 12 
 
 The soil light and gravelly. 
 
 The testimony of a plain Essex farmer may have some weight in corro- 
 boration of my own, even with the most suspicious. " The soil," says 
 Mr. James Challis, of Panfield, " that I described to you to be of rather a 
 loose hollow description, had a dressing of salt put on it in November, 
 after the wheat was sown, about fourteen or fifteen bushels per acre : it 
 produced at the rate of six bushels per acre : more than that which was 
 not dressed, and it may be stated to be 1 per load of forty bushels better 
 in quality." 
 
 Another Essex farmer, the late Mr. Baynes, of Heybridge, had his 
 
doubts removed by the result of the following experiment the soil, "a 
 sandy clay :" 
 
 PRODUCE IN BUSHELS. Per Acre. 
 
 Soil dressed with 15 loads of stable dung; per Acre 17 
 
 Soil dressed with H bushels of salt per acre, immediately after the seed was sown . . 36| 
 
 I select these statements from a host of others, which the unsatisfied 
 farmer will find in my Essay, because these experiments were made by men 
 prejudiced against the trial of salt as a manure : they had not been taught 
 by any theoretical reasonings ; and supported as they are by the experi- 
 ments of Mr. Sinclair and numerous others, they form a mass of evidence 
 totally incontrovertible. 
 
 It is a custom in most counties of England, to apply salt and water as a 
 steep to prevent the ravages of a disease in wheat, called smut : the value 
 of this is known to almost every farmer. Recent experiments have sug- 
 gested that it may even be of use, when employed in larger quantities, as 
 a preventative of mildew the most dreadful of the numerous diseases to 
 which the cultivated grasses are exposed. The experiments of the late 
 Rev. E. Cartwright strongly evidence, that when salt and water are sprink- 
 led with a brush upon diseased plants, it is actually a complete cure, even 
 in apparently the most desperate cases.* 
 
 " The proportion, one pound to a gallon of water, laid on with a plaster- 
 er's brush, the operator making his casts as when sowing corn : it is instant 
 death to the fungus." The time and expense are trifling. 
 
 It appeared, in the course of some inquiries made by the Board of Agri- 
 culture, that a Cornish farmer, Air. Sickler, and also the Rev. R. Hoblin, 
 were accustomed to employ refuse salt as a manure, and that their crops 
 were never infected with the rust or blight. 
 
 BARLEY AND OATS. 
 
 Apply from ten to sixteen bushels per acre just before you sow the seed. 
 Mr. Legrand, a Lancashire farmer, states, " in a sandy soil I can assert 
 sixteen bushels to be a proper quantity for a statute acre ; it gradually ad- 
 vanced in its beneficial effects to sixteen bushels, and as gradually dimi- 
 nished to four bushels, where vegetation was stopped. 
 
 A Norfolk farmer, Mr. Ransom, of Sproughton, also says, when speak- 
 ing of his experiments on a light sandy soil, " The barley thus dressed, 
 presented no difference of appearance to the rest of the field, until within a 
 fortnight of harvest ; the salted crop was then brighter, and about one 
 week forwarder than the rest of the field." The following are the results, 
 when carefully cut and measured. 
 
 PRODUCE ix BUSHELS. Per Acre. 
 
 Soil without any manure 30 
 
 Soil dressed with 16 bushels of salt per acre, in March 51 
 
 Were these gentlemen, too, deceived in their experiments ? Had they 
 both the misfortune to be in error ? 
 
 Mr. Sinclair's experiments are unfavourable to the use of salt to oats, as 
 far as they were conducted ; but he unfortunately only tried it in the much 
 too large proportion of forty-four bushels per acre, at the time of inserting 
 the seed. 
 
 * My Essay, p. 49, 
 
WORMS, GRUB, ANIMALCULE, &C. 
 
 No person has employed common salt for the purpose of destroying worms, 
 to a greater extent than Jacob Busk, Esq., of Ponsbourn Park, in Hertford- 
 shire. His valuable experiments have extended over some hundreds of 
 acres of wheat. To use his own words " In every situation, and at every 
 time, the effect appeared equally beneficial." The quantityper acre " about 
 four or five bushels, sown out of a common seed shuttle." The period " In 
 the evening." The effect " In the morning each throw may be distin- 
 guished by the quantity of slime and number of dead slugs lying on the 
 ground. In some fields it has certainly been the means of preventing the 
 destruction of the whole crop." 
 
