THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



143 



upon their certificates of its merits to sell his 

 rights, without any farther guarantee or warran- 

 ty. To this application Mr. Bommer promptly 

 responded, authorizing us to take any steps we 

 chose to test the merits of his invention, in which 

 it is certain he entertains the most unbounded 

 confidence. Accordingly, we have been making 

 the necessary arrangements, and hope, as soon 

 as the nature of the thing will permit, to furnish 

 our readers with satisfactory information upon 

 the subject. 



In the meantime, we see from the last number 

 of the American Farmer, that Mr. Bommer's 

 claim to the title of discoverer is disputed by an- 

 other French gentleman, who claims to have 

 been the first to introduce the process into this 

 country. The public, probably, are much less 

 interested in settling the honor of discovery, 

 than the merit of the invention. We copy the 

 article as we find it in the " Farmer." If we 

 understand it correctly, Bommer's right to sell 

 is not disputed, but an equal claim is set up by 

 other parties, which is totally denied by Mr. 

 Bommer : so that the purchaser from the one is 

 upon sure ground, whilst the other may be much 

 harassed if Mr. Bommer succeeds in establish- 

 ing his exclusive claim. The Editor's testimony 

 as to the result of the operation, as far as ap- 

 pearances go, is very satisfactory. 



"Gouliart's Mode of Making Manure. — 

 We rode out to Mr. David Carlisle's, in Balti- 

 more county, on Saturday last, to view a pile of 

 manure put up by Mr. Gouliart, for that gentle- 

 man, upon what is called the Bommer plan. Of 

 the claim of the latter gentleman to the inven- 

 tion there is at present a doubt, but as we are 

 not called upon to decide the claim to invention, 

 all we will say at the present time, upon that 

 head, is, that a French gentleman by the name 

 of Bear, appears to us, from what we have 

 heard, to be the first one who introduced it into 

 America, and that he and his partner, Mr. Gou- 

 liart, have made improvements in the mode of 

 preparation. Now for our opin ion as to the value 

 of their plan. The pile at Mr. Carlisle's was 

 put up on the 1st of March, when the materials 

 were much covered with the ice and snow ; and, of 

 course, in a very bad condition to be operated upon. 

 They consisted of unbroken corn stalks, leaves from 

 the woods, coarse marsh grass, and the harsh rubbish 

 usually found on a farm. And notwithstanding 

 the unsuitable condition in which those materials 

 were at the time the pile was made, the uncon- 

 genial state of the weather nearly ever since, 

 and the unavoidable neglect by Mr. C. as to the 

 regular application of the decomposing liquid, 



we found a mass of most excellent manure, 

 which was for the most part of black, unctious, 

 and of fertilizing appearance, and we hesitate not 

 in saying, that we have not the slightest doubt 

 as to the intrinsic value of Messrs. Bear § Gou- 

 liart' s method of rapidly converting all ligneous 

 and woody substances into good fertilizing ma- 

 nure, and that their plan will be worth millions 

 to the agricultural community of America. We 

 will refer to this subject again, probably in our 

 next." 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



We are obliged to Mr. Bement for his com- 

 munication on the culture of roots, received too 

 late for this number. We are doubly indebted 

 to this gentleman for any communication from 

 his pen, because, with a liberality unparalleled, 

 he affords his valued assistance to our columns, 

 whilst he is engaged in editing a paper of his 

 own. It may not be known to our readers that 

 the " Central New York Farmer," a paper at 

 all times worthy of their especial patronage, has 

 placed its claims to public favor on the highest 

 grounds, by securing the services of Mr. Bement 

 as assistant Editor. A single article from his 

 pen would at any time be valued, in the editorial 

 market, at ten times the price of the paper, 

 which is only fifty cents per annum. 



Articles from "A Young Farmer ;" from S. 

 D. M. on the improvement of old land ; from J. 

 Duval on the division of arable land ; from W. 

 O. G. ; and several others, received too late for 

 this number, will appear in the next. 



POSTAGE. 



Of all the ridiculous laws that disgrace the 

 statute book, the postage law of Congress, as 

 construed by the Postmaster General, is the most 

 absurd. Our paper, without a cover, was de- 

 clared by the Postmaster to be, from the nature 

 of its contents, an agricultural newspaper, and 

 like the " Cultivator," it was subjected to news- 

 paper postage, the maximum of which is I j 



