110 
THE SOUTHERN CUUliVATOK. 
■U’anting to restore or increase their fertility, 
would be a great desideratum. In many sec- 
tions minerals abound; their knowledge and 
proper classification would contribute much to 
the wealth ol the State. Paints, asbestos, fos- 
sils, and clays of various kinds, and of great 
value, are known to exist in tlie State, and still 
no one can say, with certainty, any thing about 
them. 
An agricultural survey ol the State, in some 
way, ought to be obtained. Whether the State 
should make an appropriation for this subject, 
is a matter which belongs appropriately to her 
representatives, now assembled, and not to us. 
One thing is, however, certain, a small sum of 
money could not be better and more appropri- 
ately applied. It might be, that the intelligent 
gentleman who fills the chemical chair ot the 
South Carolina College, could be induced to 
devote his vacations, for a few years, to this 
purpose. Nothing, I am sure, could place him 
higher in the good opinion of the people, or 
would conler a more lasting favor on South 
Carolina, than such a service. 
In conclusion, fellow members, permit me to 
say, that the work in which we have embarked 
is no evanescent aflTair. It is for life! For ag- 
riculture is that upon which we all depend for 
subsistence. To it we often look as so common 
a thing as not to deserve much heed. But it is 
of far greater importance than any thing else 
in which we arge engaged. Every thing else 
may be dispensed with; but this and life are so 
intimately blended, that together they live or to- 
gether they perish. With one mind and one 
spirit, let us press the work in which we are en- 
gaged. In the language of empiricism, it may 
do us good, it can do us no harm. It may make 
us all better farmers, better citizens; but better 
patriots I hope none of us require to be. To 
our country, in one way or another, we are all 
devoted; and to our country’s welfare let us all 
cheerfully contribute every thing we can to in- 
crease and bless her! 
Colum'iia Planter. 
BOMMER’S MANURE. 
We know of no invention that has excited 
more curiosity than Mr. Bommer’s new process 
of making manure. We have had hundreds of 
applications upon the .subject, and we have re- 
turned but one answer to all the applicants, viz: 
“We have no personal knowledge upon the sub- 
ject, but we have put the matter in the hands of 
a gentleman in this neighborhood, to be thor- 
ougtdy tested by him, and his report, whether 
for 7 ’:md or lor evil, will be published in the July 
num ler of the Planter.” This report, which 
we are happy to find is of the most sratisfactory 
character, is contained in the letter below from 
Mr. ■''^o idfin. It is unnecessary for us to say 
any thing in this corauunity of the stamping 
and respectability of this gentleman; to tho.se 
to who n he is unknov/n we will say, that we 
selected him as one of those individuals whose 
testi Dony would go as far ns any body’s. Mr. 
Wo >dfin is also known to most of the readers 
of agricultural papers for his skill and science 
in agricultural chemistry, to which, of late 
years, he has devoted much of his attention. 
Southern Planter. 
Mr. Charles T. Botts; 
Dear Sir — Having been requested by you to 
given candid statement of my opinion of Bom- 
mer’.s patent method of making manure, lor 
publi'’ation in your July number of the Planter, 
I will now with much pleasure proceed to say 
all i know about it. 
On the 13th of May at night, I finished the 
-vrenaration of a heap, accor ling t;) this method, 
•0 nr) 'sed chiefly of dry wheat-straw, to which 
• Tf'ded a small quantity of coarse unfermented 
S’ h'e litter, which was also, mostly wheat- 
Gl - and proceeded to trear it accoraing to the 
d''ecrions laid down in his pamphlet. On the 
I8.h day after the heap was constructed, it was 
openei in 'he nre.sence of anumberol farmers, 
and other gentlemen feeling an interest in the 
matter. It was found not to be entirely decom- 
posed, but in a high stateof fermemation, w ich 
gave evidence that entire decomposicion oi the 
materials would very soon be the result: in or- 
der to facilitate it, however, I gave it another 
watering with the lees, which has eifectea he 
complete decomposition of the whole mass. — 
■liccording to Mr. Bommer’s method, entire de- 
composition should have been elfected in fi'teen 
days, and I have no doubt such would have been 
the result, if it had been conducted v.di.n mure 
skill; up to the tenth day, I had succeeded in 
producing a very high degree of heat; on that 
day I gave it a very copious watering, thereby 
adulterating the lees too much, which caused 
the fermentation to subside in a measure. If 
the thii'd watering had been properly made, with 
ihe lees in sufficient strength, I have no doubt 
the result would have been more satisfactory. — 
As it is, I have succeeded in thirty days, in ac- 
complishing that w'hich 1 could not, by any 
method known to me, have accomplished in six 
months. I have never used any of this manure, 
this being the only heap I have made, I cannot, 
therefore speak of its effect on vegetation; f;om 
its appearance, however, and my knowledge of 
the materials used in its manufacture, I should 
consider it of far greater value than the best sta- 
ble manure, made in the usual way; I would 
not now^ exchange mine, load for load, for the 
best 1 ever saw. 
This method, as Mr. Bommer justly observes, 
has the advantage over all others by ena; ling 
the farmer to have his manure when and u here 
he wants it. I shall make another heap in a few 
days, mostly of green weeds, grass roots, &c. 
