Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-04-10
SALT AS A FERTILIZER.

As to the quantity that may be applied
per acre, that depends upon the crop and the
climate On asparagus, several hundred
bushels may be used without harm. On
sugar beets and tobacco, large applications
will often promote growth, sometimes n.
derfully but the beets will not yield their
sugar, and the tobacco will not make good
smoke. On grain crops, five to fifteen bush
els per acre, and IN England, larger quanti-
ties have been used More can be safely
employed in moist climates or seasons than
in dry. Ten bushels is perhaps the happy
medium adapted for an experimental trial.
So much for the quantity that "can be used
per acre" Now, something more as to how
much may be used with benefit" Salt acts
upon the crop, for the most part, in an indi-
rect manner. 1t does not coRtribute greatly
to the growth of plants by its own elements,
sodium and chlorine, neither of which are
needed by agricultural plants in much quanti-
ty. 1t is therefore, frequently Of no per-
ceptible advantage. Sometimes, however, a
moderate dressing produces remarkable eff.
fects. In the soil, salt, like most saline fer
tilizers, is capable of working chemical
changes that may be useful to the crop. 1t
dissolves or displaces one or more elements
of nutrition from combinations which the
plants cannot overcome, and renders them
avail lble This fact has been demonstrated
by numerous chemical Investigations. Hell
den, Peters, Jones and Frank have each
made comparative trials on various soils as
to the kind and amount of matter dissolved
from them by given quantity of weak salt
solution, compared with that dissolved by
pure water. The results differ according to
the soil experimental upon, but the general
fact is that salt considerably increases the
solvent powers of water for lime, magnesia
potash, oxide of iron, and humus especially
for the two first named 1t is plain, then,
that certain soils may give better crops for a
dressing Of salt, because the salt by its in
direct action is equivalent to an addition OF
lime, maguesla or potash. Ii, however
these are sufficiently supplied by the soil it
self the addition of salt is detriment, be-
cause it makes these elements soluble, only
to be washed out by the rain. When we
have a deep and heavy (clayey or loamy)
soil, which contains at depth below the
reach Of tillage stores OF plant.foOd which
are too slow in becoming of avail to crops,
we can use salt TO make them more speedily
serviceabe we can in fact manure the sub
soil indirectly by its application to the sur
face. The fact that the ocean is so
salt that in other words three-fourths OF
the matters dissolved in it are chloride
Of sodium, shows IT. soils leave little
retentive or absOIp.e powers for the
elements sodium and chlorine. Direct ex.
pertinent confirms the fact that of all sa.
line compounds found in the saltwater,
common salt is one which is in general least
Fixed or absorbed by filtration through earth.
By virtue of this solubility it is adapted to
penetrate parts of the soil where no tillagc
can upturn, aud where no manure can be
put, and by its chemical action there to feed
the long-rooted plants. like clover, beets &c,
which otherwise might be insuficiently pour
ished.
These remarks upon its mode of action
are made to explain the fact of practice that
salt more often gives no result than a good
one, also to show under what circumstances
it may be advisable to try il, and to make
it evident that our knowledge of the condi.
tions that govern its working is so incomplete
that experiment alone can be depended upon
to determine whether it will operate advan.
tageously in any gwen case. Fish salt il
neither better nor worse than ordinary salt
Prof S, w. Johnson IN New York Trib
| une