 Six bushels of salt per acre were applied by hand, in April, 1828, to a 
 field of oats attacked by the slugs and worms, on the farm of Mr. John 
 Blatter, of Draycote, near Oxford. The crop was completely saved by this 
 application, although an adjoining field, not salted, was completely destroyed 
 by this sort of vermin. 
 
 What answer can be given to these statements of plain practical farmers ? 
 Is half-a-crown's worth of salt too dear an application to save an acre of corn 
 from utter destruction ? Must the worms still be suffered to devour an- 
 nually thousands of acres of corn, and the farmer yet regard the employ- 
 ment of salt with all the apathy of indolence ? 
 
 Salt is a complete prevention of the ravages of the weevil in corn. It 
 has been successfully employed in the proportion of a pint of salt to a 
 barrel of wheat. I learn from an American merchant, that wheat placed 
 in old salt barrels, is never attacked by these destructive insects. Six or 
 eight pounds of salt sprinkled over every 100 sheaves of stacking, produces 
 exactly the same effect. The holders of bonded corn would do well to re- 
 member these facts. 
 
 TURNIPS, MANGEL WURZEL, &C. 
 
 I select from my latest communications, the following from Killerton, in 
 Devonshire. In a letter dated August 26, 1826, Sir Thomas Acland, Bart., 
 favoured me with the following statement from his bailiff : " The first ex- 
 periment I made of salt for manure, was on seven acres of land for mangel 
 wurzel. I first heaped out the field with earth, forty heaps to an acre, as 
 is usually done for lime : I then put in each heap thirty-three pounds of 
 salt, and mixed it well with the earth, and let it lie a fortnight before I 
 spread it over the land ; after that, I ploughed the land three times before I 
 sowed the seed, and I had roots there 321bs. each. Since that time, I pre- 
 pared a field of five acres, in the same way, for turnips, one-third part of 
 the field with lime, one-third with salt, and the other part with hearth ashes. 
 When the seed came up first, the turnips appeared most promising where 
 the hearth ashes were : but after the first month, the turnips did not grow 
 so fast as where the salt or lime was; after that time, the turnips, where 
 the ground was manured with salt, grew faster, and the green looked 
 stronger and darker, and at the end of the season was the best crop. 
 
 " The next year, I put the field to barley : and where the salt was put, 
 it was the strongest and best crop. After that time, it was a great deal 
 heavier to work ; therefore I consider it a good manure for light sandy 
 soils, but not calculated for clay or heavy lands." 
 
 Mr. Hare, of Beaconsfield, in Buckinghamshire, uses salt regularly. In 
 
10 
 
 1822, on one acre of a large field the soil very gravelly, he applied about 
 2 cwt. of salt, without any other manure ; the rest of the field was ma- 
 nured as usual. The turnips produced on the salted acre were just as 
 food as on any other part of the field. In the following year, on another 
 eld of the *aine quality, he manured the whole field with farm-yard 
 manure, adding to one acre of the field, 2^ cwt. of powdered rock salt. 
 On this salted and manured acre, he had more and finer turnips than were 
 produced on any other field of equal extent in the whole parish. He ap- 
 proves of it also very decidedly for barley. 
 
 GRASS LANDS. 
 
 Apply ten or fifteen bushels per acre in the autumn. 
 
 I rejoice to find that, in Devonshire, salt has found, in Mr. Collyns, of 
 Kenton, an able and zealous advocate : from a letter dated October 17th, 
 1826, with which I was favoured by that gentleman, I make the follow- 
 ing copious extract: 
 
 " One of my neighbours writes me, in using salt as a manure on grass 
 land, I have found the salted portions not to be aftected by severe frosty 
 nights, when every blade of grass on the unsalted portions has been in a 
 frozen state. 
 
