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NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRILIO, 1843. 



BOMMER'S PATENT MANURE. 

 We have once comiilaiiied of Mr Boinmer and 

 his agents, as also uf olher venders of patent 

 rights, upon compost manures. Our objection is 

 that tliey asli of us faith in the value of their dis- 

 coveries, witliout mailing: linown ficts enough to 

 jusiijy fiiilli. Had tliey no patent, tliere would be 

 more apology for secrecy than there now is. 



We were once permitted to read the account of 

 Mr Bouinier's process, but it was under circum- 

 stances that required secrecy ; and our perusal was 

 60 hasty that we have no opinion of our own that 

 we shiiuld wish to promulgate, even wore there no 

 obligation upon us to be silent. 



Wo hr.vc had terms offered us, upon which we 

 might become an agent for the sale of rights ; but 

 we have not yet acceded to them, because we have 

 not been able to form any satisfactory opinion as 

 to whether there is any thing in the method worth 

 paying for. We have had no permission to try 

 the process upon our own premises, excepting 

 on condition that we will advertise, and indirectly, 

 at least, recommend it. Such terms we probably 

 never shall consent to. If we can be allowed to 

 try the patent process of composting, without any 

 other condition than that of faithfully making pub- 

 lic the result after the trial has been made, we are 

 ready for the work — but to buy a right for our.self, 

 by encouraging and advising others to buy, while 

 we are yet ignorant of the value of the article re. 

 commended, is unjust to our readers, and we shall 

 do no such thing. 



With these remarks, and without giving any 

 opinion or advice, we are willing to let Mr Bar- 

 nett, the agent, speak as in the following article 

 from the Connecticut Farmers^ Gazette. — Eu. N. E. F. 



BOMMER'S MANURE— NO HUMBUG. 



Mr Editor — The invention of Mr Bommer is 

 presented to the public under circumstances which 

 ought to inspire confidence. If we were depen- 

 dent on Mr Bommer and his agents for information 

 respecting the efficiency and utility of his method, 

 we might, even in this case, regard it as entitled 

 to a candid investigation, especially when it is un- 

 derstood that we know nothing in their characters 

 calculated to excite our suspicions, or any thing in 

 the system of the process, incompatible with the 

 principles of sound philosophy. As it regards Mr 

 Bommer's personal character, it may be safely as- 

 serted that we know nothing against it; while the 

 valuable improvement which he has introduced 

 among the agriculturists of our country, very natu- 

 rally inspires us with sentiments of profound re- 

 spect for him as a gentleman of scientific research, 

 and of a discriminating judgment. His theory 

 has past the ordeal of a careful examination by dis- 

 interested gentlemen, whose attainments in sci- 

 ence pre-eminently qualified them to trace its har- 

 mony with the most approved principles of philoso- 

 phy. 



'ihe practical utility of the system has been 

 tested both by public and private experiments, and 

 in every case where the principles of the theory 

 have been fairly carried out, it has resulted witii 

 complete success. The advantages of the method 

 are so diversified that they are not likely to be duly 

 appreciated without a careful consideration. 



While I shall take it for granted, that the im- 

 portance of nutritious manure is generally ac- 

 knowledged by tho farmers of New England, it 

 must be conceded that in a majority of cases, es- 

 sential losses are sustained in this article for the 



want of a well-adjusted system. The method of 

 Mr Bommer furnishes a system of the most rigid 

 econimiy, in saving every thing that is available, 

 and in using all to the greatest advantage". The 

 expedition with which decomposition is carried on 

 by this method, has very justly attracted the atten- 

 tion of the public, and presents inducements for 

 general adoption, which it would seem that the 

 most inveterate prejudice could not resist. 



If, in any case, it may be asserted with truth, 

 that "time is money," it is emphatically true in 

 respect to the time which is saved by this rapid 

 process in converting articles, which are frequently 

 wasted, into the most valuable manure in a few 

 days, instead of requiring a year to consummate 

 the object in a manner far less effectual. 



It is certainly no trifling advantage which is de- 

 rived from this method, that the {Terminating pow- 

 ers of all weeds, submitteil to decomposition by 

 this process, will be utterly destroyed; and that 

 yard or stable manure, in which foul seed is sus- 

 pected to exist, may be essentially improved in 

 quality by this mode of management, while every 

 kind of seed in the manure will be incapable of 

 vegetating. In locations where sea-weeds or other 

 vegetable matters are easily obtained, which are 

 difficult to decompose by any ordinary process, Mr 

 Bommer's method must prove an inestimable bene- 

 fit to such as avail themselves of its use. But if 

 we add to the above the advantages of earth and 

 liquid manures, and also Mr Bommer's plan of aug- 

 menting stable or yard manure, and the process 

 which will soon be communicated to the purchasers 

 of his method of a cheap and expeditious mode of 

 converting muck and peat into good manure, it will 

 be difficult to conceive of tho amount of profit 

 which will result to community if these improve- 

 ments should be generally adopted. 



