The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-04-08 00:00:00

° "-,

ON THE ABUNIMIVOit OF SALT.
•

CONSUMPTION BY AGRICULTURISTS.
The fullowiaa. is extracted beau • west Wel, pedgiebeii,
emitted l'honfrAts bko tom etitireir
Argon's's for Out Riposte thombierse. 1111101111011dfrell
roriety of .4oteroor 1 sod ervaaprill
llarda."— fly &marl Parke% F.L.IL .1111.1 LL wed Ilesibir
or the Geological Society.
. ,
Lest an idea should be entertained `that theist
ntiA•ht be some tliwiger of a scarcity of • salt.' if this
lig Ad commodity should be employed ilt agricinla
t rare. &c. I copy the following short account of the
saltlros Ls ut Droitwich, in Worcestershire, front in
aufliiir of undoubted credit. " Records of these
a:tit-works," says Dr. Nub, " ere treerd 'front the
yrs,. .815 ; they are nientioned in Dorn boo* ;
and Kingluliti granted to the burgessesirtr; town
nhatever he had in the village of Wich, with the
suit-pits and all their •ppurteuauces, foe the sum
uF 1001. sterling yearly
lia 1715, the proprietors having nnderstobd
frrim some persons concerned in the Cheshire stilt-
works. that the strongest brine there'hiy lower than
the'pits at Droitaich were commonly dug. ordered
the talc at the bottom of their pas to he audit
through : upon which. the strong brine burit
with such violence as to kill the two liihourets then
at work. Since this, ouch a profusion of brine has
been obtained. that not a tenth part of it has ever

been used, bat has run to mote.
" 111 sinking these brine-pits, it is generally
'found to be about 35 feet to the talc; through the
stratum of talc 130 feet; nutlet the talc a river of
brine 2.11 inches deep; and coder this river a hard
*rock of salt..' Thetalc is so hard. that the workmen
never sink the pit through it ; 'but bore a hole four
inches in diameter, through which the
,brine rises
awl fills the pit (I)."
Hosier the grant of King John and eerie al sub-
sequent grants from the Crown, the proprietors of '
the old works monopolised the trade in salt, mud
prevented all persons in the neighbourhood from.
sinking any new pits. However. uhput the year
1690, Rotten Strystor, Esq. a gentleman possessed
of snare than 1,000/. a year in landed eatitte, souk
a pit trimii his own ground, and determined to try
the right wills the Corporation. This gentleman
resolutely defended himself at an expense of more
than six thousand pouuds, and after vicious trials
eetablished his tight ; in consequence of which the
Monopoly was destroyed; the trade was greatly ex-
tended ; and the price of salt was reduced from
two shillings a bushel to four-pence,
I shall hardly be believed when inform my
tenders that this gentleman was so reduced by the
e%poqiees of this lingo • , and so entangled in late
by his patriotic struggles for the public good, that
he hot only lust his whole estate, but the neigh-
bourhood which iw had so much benefitted allowed
Nine to end his days upon a parish allowance. A
daughter of this gentleman was living twenty or
thaty yews ago at Droitwich on the same kind of
simmer'.
lie.ides tlmr. springs at Droitwich, which would
spoor be sufficient to supply the whole consumption
of Great Britain, the salt-works at Nattiptwich,
iddlew ich, Northwich, and Winsford, in the county
sir* Chester, are too well known to need any descrip-
tion. At Northwich there are °Ours of ruck-salt of
such an immense extent, that it is probable the
constant working of them for some thousaud years
to come would not exhaust them.
As the Salt Duty is likely to be repelled, it has
svcatrreil to stir, that its this case it might be very
advantageous to allay individuals to find that there
*ere salt %prin.,s in other parts of these kingdoms
besides those already mentioned ; and I do think
that it wo.,:d be a very acceptable present to the
puldie, if some person of leisure woold attempt to
give a complete list of the places where such springs
ere to, he found; that every person might take Isis
salt ir7TTI that spot which should be most conti-
guous to him. The only places of which 1 have
myself met with an Lecount are as fellow.
There is a salt spring at East Cheunock, in So-
mereetshire (1.), shout 20 miles from the sea, and
another at Leamington, in Warwickshire (3). Such
a splint; likewise tubs into the river Cherwell, lit
etxfordshire(4); and there are several snore in West-
morland and Yorkshire. which ought to be remem-
bered. At Borrovidale, near Grange, three miles
from Keswick, iii Cumberland, a pretty strong
spring rises in a level, near a moss, sixteen gallons
or the waters of which yield one gallon of pure
salt (5). At a place called Salt-water-hough, near
Butterby, in the Bishopric of Durham, there are
a multitude of salt springs, which rise in the midst
of the river Wears% for the space of about forty
yards in length, and ten its breadth ; but particu-
larly one out of a rock, whir h is so strong, that its a
hot summer's day the surface will be covered with a
pure white salt (6). At Weston in Staffordshire,
there are brine pits which afford ;bout a Muth part
. in measure of pure salt. There are others at Einem
tit. Thomas, and in the parish of Ingestre; and it
is believed that, by boring lower, stronger springs
might he found in the neighbourhood (7). In
Lancashire there are several salt springs (8), espe-
cially that of Berme, which is as rich as the spring
at Nurthwich.
Not only Great Britain. but many other nations
of the world enjoy this valuable production of
nature in abinidinice. Some years ago an American
friend %rote me word that there hail lately beeddis-
covered a mountain of rock-salt in Louiriaua, one
hundred slid eighty miles long, forty-five miles
it isle, and of a very comaiderable height, the surface
of which is barely covered with earth, and not a
tree or a shrub growing upon it.
The salt-mints near Cracow, in Poland, are of
immense extent, andare visited by travellers as one
of the greatest curiosities in the world. Eight
hundred workmen are constantly employed in this
mine; and Nature, ever provident, has contrived
that u stream of fresh scaler, pure and transparent,

(1) See Dr. Nilsles Collections for the History of 'Varese-
tershirs. 2 vols. folio. Landau, printed 1761.
(2) See Campbell's Political Surrey of Great Britain.
Philosophical Transactions, Nu. 156, page 1130.
(3) earldom's Britannia, Vol. I. col. 580.
(1) Plot's Natural Midory of Orfordehirc, chap. ii
IS.
(5) Shore* Hiding of Mineral IVaters, p 65.
(6) Philosophical Transactions, No. claiii. page 726.—.
CAttitrer'r Britannia Bacontea, page 165.
(7) Plot's Natural History, of Staffordshire, chap. ii.
S 103, 112.
(ti, shores history of Mural Writers, page 65.