&c. when, if you desire, I will give you the re- 
sult. 
To make manure by this method is not cost- 
ly, but somewhat troublesome; but what good 
thing can be obtained wi thout trouble or ex- 
pensel 
I have thus, sir, given you a candid state- 
ment of all I know at present about Bommer’s 
patent manure. 
And remain, very truly. 
Yours, 
GEO. WOODFIN. 
June 13, 1843. 
From our conversations with Mr. Woodfin, 
says the editor of the Planter, we know that this 
report is, as it should be, as careful and guarded 
as possible. He felt the responsibility of the 
task imposed on him, and determined to say 
nothing, however sanguine his anticipations 
mis-ht be, that could, by possibility, induce the 
public to think more of this invention than it 
de.-erved. For our own part, from what we 
have seen and heard of this experiment, we 
feel authorized to say that, which we never felt 
at liberty to say before, that we are fully satisfi- 
ed of the great value oi the invention. We do 
not doubt that a certain degree of paiticularity 
is required in following the directions that does 
not belong to some men, and which would de- 
prive them of the benefit of the method, at least 
to the greatest perfection; so there are some per- 
sons, as every physician will tell you, who can- 
not be induced to administer three successive 
doses of medicine according to the simplest pre- 
scription. But in the hands of ainy 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 Avhich 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 alluded 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, wnere the operator, without any 
experience, was compelled to rely wholly upon 
the printed directions contained in the pamphlet. 
jVlr. Woodfin does not doubt, that, by avoiding 
an error committed in the first process, the re- 
sult could be effected in the time required. 
If the chemical properties of this couipo.st 
are w^hat Mr. Woodfin supposes taem to be, of 
which he is much more capable of forming an 
opinion than we are, if it b indeed superior to 
stable manure, it is hard to e.stimate the value 
of the invention. 
ROOT CULTURE 
The flattering reception which my commu- 
nications on the culture of Rutabagas and 
Y/hite Belgian Carrots, have met with in the 
Southern Planter, emboldens me to try my hand 
again. I have not the vanity to suppose that I 
can enlighten the readers of your paper, but if 
I can even be the means of directing to this sub- 
ject the attention of some of the planters, w'ho 
are skeptical of the value of root crops, in com- 
parison with Indian corn, and induce them to 
make a fair trial, I feel convinced they will 
throw aside their prejudice and adopt their cul- 
ture hereafter, to a certain extent. I would not 
wish to be understood as recommending the cul- 
tivation of roots in preference to corn, but an 
acre or two in roots will add much in the econc- 
my of feeding stock; enabling the pRnier to 
keep more and keep it in much better condition 
too; and the more stock, the more manure, and 
the more manure, the greater the crops. 
Prejudice and conceit are the oflTspring of ig- 
norance, and the great barrier to agricultural 
improvement. The first requisite to improve- 
ment, in any business, is the conviction, that we 
can learn; the next, that we will learn. And it 
perhaps is invariably true, that the more wm do 
learn in useful knowledge, the more we become 
sensible of our comparative ignorance, and the 
more we are anxious to learn. This results not 
only from a wish to serve ourselves, and multi- 
ply our enjoyments, but from a sense of sacred 
duty to society. 
1 am aware that it is generally supposed, at 
the South, that the same labor and the same ex- 
pense, will obtain more nutriment from an acre 
of corn, than from an acre of any root crop 
whatever. But such is not the case here at the 
North. From our soil that will yield forty 
bushels of corn to the acre, w’e can got from tour 
to five hundred bushels of rutabagas, and from 
three hundred and fifty to four hundred of car- 
rots, or mangold wurtj el, which, for milch cows 
and young stock, we consider of great value. 
They have not the fattening qualities, but are 
considered to exceed all kinds of grain in grow- 
ing flesh. One advantage the root culture has 
over corn is, that it does not exhaust the soil so 
much, as it draws a great proportion of its food 
fiotij the atmosphere; besides, rutabagas can be 
sown after the other seeds, and harvested after 
all the other crops are secured, and no growth 
leaves the soil in better order for a succeeding 
crop. 
The introduction of the root culture into Bri- 
tain forms one of the most important eras in the 
improvement of British husbandry; and its in- 
troduction into our country wdll ultimately 
prove highly beneficial. And that they can be 
grown south, and in Virginia too, is evident 
from the following, which was published in an 
early volume of the “Albany Cultivator.” Mr. 
W. S. Morton, of Prince Edward, in a letter to 
t’ne editor says, “That our soils are well adapt- 
ed to the culture of the rutabaga I have demon- 
strated, to my own satisfaction, by a successful 
trial, on a moderate scale, for a number of 
years. I have cultivated mangold wurtzel last 
year on about the fourth ol an acre, and suc- 
ceeded to the astonishment of aU who saw the 
crop.” 
If the root culture can be made to succeed in 
Virginia, of which 1 have but little doubt, I 
should not at all be surprised to hear that the 
lands there should double in value in the course 
of a very few years. In fact, I am so well con- 
vinces of it, that were I to sell the farm I now 
