382 



Editorial JVotices. 



Vol. IX. 



new work, which I can say with confidence, is the key 

 with which you can, by the exercise of a little intelli- 

 gence and industry, double the product of your farms ; 

 for, in this work, the system is so much improved, its 

 application rendered so easy, the whole so clearly ex- 

 plained, and so fully detailed, that if you conform to 

 its prescriptions and instructions with scrupulous ex 

 actness, success is certain. 



In the main, my method is based upon that known 

 for some time in France as Jauffret's system; that is 

 to say, I use the same materials; for, in my researches 

 and experiments it became my duty to consult not only 

 the small French pamphlet of Jauflret, but all other 

 writings which have appeared upon the subject of ag- 

 riculture, and especially of manure, in order to extract 

 from them whatever, by experiment, should prove to 

 be good, valuable, and useful to the object I had in 

 view. The merit of this new system does not consist 

 either in the materials, or in their combination. These 

 materials have been known for ages as possessing fer- 

 tilizing qualities, and every person at all acquainted 

 with chemistry, knows that in mixing alkalies with 

 animal matter, a mordant can be obtained which will 

 produce fermentation in a heap of vegetables. This 

 then, is not new; it is the numerous improvements 

 and ameliorations connected with the application of 

 these materials which give real importance to this 

 new system. Therein lies the real progress of the art 

 in the preparation and the application of manures, 

 and therein consists the merit of the new edition of 

 the method. True, Jauflret also undertook the applica- 

 tion of this mixture, but he stopped half way. His 

 process, such as described in his pamphlet, cannot be 

 used with profit and success, and that for three cogent 

 reasons. The first Is : the meagre and incomplete in- 

 structions he gives to the operator upon the application 

 of the system ; the second, because the hand labor is 

 loo painful and expensive; and the third, because he 

 did not discover, and consequently could not tell how 

 to employ the air as a second agent of fermentation— 

 a very important point in the operation, because with- 

 out this aid, it is impossible to attain that degree of 

 heat which is necessary perfectly to reduce vegetable 

 matter into manure in a short time. Therein he failed, 

 and therefore it remained for others to accomplish the 

 work he had left incomplete. But although I have 

 perhaps gone much farther than all others who have 

 hitherto devoted their attention to this subject, I do 

 not pretend to have closed the door to improvement 

 by my method. The question of manure is so exten- 

 sive that it embraces nearly the whole agricultural 

 art, and will in due lime advance to fullness by rely- 

 ing upon science and practice. In the meanwhile the 

 great step is made, the fundamental bases are estab- 

 lished, and the system, as explained in my new work, 

 has been so well matured by my experiments, that I 

 can afl^rm without fear of misleading any one, that 

 any farmer, who will undertake to operate on my plan 

 will succeed, and I assure him that he will consider 

 ably augment the products of hia farm by following 

 my economical process in the preparation and appli- 

 cation of his manure. Here the word " economicar 

 is seriously intended. The system taken altogether is 

 essentially economical; for except a small quantity of 

 lime, all the ingredients which enter into the composi- 



tion of the caustic lye, (which, with the air, form the 

 two agents of fermentation,) are found upon all farms, 

 and cost nothing but the labor of gathering them. 



Concerning the patent attached to my method, it is 

 evident that it could only be granted for the improve- 

 ment connected with the application of materials al- 

 Teady known. You should know then, that the patcnt- 

 [ed process is of the greatest advantage to the farmer, 

 being the most economical, and the most easily reduced 

 into practice. It is also the process now in use in 

 every section of the Union. You should also under- 

 stand, that in the patent this process is only described 

 in general terms, and that, isolated from the "me- 

 thod," it is not likely to be of any value. To apply 

 t with success, it is necessary to have my work for a 

 ruide. 



According to an agreement between myself and my 

 agents, Messrs. Baer and Gouliart, the patent was is- 

 iued under their name, and a part of it, comprising the 

 right for the northern and eastern States, was imme- 

 diately ceded to me by them, which iransf.T is duly 

 recorded in the patent office, in Liber M. page ^80 of 

 transfers of patent rights. Then by a second transfer, 

 made to me the 0th Nov. 1844, by Abbott, Baer and 

 Gouliart, known as the firm of Abbott & Co., the re- 

 maining part, comprising the right in the southern 

 and western States, has also been ceded to me, which 

 transfer is also recorded in the patent oflice, in Liber 

 S, page 373; so that by virtue of these two acts, the 

 patent, issued under the above names, now belon>'s 

 entirely to me. 



With regard to the "method" itself, that is to say, 

 the book which contains the directions and instruc- 

 tions indispensible to the farmer who wishes to apply 

 the process; in a word, which contains the system 

 complete in all its details, the property and the copy- 

 right appertain to myself exclusively, according to two 

 legal acts entered in the clerk's office of the southern 

 dictrict of New York. Thus, these two rights, al- 

 though distinct, are inseparable; that is, the patent 

 cannot be profitable to any one without the method. 



I was compelled to give these explanations and to 

 make these statements, because all these matters have 

 been agitated by the press as well as by private cor- 

 respondence ; and also, that for the future, each one 

 may know to whom to apply in regard to this patent 

 and method. 



You should not lo.se sight of the fact that all the co- 

 pies of the method are signed and sealed with my own 

 hand,— a measure I have adopted to prevent imposi- 

 lion and fraud. 



A call to the Press. 



B3" Editors of agricultural periodicals, and of other 

 papers having at least 400 farmer subscribers, are in- 

 vited to publish the above communication; for which 

 entire insertion, and perhaps some other articles to bo 

 sent by me afterwards, I offer every one three copies 

 of the method; to be delivered to him immediately 

 after the receipt of his paper containing the whole 

 article. Such editors of agricultural papers of which 

 I am not yet a subscriber, will please to send me their 

 paper, and consider me as such, GEO. BOMMEB. 

 Office 113 Greenwich street, New York city. 

 July 1st. 1845. 



