76 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
excitement, viz : the raising of but a small num- 
ber of hogs, and the falling off in the quantity of 
pork killed in the western country last year. We 
see it stated in various papers that the amount 
packed at Cincinnati last year was less by one- 
third than for the year previous. At St. Louis it 
is said the decrease is still greater; and through 
the State of Illinois there is said to have been a 
falling off of from one-ihird to one-half. In Ohio 
the falling oH was much greater, as we are in- 
formed, at the interior slaughtering places, than 
at Cincinnati. In the Scioto valley, for instance, 
where the number slaughtered at nine places in 
1843 was 121,800, the number for 1344 is only 
48,350. It seems probable,from present prospects, 
that pork will command at least remunerating 
prices the coming fall, and those farmers who 
had the foresight to see this, and have wisely 
provided themselves with a sufficient stock of a 
good breed of hogs, will be likely to reap their 
reward.” 
So we may e.xpect an increase of price, for 
some time to come, and the same causes which 
have produced this reaction in Ohio, will proba- 
bly develope themselves in Tennessee a year later, 
in time to affect the next winter’s supply of pork 
lierc. Now let us suppose that the planter, who 
purchased his naeat last winter at three cents, 
should have to pay five cents for it the next, and 
see how our calculation above will stand affected 
by it. The 700 pounds of meat at that increased 
price would be worth §35, which would be a dif- 
ference of §15 against his anti-meat raising sys- 
tem. And while these serious changes aie taking 
place, may there not be a decline in cotton! — 
Such things take place occasionally, as he is 
aware ; and, instead ot purchasing his meat 
with cotton at five cents, or, in other woras, 
giving a pound ot cotton for a pound of meat, 
may not cotton fall to four cents'? In that case 
it makes the difference stand against his theory 
at S19, or very near one hundred per cent. 
We trust that we have shown, that if at parti- 
cular times, for a short period at best, the planter 
does well to buy his supply of meat, with the 
proceeds of his cotton and corn, in the main that 
plan is destructive of his own interests, and in a 
high degree prejudicial to the general welfare and 
prosperity ot the community at large. The far- 
mer is truly the bone and sinew of the country. 
His prosperity makes all others prosperous, and 
his ruin is succeeded by a destruction to all other 
callings. If collectively, the tarnaers of a coun- 
try pursue a correct policy, which results happily 
to themselves, the whole land smiles ; if they 
pursue the infatuated course, heretofore follow- 
edin Geoigia, the country is clad in the lugubri- 
ous raiment of sack-cloth and ashes. When 
will the farmers of Georgia pursue their true in- 
terests, and raise the dejected head of their be- 
loved State'? J. B. L. 
3Iacon, Ga., Aj.ril, 1845. 
Foi the Southern Cultivdtor. 
The Bominer Method of Making Manure. 
Mr. Editor — At the request of a friend, who 
entertains perhaps too favorable an opinion of my 
practical knowledge of planting, I send you, for 
publication, the following remarks on my experi- 
ment on the Bommer method of making manure. 
It was no part of my purpose, at the outset, to 
publish anything in relation to thi s process, which 
I knew was already in tne hands of many who 
were every way more capable of performing this 
public service. This will account for, if not ex- 
cuse, that want of precision in the results of the 
experiment, which could alone render it of the 
slightest importance to scientific agriculture. 
Where this precision is wanting, my individual 
opinion must go for what it is worth. 
In the latter" part of 1843, I purchased the pa- 
tent Bommer method of making manure, and, in 
January, 18l4, I put up a heap 30 by 40 feet, and 
6 feet high, composed of leaves, straw, a large 
proportion of which was of corn-stalks, which I 
watered for about six weeks, according to the 
printed directions which accompany the pa'ent. 
During this peri id, the weather was extremely 
cold and dry, which is considered the most unfa- 
vorable slate of the atmosphere, for fermentation 
or decomposition. On examination of the heap, 
I found the mateiials had very unequally decom- 
posed ; that the most solid matters, as the corn 
and cotton-stalks, were but slightly decomposed, 
while the less solid, such as straw, leaves, &c., 
were rapidly rotting, though not thoroughly de- 
composed. Into the lye, with which the heap 
had been watered, I put four barrels lime, thirty 
pounds saltpetre, and two two-horse wagon loads 
cf fresh stable manure. 
