SALSIFY. Vegetable oyster, (11ragopogom porrifolium.) This is one of the most valuable of esculent roots for the kitchen garden, as hardy as parsnip, and like that plant may be left in the ground all winter. It should be sown as, early in the spring as possible, and requires the whole season's growth. The soil must be deep, mellow, and fertile, as for all the spindle-shaped' roots. Sow in drills two feet apart, and thin to about five inches in the row for large roots. It is a perennial, seeding the second year, and. has rather handsome flowers. The root is the part used, after the first year's growth, in the winter and early spring, but the tender shoots of the second year's growth, when six inches or less high, are sometimes used as a substitute for asparagus. The roots cooked have the reputa tion of being good for persons inclined to dis eases of a wasting nature as consumption. It is cooked as follows: After the roots have been scraped, and laid in water for several minutes to abstract a part of the bitter flavor, it is to be boiled tender, and either cut in thin slices, or grated and pressed into little cakes, of the size of oysters. Dip the slices, or cakes, into a batter made of wheat flour, milk and eggs; roll them in crumbled bread or crackers; and then drop them into hot lard. When of a light brown color, they are sufficiently cooked, and ready to be carried to the table. Or they may be sliced, cooked tender in milk, and served on toast. SALT. Chloride of sodium. Chemically, salt is a compound of one atom of chlorine and one of sodium, and occurs naturally in every part of the globe as a rock, interstratified with marls, sandstones, gypsum, etc. ; also as an element of springs and salt lakes; Salt Lake, in Utah, being the most remarkable of this latter, its water heing a saturated solution of salt. The propor
tion of the constituents of salt are chlorine, 60.4 per cent. and sodium 39.6 per cent. Its impuri ties, as found in rock salt, are gypsum, oxide of iron and clay, chlorides of calcium, potassium and magnesium, and sulphates of soda and magnesia. The ocean contains notable quanti ties of salt, and is one principal source of the supply of salt by evaporation. A peculiarity of salt is its power of transmitting heat, clear rock salt transmitting ninety-two parts out of one hundred, while plate glass transmits but twenty f our parts. Salt is the only mineral substance universally regarded as an article of food by man, and the higher orders of the animal king dom. As a preservative also it is indispensable, and as a manure it is of growing importance, especially in inter-continental climates. In the United States, the principal sources of supply are from the salt springs ot New York State, and those of Michigan, though more or less salt is manufactured in various States. In 1797, the first salt was made at Onondaga, New York. At least that was the first date of the lease; 25,474 bushels were manufactured in that year. In 1849, the amount was 5,083,369 bushels; in 1855, it was 6.082,885 bushels. Since then the quantity has fluctuated above and below these figures. Since 1860 the salines of Michigan have supplied the West with a large and increasing quantity of salt. The three principal salines of Michigan are the Salina, the Michigan salt group and the coal measures—of these the Michigan salt group supplies the largest number of productive wells. These salines lie at an average of about 800 feet, the brine being often at or near the saturation point, and practically inexhaustible.