On the Culture of the Garden Hyacinth, Hya- Note on Winter pruning the Vine. By Mr.
cinthus orientális. By Mr. Alexander Camp-
bell, Gardener to the Comte de Vandes, at
Bayswater

REVIEWS.

Agricultural Implements and Machinery 125 Botanical Magazine

Garden Thermometers, and other Mathe- Books by Messrs. Longman, Rees, and Co.
matical Instruments for Gardeners

THE

GARDENER'S MAGAZINE,

JANUARY, 1827.

PART I.

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

ART. I. On the Employment of Salt as a Manure in Gardening. By Mr. G. W. JOHNSON, of Great Totham, Essex.

Sir,

AS horticulture requires that its professors should be men of science, and consequently of expanded minds; as it is patronised and practised by the fairest, the wealthiest, and the most talented inhabitants of every well civilised country, it may be justly expected to take the lead of its sister art agriculture, in all that relates to the cultivation of the soil, since the practitioners of the latter are in general much behind those of the former in every thing but mere empirical knowledge. In most cases this expectation is fully justified. The examination of the value of salt as a manure is an exception, and rather a remarkable one. Its employment, recommended on strictly scientific principles is slowly overcoming the prejudices of the agriculturist, whilst nothing like a general application of it to the crops of the garden has been known to have been attempted by any, even of its most enlightened advocates; it certainly is not commonly esteemed as one of the gardener's sources of fertility. In calling your attention to the subject, I shall merely throw together some ideas and facts which have lately occurred, referring you, sir, and those who wish to enter into the examination of the subject more in detail, to my brother's essay on its employment in agriculture, &c. (Encyclopædia of Agriculture, p. 1170, A.D. 1820.*) That

An Essay on the uses of Salt for Agricultural Purposes, with Instructions for its Employment as a Manure, and in the Feeding of Cattle, &c. By Cuthbert William Johnson, London. 8vo. 1820.

the employment of salt as a manure is not a modern recommendation is proved unequivocally by the 34th and 35th verses of the 14th chapter of St. Luke's gospel: and of perhaps all the writers upon rural subjects through succeeding ages, not one has escaped to us but mentions salt as a fertilizer of the ground, or as useful in some form or other to our crops. Lord Bacon recommends it generally for the garden. Sir Hugh Platt eulogises it for grass platts, and it is certain no application tends more to keep their verdure permanent, or to divest them of worms. Moses Cook, gardener to the Earl of Essex, in 1679, says that salt to seed " is as sack to a young child, a little doth a great deal of good." Switzer recommends it for grass and for gravel walks; " I would have those," says Cook before mentioned, "that lay salt on their gravel walks to kill their weeds, observe if in a few years they do not produce more weeds than some other that had not salt laid on them at all." Those who apply salt for this purpose, as recommended also lately by Mr. Sinclair, author of the invaluable Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis, must repeat the application at least every other year; if the salt is not in excess it promotes the growth of the weeds. Salt is a destroyer of moss on fruit trees, as long as it is present in abundance, but if not applied every other year the moss grows more luxuriant than ever. Hitt recommends it for fruit trees. About Alresford in Hants it is generally applied to onions. Mr. Knight recommends its use to late crops of peas. Mr. G. Sinclair recommends it for carrots. W. Horne, Esq. and others eulogise its employment upon turnip lands. The Rev. E. Cartwright, and others, have experienced its benefits upon potatoes; and were I to name every individual who bears testimony to the same effect upon the above mentioned and other crops, and to detail only the results of their experiments, I should trespass by far too much upon your pages. In the absence of all experiment, there are some plants under the gardener's immediate care, which, from a knowledge of their habitats, we might feel convinced would be benefited by the application of salt. The beet is a native of the sea-shore, as is the sea kale and samphire: now all these plants have been found benefited by the application of salt when growing in our garden quarters. Lord Bacon especially recommends it to beet; and in a communication I have just received from Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., of Killerton Park near Exeter, his farmer advocates its use for mangel wurzel, which is a member of the same botanical family. The cocoa nut tree is said only to flourish in the vicinity of the sea,