 " I observe, too, that it is destructive to every kind of grub and worm ; 
 and I am convinced, where it has been used with judgment, that it has 
 not failed." Another intelligent neighbour, continues Mr. Collins, whose 
 farm is almost entirely a light black sand, writes " I have found salt 
 answer my most sanguine expectations for barley, oats, potatoes, and 
 turnips, both as to the increased quantity and improved quality of the 
 crops, of which I can now give ocular demonstration to any one you will 
 send : my barley and oats, which used to yield me only 15 to 20 bushels 
 per acre, now yield from 40 to 45. My wheat is certainly much improved 
 in quality, but I expected more in quantity. I have had 35 bushels of 
 wheat from an acre dressed with ten bushels of salt ; and from the same 
 field last year, after the same quantity of salt, 140 bags of potatoes per 
 acre. This year again, dressed with ten bushels of salt, I have not more 
 than 20 bushels of wheat per acre, but the quality very superior indeed, 
 and the root of clover in it very fine and luxuriant. In every field I 
 have salted, I find the grass very much superior to any produced before the 
 use of salt. 
 
 " I have since (adds Mr. Collyns,) gone over his farm, and am astonished 
 at the verdant pasturage, in what used to be coarse and rushy meadows. 
 In this arable land he never got more than ten bushels of wheat per acre 
 until he used salt ; so that this is also a decided improvement/' 
 
 I will give but one other testimony in favour of its use, and that one of 
 the latest I have received from an old Suffolk agricultruist, Mr. Broke, of 
 Capel, near Ipswich: In the month of April, 1821, six bushels of salt 
 manure were applied to half an acre of red clover, the soil good turnip 
 land, not sharp ; extent of the field ten acres. The salted clover at first 
 looked very yellow, and apparently injured, but it soon began to recover, 
 and when mown, the increased produce was, at the very least, 10 cwt. per 
 acre ; and the aftermath proportionally good ; the cattle eating it down 
 closer, and in preference to any other part of the field. 
 
 I might add easily to this plain statement numerous other experiments, 
 
11 
 
 even of the same farmer : I might add those of Mr. Long, the late high 
 sheriff of Hampshire ; or those of Mr. Benett, in Wiltshire ; or Mr. Burrell, 
 in Sussex : but for the unprejudiced farmer, one fact is quite sufficient, 
 and the opponents of salt manure will still believe that they were all alike 
 deceived : there is "no good in salt," says the farmer who has had his marshes 
 flooded with salt water, and he finds many ready to agree with him in his 
 thoughtless conclusions. 
 
 POTATOES. 
 
 Apply from ten to twenty bushels of salt to the surface as soon as the 
 potatoes are planted, or ten bushels in the previous autumn, and ten after 
 inserting the set. 
 
 My experiments with salt to potatoes were upon a light gravelly soil. 
 The result was as follows : 
 
 Experiments. PRODUCE IN BUSHELS. Per Acre. 
 
 1. Soil without any manure 120 
 
 2. Boil manured with 20 bushels of salt, the previous September . . . .192 
 
 3. Soil manured with stable dung at the time of planting 219 
 
 4. Soil manured with stable dung and twenty bushels of salt 234 
 
 5. Soil manured with 40 bushels of salt alone, 20 in September and 20 in the spring, 
 
 after the sets were planted 192$ 
 
 6. Soil manured with 40 bushels of salt as in the last experiment, and also with stable 
 
 dung 244 
 
 These experiments are entirely confirmed by those of the Rev. E. Cart- 
 wright, of Tonbridge. From a copious table, which the farmer will find at 
 page 82 of my Essay on Salt, I extract the following statement : 
 
 Experiments. PRODUCE IN BUSHELS. Per Acre. 
 
 1 . Soil without any manure 157 
 
 2. Soil manured with 9 bushels of salt per acre 198 
 
 3. Soil manured with S bushels of salt and 30 bushels of soot per acre . . .240 
 
 4. Soil manured with 30 bushels of soot per acre 182 
 
 " Of ten different manures," concludes Mr. Cartwright, " most of which 
 are of known and of acknowledged efficacy, salt, with one exception, is 
 superior to them all." 
 
 HAY. 
 
 Put about half a bushel of salt to every load of hay, spread it by hand, 
 or through a sieve. Mr. Woods, of Ingatestone, in Essex, has employed 
 it for thirty years ; his plain unvarnished statement need not be supported 
 by any other. 
 
 " I use about a quarter of a peck at each laying, thinly spread, which I 
 find is about 4 bushels to a stack of 20 loads. I am fully satisfied that 
 double the quantity would be much better." 
 
 " In a particularly wet season, a few years since, I used twelve bushels to 
 a stack of forty loads, the whole of which was consumed by my own horses, 
 and I never had them in better condition. I am so fully convinced of the 
 benefit of salt to hay, that while it is allowed duty free, I shall use it in all 
 seasons." (For other testimonials to the same effect, see my Essay 011 
 Salt, page 100.) 
 
