Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Bay-salt

BAY-SALT, a kind of brownish impure salt, manufactured in France, Italy, and other countries, by evaporating sea-water in clay-pits; which is effected at a small expence, and with little trouble.

This salt is more or less adapted to all domestic uses, and forms a profitable article of commerce, as it is exported in large quantities. According to the clay employed in making the pits, it acquires different shades of colour; and, in favourable seasons, the French manufacture not only what is wanted for home consumption, but likewise considerable quantities for exportation. The greatest difficulty which attends the making of bay-salt in England, arises from a deficiency of heat in summer; because here the rays of the sun are not powerful enough to evaporate a large mass of sea-water in a certain time. However, the practicability of imitating the French, in the preparation of this article, has been clearly proved by Dr. Brownrigg. Such of our readers as are desirous of information on this subject, we refer to his pamphlet; from which copious extracts, together with remarks, have been inserted in the first volume of the "Museum Rusticum et Commerciale," p. 272; a work published in the year 1764, and well known to rural economists.