The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1854-09-06
farurer' $ Column.
How blest the Farmers simple life
Far from the noise of the City's strife.
@4RA@y
"@
SALT as A MANURE,

G.. D. asks us for advice as to "the
application of common Salt as a ma
nure for different crops" &C., which we
proceed to give to the best of our ability.
Any good farmer who has used Salt may
correct our notions by his own expert
ence.
The best mode of applying Salt to
any land not recently and heavily lined,
we believe to be this: Set conveniently
to water a half-hogshead, large tub, or
half barrel that will hold liquid; put in
it two or three bricks standing on end,
and thereon set a basket containing a
bushel or more of salt now dash pail
full after pail-full of water on the Salt
until the whole is dissolved; put more
Salt into the basket, and throw on water
until your tub is full of water, contain
ing all the Salt it will dissolve. Ut
may be a little easier though slower pro-
cess to fill your tub two-thirds fail of
water and set your basket of Salt Snto
it as aforesaid.) Have a cart-load of
unslacked Lime ready, (scrap or refuse
Lime, if fresh from the Kiln and IN
slaked, is as valuable for this use or any
other, while usually very cheap) and
pour this dissolved Salt on the Lime IN
til it will take up no more, and you have
now a perfect chemical compound of
the Lime and Salt-in other words, a
Chloride of Lime. This is Prof, Mapes's
mode of applying Lime-whether orig
inal with him or not, is of no conse-
quence; but it seems to us very ration
al and economical. With the ordinary
New York Salt, an hours labor should
suffice to prepare a CARLOAD of this chic
ride, which may be sowed on the recent
ly plowed land and narrowed in with
Oats or any broadcast seed, or in prep
aration for planting. We have not seen
it tried as a topdressing for Grass, but
think it would do good even there.
A still better, though slower, mode of
applying the Chloride of Lime afore-
said is this: If you have a piece of
swamp or bog land, or any sort of brog-
pond, cut off the bushes, if such there
be, give its water an outlet if necessary,
and improve the dryest part of the sum-
mer or fall to draw u upon the near
est high level spot as many loads of the
muck as you can find time fora thou
sand would not be too many, though the
area of your farm be but twenty acres.
Estimate the solid contents of your muck
heap and apply n bushel of the Salt
and Lime mixture aforesaid to each
cord of the muck. 1t may or may not
be wise to set up four crotches sticks or
posts, two eight and two ten feet high,
at the corners of your pile, run poles
across and put the rudest possible roof
of slabs or fuse boards over head, leav-
ing ample room for the air to sweep over
the pile, with chances of part of the rain
to drip through between The loose boards.
We thinkit would pay to shove the heap
once in November and again in March
but we are not sure of this, Haul out
as you pillow upland in the Spring, and
spread broadcast, taking care not to
spread too thin-forty cords to the acre
is little enough, and theEoar acres that
will thank you for a hundred-and we
will warrant the land net to forget the
application for many a fruitful year.
Salt may be p~roftably applied in its
natural state, or simply dissolved as
aforesaid and mixed (instead of Lime)
with enough muck or dry earth to absorb
it, on fields infested by worms, as wet
lands recently taken out of grass are apt
to be. We lost moro than half of what
should have been our best acre of Corn
this year by wire-worms, when five or
six bushels of Salt. harro we'd in as afcre-
said just before planting, would have
saved nearly all of it. After loosing
half the stalks, we had the s~ickly-looking
residue well dosed with raw Salt, a hand
full to each hill, applied quite near to
the young Corn and though the ends
of the leaves were thereby schorohed and
killed as if exposed to fire, yet the Corn
speedily recovered, while the worms dis
appeared. We. don't advise this mode
of application-there are ever so many
better-but five ever have another crop
attacked by worms of any sort, we shall
take their oppinion of the virtues of
Salt
If you have any land infected with
worms or weeds, you may be assured
that you can kill both or either, by a
dressing of Salt, and you will only lose
the use of it one year. while undergoing
the publication, and after that it will
produce almost any crop you put upon
it in largely increased abundance.
The easiest way to kill weeds in walks
is to salt them to death. 1t will kill
any but asparagus-for that it is the best
of all fertilizers.
In England Salt is used at the rate
of three to seventeen bushels per acre.