 The avidity with which animals consume salted hay, is not so generally 
 known as it ought ; I will give, therefore, a fact related to me a short time 
 since by Mr. Law, of Reading. Mr. Green, of Wargrave, in Berkshire, 
 had, in the season of 1824, a parcel of sour rushy hay from a meadow on 
 the banks of the Thames, which both he and his men despaired of render- 
 
12 
 
 ing of the least value ; it was, therefore, stacked by itself, and well salted ; 
 the quantity supplied was large, but Mr. Law did not know the exact 
 proportion. 
 
 When the period arrived that his sheep wanted a supply of hay, Mr. 
 Green directed his shepherd to use the salted inferior hay first, and, to his 
 surprise, the sheep consumed it with the greatest avidity. The stack being 
 finished, the shepherd was directed to supply them now with the best hay 
 he could find of other stacks of fine meadow hay. 
 
 He came, however, the next morning to his master, and made the follow- 
 ing remark : " We, sir, must have made a great mistake, and forgotten 
 which stack we salted, for our sheep will not eat the hay which we think 
 the best." 
 
 LIVE STOCK. 
 
 The importance of salt to animals is so generally admitted, even by those 
 who deny its value as a manure, that I shall not here dwell at great length 
 upon it. When animals are in a wild state, it is observed, that at certain 
 periods of the year they seek the salt water, or inland salt springs, with 
 great avidity ; and every farmer observes that his cattle, horses, &c., are 
 remarkably fond of licking the salt earth of the farm-yard, stables, &c. In 
 Spain, they give their sheep salt with great regularity 1121bs. in five 
 months to one thousand sheep : as such, I fearlessly assert, that the im- 
 portance of salt for cattle is incontrovertibly established, however imper- 
 fectly it may be practised. I subjoin the statement of the late Mr. 
 Cur wen, M. P. for Cumberland. He employed salt to his live stock daily 
 for years : 
 
 For horses he gave 6 oz. per day. 
 
 Milch cows 4 ditto 
 
 Feeding oxen 6 ditto 
 
 Yearlings 3 ditto 
 
 Calves 1 ditto 
 
 Sheep 2 to 4 per week. 
 
 " If on dry pastures ; but if they are feeding on turnips or coles, then they 
 should have it without stint." 
 
 Some give it to live stock, on a slate or stone, some lay lumps of it in the 
 cribs or mangers. It is a fact indisputably proved, that if sheep are allowed 
 free access to salt, they will never be subject to the disease called the Rot. 
 Is not this a fact worthy of the farmer's earliest, most zealous attention ? 
 Some recent experiments also lead me even to hope that I shall one 
 day or other be able to prove it to be a cure for this devastating disease. 
 1 have room but for one fact. " Mr. Rusher, of Stanley, in Gloucester- 
 shire, in the autumn of 1828, purchased, for a mere trifle, twenty sheep, 
 decidedly rotten ; and gave each of them, for some weeks, an ounce of salt 
 every morning. Two only died during the winter ; the surviving eighteen 
 were cured, and have now," says my informant, " lambs by their sides." 
 
 The late Mr. Butcher, of Brook Hall, in Essex, for years employed salt 
 for his cattle and sheep, on his farm near Burnham, in Norfolk. One of 
 his fields was so very unfavourable for sheep, that before he used salt, he 
 had lost ten and twelve sheep in a night, when feeding on the turnips ; but 
 after he had adopted salt, he never lost one. He used to let the sheep have 
 the salt without stint ; and he remarked, that the sheep always consumed 
 four times the salt on this particular field, than when feeding on any other 
 
13 
 
 on the farm. Mr. Butcher one year let this field of turnips to a neighbour, 
 who did not use salt ; and consequently, after losing ten sheep the first 
 night, gave up the field in despair. 
 
 Sir Jacob Ashley, of Melton Constable, in Norfolk, gives about a 
 table spoonful per week to each of his fox hounds : it keeps away dis- 
 tempers, and preserves them in the best health and vigour. It is admin- 
 istered wrapped up in a paper as a bolus. 
 
