166 



THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



we never felt at libertj^ to say before, that we 

 are fully satisfied of the great value of the in- 

 vention. We do not doubt that a certain degree 

 of particularity is required in following the di- 

 rections that does not belong to some men, and 

 which would deprive them of the benefit of the 

 method, at least to the greatest perfection ; so 

 there are some persons, as every physician will 

 tell you, who cannot be induced to administer 

 three successive doses of medicine according to 

 the simplest prescription. But in the hands of 

 any farmer who will strictly follow the method 

 as it is explained in Mr. Bommer's pamphlet, 

 this invention we believe is worth ten times the 

 price at which it is to be obtained. 



Mr. Woodfin speaks of the method as being 

 "somewhat troublesome." We wish he had 

 been more explicit on that point : large quanti- 

 ties of water are used in the process, and Mr. 

 Woodfin's heap was so situated as to make the 

 application of this material laborious; but, nine 

 times out of ten, it may be so located, that any 

 quantity of water may be conducted to it with 

 little or no labor at all : we do not know, but 

 think it likely that it was to this portion of the 

 process, that Mr. Woodfin chiefly alludes in the 

 expression quoted. 



As to the time required exceeding that speci- 

 fied by Mr. Bommer, it must be remembered 

 that this was the first experiment in a process 

 entirely new, where the operator, without any 

 experience, was compelled to rely wholly upon 

 the printed directions containe I in the pamphlet. 

 Mr. Woodfin does not doubt, that, by avoiding 

 an error committed in the first process, the result 

 could be effected in the time required. 



If the chemical properties of this compost are 

 what Mr. Woodfin supposes them to be, of 

 which he is much more capable of forming an 

 opinion than we are, if it is indeed superior to 

 stable manure, it is hard to estimate the value 

 of the invention. 



POUDRETTE. 



We have made considerable sales of this ar- 

 ticle during the present season, and should be 

 pleased to receive authentic and particular ac- 

 counts of the result of its application to various 

 crops. We have received some second hand 

 reports of its extraordinary efficacy in pushing 

 forward tobacco plants, but we have obtained 

 no statement, as yet, so reliable as to induce us 



to publish it. Our columns are of course as 

 open to accounts of failure as success; indeed, 

 we think it is as incumbent upon the purchaser 

 of a new thing to warn the public of its worlh- 

 lessness, when he has been bit, as it is to herald 

 forth its virtues, when his judgment has been 

 sustained by the result of his purchase. All we 

 ask, is, that in making reports of this or other 

 matters, whether for good or evil, the author 

 will be particular in stating every thing that 

 could by possibility affect the experiment. 



We have lately received a letter from the ma- 

 nufacturer of the poudrette, in New York, in 

 which he begs us to urge its value as a top 

 dressing to corn, applied at the first or even se- 

 cond hoeing. He also seems very anxious that 

 its action upon tobacco and cotton, crops with 

 which he is unacquainted, may be fully and 

 fairly tested. 



For the Southern Planter. 



Mr. Editor^ — I have for some time been using 

 an implement of great simplicity and cheapness, 

 with which I am much pleased, for levelling 

 newly ploughed land. It may be made of a 

 common ox-cart tongue, by pinning on across 

 the forked part of it where it rests on the axle- 

 tree, a piece of limber, about six or seven feet 

 long, six inches thick, and twelve or fourteen 

 inches broad. You will at once see that ii is 

 intended to be drawn by a yoke of oxen, but 

 might easily be constructed so as to be adapted 

 to horses. The cost to any of your readers, who 

 umy be curious enough to wish to try it, will 

 not exceed fifty cents; as any field hand can, 

 in a few hours, convert the carl tongue into one, 

 without unfitting the tongue for its ordinaiy use. 



W. O. Ghegoky. 



Waterloo, JV. C, May 6, 1843. 



As we have reason to believe that the root 

 culture is on the increase in Virginia, and as the 

 f\y is the foe most dreaded by the grower of 

 rutabaga as well as the common turnip, we 

 publish the following, from the American Agri- 

 culturist : 



REMEDIES AGAINST THE TURNIP FLY. 



As the cultivation of the different kinds of 

 turnip is becoming somewhat extensive in the 

 United States, and wherever adapted to soil and 

 economical feeding, it is a valuable crop, a few 

 hints for their protection against enemies may 

 be useful. The principal danger to the turnip 

 plant is immediately after it appears above the 

 surface of the grouud. There are a variety of 