ELI BARNETT. 



Wesivilk, Ct., March 3\st, 1843. 



From the Farmer's Cabinet. 



SUBSOIL PLOWING. 



Subsoil plowing, which has attracted the atten- 

 tion of farmers for a few years past, and has been 

 attended with successful results, it seems was put 

 in practice in Maryland in 1892, as will appear by 

 the following extract from the American Farmer, 

 of April, 1823 : 



" This is to certify, that in breaking my land for 

 corn last spring, (about 60 acres,) I followed the 

 barshare plow with a substratum (subsoil) plow, 

 until I had broke about 25 acres. I believe the 

 average depth of my plowing with the barshare, 

 was about five inches, and that the substratum 

 plow worked about seven inches deeper in the 

 same furrow — making the whole 12 inches deep. 

 That otherwise, in tho planting and tillage, the 

 management was just the same, and the land of 

 about equal quality throughout the field. That the 

 corn on that part where the substratum plow was 

 used, grew about twelve inches taller, kept its color 

 through the season, and produced at least 50 per 

 cent, more corn. That the corn on the other part 

 of the field suffered very much with the drought, 

 and fired considerably. 



Joseph Delaplaine. 



Montgomery Co., Md., Feb. 18, 1843." 



It is hoped the above successful experiment, 

 together with similar results within the last year 

 or two, in other situations, will induce more far- 



mers to try their hands at subsoil plowing the com- ; 

 ing spring. The trials, so far as they have been 

 heard from, confirm the good resulls that were an- 

 ticipated from stirring the subsoil, without bringing 

 it to the surface, as is the case in trench plowing. 

 The subsoil plow introduced by Prouty, is a very 

 perfect agricultural implement, and fully answers 

 the purpose for which it was constructed. He has 

 them manufactured, adapted to one, two or three 

 horses, to suit circumstances. They would be a 

 valuable thing to rouse up a garden with. They 

 are nothing more than a plow without a mould- 

 board, rather narrower and higher than a common 

 plow, and can be made by any common plow-maker. 



Quere Would not subsoiling be capital in po. 



tato ground .' X. 



Snap Suds. — There is no better manure than 

 dirty soap suds ; and there is not a farm-house in 

 the country, but what produces enough of it in the 

 course of a year, to manure a garden two or three 

 times over. Dirty suds, after washing, is almost 

 universally thrown into the nearest gutter, to be 

 washed away and wasted. Would it not be an 

 improvement, and show a laudable economy in the 

 good woman of the farm-house, to have it convey- 

 ed to the garden, to enrich the ground, and make 

 the vegetables grow more luxuriantly ? The pot- 

 ash, the grease, and the dirt, all of which are com- 

 ponent parts of soap-suds, are first-rate manures, 

 and should always be applied to make plants grow, 

 and especially when hard times are loudly com- 

 plained of, and sound economy is the order of the 

 day Ibid. 



Gentle Means the Best. — The best tamer of colts 

 that was ever known in Massachusetts, never al- 

 lowed whip or spur to be used ; and the horses he 

 trained never needed the whip. Their spirits were 

 unbroken by severity, and they obeyed the slight- 

 est impulse of the voice or rein, with the most ani- 

 mated promptitude. He said it was with horses 

 as with children — if accustomed to beating, they 

 would not obey without it. But if managed with 

 untiring gentleness, united with consistent and 

 very equable firmness, the victory once gained over 

 them was gained forever. 



In the face of all these facts, the world goes on 

 manufacturing whips, spurs, gallows, and chains; 

 while each one carries within his own soul a divine 

 substitute for these devil's inventions, with which 

 he might work miracles, inward and outward, if he 

 would.— A^. Y. A. S. Standard. 



JVilrate of Soda The Gardener and Practical 



Florist states that two cwt. per acre is recommend- 

 ed for farm crops ; G oz. in 4 gals, of water for cel- 

 ery ; 1 lb. in 12 gals, for dahlias ; 1 oz. to 1 gal. 

 for strawberries ; and 1 lb. to 8 gals, for onions. 



For Grafting }f'ax Take 5 oz. pitch, 4 oz. re- 

 sin, 2 oz. beeswax, and I oz. lard, and melt them 

 well together. — English pap. 



Influenza among Stock. — This contagious disor- 

 der seems to continue with unabated violence in 

 England. One extensive cow-keeper in the vicini- 

 ty of London, lost 170 cows from his herd, and 

 another 40, within four weeks. 



It was thought in England that the great quan- 

 tity of snow might injure the coming wheat crop. " 

 [Snow never hurts crops En.] 