 Although the use of salt for live stock is now becoming quite general, 
 yet the enlightened farmer must not suppose that its introduction, even 
 for that important purpose, was the work of a day. The very magistrates 
 were opposed to its use for, only a few years since, some honest farmer's 
 servants were brought before a justice of the peace at Winchester, charged, 
 by their ignorant master, with the dreadful crime of giving his horses salt 
 in their corn. " I should not have suspected it," said the farmer, " had 
 not my horses' coats become so fine lately." " Salt for horses !" exclaimed 
 the indignant magistrate, " can any thing be more poisonous ? Let the 
 rascals be committed to the Bridewell for a month." 
 
 HORTICULTURE. 
 
 In the garden, much good may be effected by a judicious employment of 
 common salt. I am indebted to my brother, Mr. George Johnson, for 
 several important experiments with salt, in the kitchen garden : they were 
 made with much care, and I can vouch for their correctness. 
 
 The soil on which these experiments were made was sandy ; and I 
 abridge from his paper, read before the London Horticultural Society, in 
 November, 1821, the following detail of the result. 
 
 WINDSOR BEANS. 
 
 Experiments. PRODUCE IN BUSHELS. Per Acre. 
 
 1. Soil without any manure 135$ 
 
 2. Soil dressed with 20 bushels of salt per acre, week before seed time . . . 217 
 
 ONIONS. 
 
 tons. cwt. qrs. Ibs. 
 
 1. Soil manured with 20 bushels of salt and 10 tons of farm-yard manure 3 12 3 12 
 
 2. Soil manured'with 12 tons of farm-yard manure . . . . 2 10 2 19 
 
 CARROTS. 
 
 tons. cwt. qrs. Ibs. 
 
 1. Soil manured with 20 bushels of salt and 20 tons of manure . .23 6 1 18 
 
 2. Soil, 20 tons of manure only 22 18 26 
 
 3. Soil manured with 20 bushels of salt only 18 2 
 
 4. Soil without any manure 13 4 
 
 PARSNIPS. 
 
 tons. cwt. 
 
 1. Yard manure 20 tons, salt 20 bushels . . 6 15 
 
 2. Yard manure 20 tons 611 
 
 EARLY POTATOES. 
 
 Experiment. PRODUCE PER ACRE. Bushels. 
 
 1. Soil without any manure 308 
 
 2. Soil manured with 20 bushels of salt per acre 584 
 
 In 182(3, salt at the rate of 20 bushels per acre was applied, soon after 
 the seed was sown, to half of a carrot bed, in a garden belonging to 
 Richard Francis, Esq., Droitwich : the summer proving dry, the carrots 
 received but little benefit (the salt should have been mixed with an equal 
 quantity of soot,) 
 
14 
 
 In 1827 the same bed, without any additional manure, being- sown with 
 peas, presented a most remarkable appearance ; for when the peas on the 
 unsalted portion was only four inches high, the salted were at least sixteen 
 inches, and nearly in bloom ; they yielded five or six times as many pods, 
 and those full three weeks earlier than the unsalted portion. 
 
 Will not the market gardener be able to avail himself of this curious 
 property of salt ? I can testify from my own experience, that salt forwards 
 the growth of potatoes, &c. And in the year 1834, all those seed potatoes 
 which had been treated with salt, or, before planting, had been soaked for 
 some hours in a weak solution of salt and water, produced excellent po- 
 tatoes, notwithstanding the general failure of the potatoe crops of that 
 year. 
 
 I have, in my Essay, given at length, the experiments of Dr. Priestley, 
 upon various plants vegetating in salt and water. He found that the use 
 of salt materially protracted the existence of the plant. Flowers, kept in 
 water vases, continue much longer in bloom, if a portion of salt be added 
 to the water. It is a common custom with the importers of exotic plants, 
 to dip cuttings into salt water. Before the adoption of this plan, they 
 almost invariably perished in the passage. 
 
 To explain these curious facts, it is supposed that the salt acts as a sti- 
 mulant to the plant ; a word, however, merely used for the want of a 
 better, as most of the amazing processes and wondrous phenomena of 
 vegetable life are too inscrutable but for the eye of Him 
 
 " Who spoke the word, and Nature moved complete." 
 