About the first of March, one half of the heap 
was hauled out, on one part of a field of worn 
land, the other part of which I manured with lot 
and stable manure, and planted the whole field in 
corn. The yield was, I think, about double the 
usual crop ; and the best judges that saw the field 
pronounced that part manured by the Bommer 
manure decidedly the best. The other half of 
the heap was hauled out on part of a cotton field, 
otherwise unmanured. In the spring and first 
part of the summer, there were periods of pro- 
tracted drought, and the product of manured 
lands, whether with cotton seed, stable manure, 
or Bommer’s manure, was not what might have 
been anticipated. But the decided superiority of 
the Bommer manure, imperfectly rotted as it was, 
over the stable manure, was so marked that the 
slightest observation could not fail to detect the 
difference in the size and vigor of the stalks and 
ears. Its effects upon the cotton was no less de- 
cided ; and though I did not weigh the product, 
I feel assured that it was increased by the Bom- 
mer manure at,_ least one hundred per cent, over 
the unmanured part of the field. 
In February, 1644, I put up another heap; of 
the labor and time employed on which, I am ena- 
bled to give a more specific account. I had fifteen 
hands and two wagons engaged in this w'ork ; the 
materials employed w’ere pine leaves, straw', and 
corn-stalks, all in a dry state, much the largest 
portion being pine leaves. The site was cleared 
of trees and shrubs, by digging up their roots. 
The vat was excavated, and the grate construct- 
ed, and 500 wagon loads of material were put on, 
and all in readiness for w'atering in eight days. 
This may give an idea of the labor necessary 
to putting up the first heap, though greatly exag- 
gerated as to the time and labor to be bestowed 
on any subsequent heap — for full half the time 
and labor was consumed in clearing the trees, ex- 
cavating the vat, and making the grate, which 
need nothing but slight repairs to keep them ser- 
viceable for years. On this last heap, I used ten 
barrels of lime, four loads ashes, forty pounds 
saltpetre, four bushels common salt, and about 
four loads fresh stable manure. Prom this heap, 
I hauled on a cotton field about 300 wagon loads 
of as fine,, rich, well rotted manure as I have 
ever seen, and have manured for the present crop 
about thirty acres in drill, filling up the furrow 
with the manure. I have applied the lye to my 
garden vegetables, with the most happy effects. 
Under its application, beets and cabbage plants 
thrive beyond any thing in nty former experience 
in gardening. It is, indeed, to this mixture, I 
ascribe the chief efficacy of the manure, and the 
absorption of the largest quantity of the c.^m- 
pound is of the greatest importance to the fer- 
tilizing property of the manure. The frequent 
and thorougir watering is therefore of indispen- 
sable necessity. Disappointment awaits the far- 
mer who does not give this part of the process 
constant attention. To obviate as far as possi- 
ble, this laborious part of the process, 1 have 
used a commo.i plank pump, of three inches 
bore, made by a common carpenter with a hose 
made of cotton or osnaburgs, w'hich should be 
oiled or painted. With these appliances, three 
able bodied hands watered the heap, after it was 
fully saturated, in three or four hours. 
In conclusion, I have no hesitation in declar- 
ing my opinion, that a planter may manufacture 
as much .of this manure in the year as he can 
haul out in the next spring; that the labor and 
trouble of the method, when once fairly under 
way, is scarcely beyond what is incident to mak- 
ing manure of any other kind ; that theexpense is 
trifling, in comparison with the returns of the 
outlay ; and I heartily and honestly recommend 
it to every farmer and planter, who wishes to in- 
crease the product of his fields, and render their 
improvement permanent. 
Yours, &c. William Byne. 
For the Southern Cultivator. 
Silk. 
