COMMON SALT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 452, 30 March 1912, Page 6

COMMON SALT.

On some of our heavy lands, particularly in the case of the Canterbury district, common salt will have to be more generally used as a means of making the land more healthy for stock, that is, as a germicide. Good land, beautifully adapted for dairying, is sometimes found to be unhealthy for sheep, producing loss of rams from this cause. The statistics of the Dominion show that sheep are increasing while dairying is decreasing. If we want to render this land suitable fur sheep, we must use salt to render it healthy. Frequent dressings of five to six cwts. of salt are necessary to kill the germs, and to dress with lime as well is of benefit. The results from the use of common salt, similarly to the use of potash, are very variable. Used on cereals it is generally applied as a top dressing to lessen the straw, and the likelihood of its going down. With some crops, such as mangels, it saems to act as a manure, increasing both the weight and the quancity. Salt used with guano is found to be a means of increasing the fertility of the guano. It prevents the rate of nitrification, and consequently the guano gives up its elements gradually throughout the period of growth of the plant. Salt on potatoes is frequently injurious. It is injurious to seeds, and as a heavy dressing it is often used for killing weeds; for this purpose, "however, the carbonate is bet-