 Among the very last letters received on the use of salt in the cultivation 
 of plants, was one from an eminent florist, near Paddington, Mr. Thomas 
 Hogg, and I will here transcribe his own words : 
 
 " From the few experiments that I have tried with salt as a garden manure, I am fully prepared 
 to bear testimony to its usefulness. In a treatise upon flowers, published about six years since, 
 I remarked, that the application of salt, and its utility as a manure, was yet imperfectly under- 
 stood. It is a matter of uncertainty, whether it acts directly as a manure, or only as a kind of 
 spice or seasoning, thereby rendering' the soil a more palatable food for plants. 
 
 " The idea that first suggested itself to my mind, arose from contemplating the successful cul- 
 ture of hyacinths in Holland. This root, though not indigenous to the country, "may be said to be 
 completely naturalized in the neighbourhood of Haerlem, where it grows luxuriantly in a deep 
 sandy alluvial soil : yet one great cause of its free growth, I considered, was owing to the saline 
 atmosphere: this induced me to mix salt in the compost ; and 1 am satisfied that no Hyacinths 
 will grow well at a distance from the sea without it. I am also of opinion, that the numerous 
 bulbous tribe of Amaryllises, especially those from the Cape of Good Hope ; Ixias, Aliums, which 
 include Unions, Garltc, Shalots, &c., Anemonies, various species of the Lily, Antholyza, Col- 
 chicum, Crinuin. Cyclamens, Narcissus, Iris, Gladiolus, Ranunculus, SeiHa, and many 
 others, should either have salt or sea sand in the mould used for them. 
 
 " I invariably use salt as an ingredient in my compost for carnations; a plant which, like 
 wheat, requires substantial soil and all the strength and heat of the summer to bring it to perfec- 
 tion ; and I believe I might say, without boasting, that few excel me in blooming that llower. 
 " If 1 wished to refresh and improve a soil of what is called an old worn-out garden exhausted 
 by fifty years' cropping, or more, I would give it (i or 3 part at a time) a good dressing of lime in 
 tlie autumn, spreading it as soon as it was slacked^ and forking it in immediately. I would, a week 
 or two after that, dig and trench it well in the rough, and lay it up for the frost to act upon ; and 
 then in the spring, I would give it a good dressing of salt (not less than six bushels to an acre.) 
 The good effect of such treatment would be manifest for two or three years after." 
 
 In the inundations of the sea, as in Friesland for instance, in 1825, various 
 curious effects were produced by the salt water. The oak, the mulbeny, 
 pear, peach, and others with deep roots, did not suffer ; neither did the 
 asparagus, onions, celery, &c., for they were never liner, or more luxuriant. 
 But the vines and gooseberries contracted a salt taste ; and the apricots, 
 apples, cherries, elms, poplars, beech, willows, c., could not bear the over 
 
15 
 
 dose of sea-water. They pushed out a few leaves, but speedily perished. 
 Sharon Turner s History, 117. 
 
 Similar results were noticed, after an inundation of the sea, in the garden 
 of the late talented Richard Gower, Esq. near Ipswich, in Suffolk, in 
 November, 1824. In this instance a portion of the garden remained 24 
 hours under the sea water. The asparagus beds were materially improved 
 in their produce. The cherry trees, in the following year, actually pro- 
 duced a numerous crop of cherries, which tasted, however, so very salt that 
 they could not be eaten, although very fine in appearance. These trees all 
 died in the following year, 1826. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 From the statements which I have now been enabled, through the kindness 
 of my friends, to lay before the farmer, he must agree that the use of salt 
 in agriculture is of the highest importance ; he cannot but acknowledge 
 this, unless, indeed, he believes that all those who have tried salt as a 
 manure, were alike deceived ; that Messrs. Brooke and Ransom, in Suffolk ; 
 Messrs. Baynes, Butler, Wood, and Challis, in Essex ; Mr. Ross, in Kent; 
 Mr. Burrell, in Sussex ; Mr. Long, in Hampshire ; Mr. Benett, in Wilt- 
 shire ; Mr. Sinclair, in Bedfordshire ; Mr. Hollingshead, in Lancashire ; 
 Messrs. Sickler and Hoblyn, in Cornwall ; Mr. Hogg, in Middlesex ; Mr. 
 Collyns, in Devonshire, and a host of others, were all deceived in their 
 experiments, and in error in their conclusions. 
 