]\Ir. Camak:— In order to induce my brother 
farmers to plant less cotton and turn their atten- 
tion to something else, I would inform them, 
througli your valuable paper, that 1 have been 
raising silk in this county for the last six years, 
end have found it a profitable and interesting 
employment. So tvell satisfied am I that it is 
the best agricultural pursuit now followed, that I 
have just completed an extensive cocoonry, and 
planted out five acres more of mulberry trees; 
and I intend to increase my stock annually. I 
have all my cocoons reeled, made into sewing 
silk, dyed, and put up in skeins, by my own fam- 
ily; and I find no d\fficulty in selling it at a fair 
price. 
I am prepared for reeling extensively; and 
would give a fair price for cocoons delivered at 
Savannah, or at the twenty or thirty mile station, 
on the Central Rail Road. F'or good cocoons, of 
the present year’s crop, cured by exposure to the 
heat of the sun, (which is much belter than 
steaming or baking in an oven,) from which all 
the double and soft ones have been picked, and 
the floss taken off, I will give two dollars and fifty 
cents per b-ushel. A first rate article would be 
worth 'omething more. 
I send you a few skeins of silk as a sample of 
what has been done, and of what, (wdth a little 
care and attention) might be done, by almost any 
farmer in the /State. 
Your ob’t. serv’t. Hugh Cassidey. 
Bermuda Grass. 
To the Editor of the iSoutheni Cultivator: 
Dear Sir — Your much esteemed favor oi 
24ih Feb. was duly received ; and the reason lor 
my not answering it before this, was, first, 1 
have been much ot the time since from home, 
and secondly, you have asked me for informa- 
tion on a subject which I considei' of more im- 
portance to the agricultural interest ol our Slate 
than any other ; and on which, if it can be given 
satisfactorily, the man who does it will deserve, 
not only the silver cup, but the thanks and grati- 
tude oi our whole community. Its importance, 
therefore, caused me to hesitate whether I could 
give you the desired information, as 1 have not 
yet satisfied myself fully w’hether to look upon 
Bervmda Grass as a friend or enemy, a blessing 
or a curse. You have asked me to give you, in 
detail, botli my opinion of the value of the grass 
and my plan to get rid of it, when we want the 
land it occupies for other purposes. Now, il I 
could tell you satisfactorily how to accomplish 
the latter, without too much expense, (it indeed 
it can be killed at all,) then there would be no 
difficulty in saying, that this grass would be in- 
valuable. Not so much for grazing, as Mr. 
Spalding stales, or for hay, as Mr. Affleck says 
in your January number, as for the great bene- 
fit to our worn out lands, by putting them down 
in this grass, while not in hoed crops, to keep 
them from washing, and for giving them a sod 
of turf to supply the place of red clover. The 
ten thousand roots and runners, with considera- 
ble substance, (a.s^one of the above named gen- 
tlemen states,) afford valuable organic matter, 
to he turned under, when the land is fallowed, 
previous to a hoed crop, which 1 have iciind 
much improves the soil, when you succeed in 
killing and causing these roots, &c. to be de- 
composed in the earth. 
This brings me directly to the task of giving 
you my little experience in killing it, when the 
land is wanted for other purposes. Some four 
or five years since, I had a favorite four acre lot, 
which had been entirely overran by this grass, 
so as to be rendered useless for any other pur- 
pose than grazing. 1 concluded to try my hand 
in killing the grass in this lot, if I did not in 
other now large growing patches on my farm. 
I prepared myself with Ruggles, Nourse & 
Mason’s celebrated four-horse plow; put four 
strong mules to it, in April, turned the sod over, 
(better to have been done in the fall so as to have 
the benefit ot the frost,) let it lie a month, then 
harrowed it well with a heavy iron-tooth har- 
row, then drilled and planted the common cow- 
pea three leet wide, and cultivated well. The 
peas grew finely; I should think, off the lour 
acres’ I saved twelve or fifteen 'ons good pea- 
hay, pulled up by the roots when the peas were 
ripening. I sowed the lot down in wheat 
as soon as the peas came off. I took from the 
four acres, without manure, over one hundred 
bushels of clean wheat. By this time, by means 
of the pea crop, which wms' large, and succeed- 
ed by a wheal crop, also very good, I had so 
shaded the sun-loving Bermuda that 1 could 
