LESSON XLIV
SALT
Salt is an every-day article, so common that we rarely give it a thought; yet, like most common things, it is useful enough to be ranked among the necessaries of life. "I could not live without salt," would sound to us exaggerated in the mouth of any one. Have you ever fancied that you could do without it?
How would meat taste without salt? Would not much of our vegetable food be insipid, if we neglected this common seasoning? And even the "daily bread" demands its share.
Where is this salt found, that we prize so little, yet need so much? The sea furnishes some, and salt-mines and salt-springs give the rest. Most of the salt used in this country is obtained from the water of certain springs. Among the richest of these springs are those at Salina, now a part of the city of Syracuse, New York. Forty gallons of water from these wells yield one bushel of salt.