 That salt is alike beneficial to all kinds of land, and at all times, is an 
 assertion too absurd to need refutation, for such an universal property 
 belongs to no other manure j even chalk or lime will not suit all soils. 
 Stable manure may be employed without benefit. When chalk is applied 
 to some soils, years must elapse before its good effects are visible to the 
 farmer ; " and yet," said the late eloquent Lord Erskine, " chalk, which 
 has caused to start into life the most inert soils, is just nothing as a manure 
 compared with salt." And, let me ask, what would have been the fate of 
 chalk as a manure, had its early advocates decided upon its merits, without 
 first employing that patient spirit of investigation so especially necessary 
 in all agricultural pursuits ? Would chalk, or gypsum, or lime, or bone 
 dust, ever have been generally employed as a manure, had their advocates 
 been infected with a spirit of impatience, and proud contempt of the ex- 
 periments and rules of those who went before them ? Chalk and gypsum 
 had their opponents ; they too, had to encounter ignorance in all shapes ; 
 but they triumphed at last, and so will the advocates of salt. 
 
 It is not intended to be concealed, that salt has been employed some- 
 times with detriment to the crop under experiment, ->ften without any 
 effect ; yet there are no proofs even of its inutility. Some soils require 
 it to be applied in the autumn, others in the spring ; some crops are most 
 benefitted by having it applied long previous to their insertion, others at 
 that immediate period. Neither let any farmer imagine, because it is 
 beneficial to his light soils, that it cannot be equally so to more tenacious 
 ones : its gently moistening powers render the first more fertile, the latter 
 friable, and more open to every agricultural operation in the driest seasons. 
 On the richest soils it may be employed with advantage, were it only to 
 destroy the predatory vermin with which they more than usually abound. 
 Those who have studied the subject the most, and witnessed the greatest 
 
16 
 
 number of experiment?, must agree in considering that there is no soil or 
 crop that will not, under some circumstances, be benefited by the appli- 
 cation of salt ; it cannot be otherwise, but in the immediate vicinity of the 
 ocean. The misfortune is, that no enlightened agriculturist has grappled 
 w T ith its investigation, with the patient determination to establish its true 
 worth: the Drill Husbandry has had its Coke: the Grazing System its 
 Somerville ; but salt is still without its demonstrator. The combined 
 exertions of the many may obviate this deficiency. Let every farmer but 
 institute and carefully pursue an experiment, and let him communicate it 
 to the public, whether favourable or otherwise, in all its details ; and the 
 true value of salt as a manure will soon be established. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add, let no one view the subject as of small 
 importance : say nothing of it in a scientific point of view, that cannot be 
 unimportant, with which is connected one of the staple manufactures of 
 the country, and which involves the cheapest and most profitable manure 
 within the reach of the agriculturist. Let no one think he can do nothing 
 in furtherance of the research : the most ill-directed and unsuccessful experi- 
 ment serves at least as a warning, a beacon to others : a judicious one, 
 especially when crowned with success, bears with it the inestimable grati- 
 fication that a benefit is conferred upon mankind ! the pleasure that 
 always accompanies the illustration of truth. 
 
 It has been often and well said, that, " He v/ho makes two blades of 
 grass grow, where but one did before, deserves better of mankind than the 
 w r hole race of politicians." 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 AND WHICH MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. 
 
 An Essay on the Uses of Salt for Agricultural Purposes. Third Edition, 
 Svo. os. 
 
 On the Use of Crushed Bones as Manure, Svo., Third Edition, Is. 
 
 On Liquid Manures, Svo, Is. 6d. 
 
 On the Advantages of Railways to Agriculture, Svo. Second Edition, is. 
 
 'Ihe Life of Sir Edward Coke, 2 vols. Svo. '28s. 
 
 The Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, &c., 12mo. 7s. 
 
 " I have found all the cases bearing upon this point, in the excellent work of Mr. 
 Johnson on Bills of Exchange, recently published. It is a little Book, but it is not the 
 worse for that." Judge J. A. Park, hi Davis v. Tiinncdiffc, T. T. 1838. 
 
 AND BY GEORGE W. JOHNSON, ESQ., BARRISTER AT LAV,-. 
 A History of English Gardening, Svo., 9s. 
 The Kitchen Garden, l'2mo, 3s. 6d. 
 1 he Life of John Selden, Svo. 12s. 
 
 Report of the Braintree Church Rate Case, Veley and Joslin v. Burder t 
 8fC., Svo., 4s. 
 
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