14 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
tion for a patent for making manure. This ap- 
plication was duly examined, and rejected tor 
Avant of novelty. No appeal was taken. The 
application was withdrawn, and ©20, the usual 
sum allowed on withdravmls, paid to Mr. Bom- 
mer onthe Glhof July last. Is^o other applica- 
tion has been made by Mr. Bommer for a patent 
for similar purposes.* It may not be improper 
to state that Messrs. Baer & Gouliart, in June, 
1843, obtained a patent tor an alleged impiove- 
ment on the method ot making manure, patent- 
ed in France by Jauffret, Avhich said method, 
however, has not been patented in the United 
States, and is therefore tree to the public. How 
far the public are restricted in the use of foreign 
inventions, may be ascertained by relerring to 
the claim of the American patent, which, yon 
will perceive, is restricted to the preparation of 
the heap and the mode of applying the lye to the 
same ; the ingredients — in other words, the lye 
itself, not being claimed. That no injustice 
may be done to the parties concerned, I send you 
a copy of the American patent, and only add 
that Mr. Bommer has become an assignee for 
several States, under this last mentioned patent. 
Yours, &c. H. L. Ellsworth. 
Copy of Baer & Gouliart’s Patent. — To 
all whom it may concern: Be it known, that 
we, Charles Baer and John Gouliart, of the city 
ot Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have in- 
vented certain new and useful improvements in 
the manner of making manure, which has been 
for many years practiced in Prance, and has 
been there secured by Letters Patent under the 
name of “La Methode Jauffret,” and we do here- 
by declare that the following is a full and exact 
description thereof. 
In the method of Mr. Jauffret, a pit or reser- 
voir is prepared of sufficient size to contain the 
quantity of prepared lye which may be required 
by the nature of the establishment. This reser- 
voir or vat is intended to be a receptacle of wa- 
ter saturated with decomposed animal and vege- 
table matters, and is fuither to receive the in- 
gredients hereinafter named ; such water is to 
be found on nearly every farm, and it may be 
augmented by the drainings of stables, by dish 
water, suds, and other substances of a like na- 
ture. 
Mr. Jauffret, however, finally prepares his 
lye, by which the fermentation of the articles to 
be converted into manure i.s to be promoted, in 
the following manner, under various modifica- 
tions. 
For the conversion of from one to two thou- 
sand pounds ot vegetable matter into manure, 
he takes about 
200 lbs. of night soil. 
200 
U 
calcined plaster in powder, 
50 
(( 
wood soot, 
20 
u 
wood ashes unleached, 
60 
(C 
quick lime. 
1 
(C 
common salt. 
1 
(( 
rough saltpetre. 
150 
u 
lye or ferment drainings from a 
Jauffret manure heap. 
These ingredients are, in many cases, to be 
replaced by others ; this lye to be prepared 10 or 
15 days before use. The quantity of materials 
above named, for the conversion of from 1 to 2,- 
000 lbs. of straw or other dry vegetable stalks, 
will answer for about double that quantity of 
green vegetable matter. 
In using this lye, the plan of Mr. Jauffret is to 
steep in it the vegetable fibres, which are to be 
acted upon by throwing them into the vat or re- 
servoir containing it, and removing it thence at 
great labor so as to form a high heap in the vi- 
cinity of the vat, into which the drainings are 
allowed to run. 
We have thus given a brief outline of the 
method of Mr, JauflVet, the same appearing ne- 
cessary to the understanding of our improve- 
ments, which consist in our omitting altogether 
*Mr. Bommer informs iis that on finding his own 
claim rejected, he was induced to make an arrange- 
ment with Baer &Gouliait, by whom his claim was 
again presented, and the patent secured in their names. 
— Eds. 
the excessive labor of steeping the materials to 
be acted upon in the lye, and elevating them from 
thence to the heap ; and also in the preparation 
of a lye, which is equally^ effective with that of 
Jauffret, at much less cost, and which can be 
used immediately on its being made, thereby sa- 
ving the delay of 10 or 15 days, which “La'Me- 
thode Jaufftet” requires. 
We prepare a reservoir to contain the lye as 
usual, and in the immediate vicinity of this, we 
make our stacks or heaps of vegetable matter, 
which is to be converted into manure. 
We give to the ground, where the heap or pile 
is to be made, an inclination to wa-ds the vat ; if 
the ground is a firm clay, it may be merely slop- 
ed, and have shallow trenches dug on its surface 
to conduct the drainings back into the vat; or it 
may have a flooring of timber, brick or stone, as 
may be preferred, wdiich may be so trenched as 
to conduct the whole towards a central drain. — 
When our platform or flooring is of clay, we 
cover the trenches and whole surface of it with 
brushwood or rails, so as to form a temporary 
grating that will support the weight of the heap, 
and thus insure a drainage, and the admission of 
air to the heap from below. 
The materials to be converted into manure, 
we pile up on this prepared platform immediate- ’ 
ly as it is delivered by the carts, and this we 
sometimes continue to do until the heap has at- 
tained the whole height to be given to it, when, 
by the use of a pump, buckets, or other suitable 
means, we raise the lym from the vat and pour it 
on to the heap, continuing so to do until the 
whole mass is saturated; we, in general, how- 
ever, raise tne heap to a height of two, three or 
four feet, more or less, and then pour on a por- 
tion of lye, repeating this as the height of the 
pile is increased ; this procedure obviates the 
necessity of lifting the whole of the lye to the 
full height of the heap. 
The materials which we employ in making 
the lye, .nay be limited to the following, name- 
ly : cow, horse or hog’s dung, or night soil, the 
urine draining from stables, and quick lime. — 
The ingredients used to be intimately mixed 
with a sufficient quantity of saturated water. 
Two of the kinds of animal dungyye have 
found to answer as well as a larger number. A 
perfectly good lye will be made by taking one 
barrel each of two of the species of dung, two 
of the urinary drainings, one of quick lime, and 
about 50 barrels of saturated water, wffiich is 
then to be used as above explained. 
What we claim as our improvement on Jauf- 
fret’s method of forming manure by the rapid 
fermentation of vegetable fibres, is, first, the 
forming of the said vegetable matter into piles 
or heaps, without its being first immersed in the 
prepared lye, and the subsequantly saturating 
the same by the pouring on the lye in the man- 
ner set forth. Charles Baer. 
John Gouliart. 
Th. M. Ab’bett, ( (Patented June 24, 1843, 
J. R. Abbett. S 
Book Farming. — “I pity the stupidity of the 
man who thinks that if we use books, we must 
close our eyes against the light that is beaming 
upon us from other sources, or that we must be- 
come mere theorjsers, and the victims of ruinous 
experiments. What! does a man loose his own 
common sense, his prudence and his judgment, 
whenever he takes up an agricultural paper, or 
opens a book upon husbandry] Cannot one 
make himself acquainted v/ith the doings of 
others, without loosing his power to judge 
whether it would be well for him, in hjs circum- 
stances, to copy their examples'? Our brains 
are net so weak as this. The knowledge ac- 
quired from books does not make us all mad. — 
But if it did, there would be more gest and true 
enjoyment in the learned madman’s course, than 
in that of him who has learned out, and who 
thinks that books cannot make him wiser. I 
ask what book-farming is] Common book- 
farming is, learning by means of books, new 
facts, opinions, results of experiments, modes 
of operation, and the using such parts of the in- 
formation as can be turned to profitable account 
in our individual situations. If this be lolly, 
we are content to be called fools. An agricul- 
tural paper will be worth to you every month, if 
not everv Aveek, more than its annual co.^t.” 
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 24, 1844. 
THE BACK VOLUME. 
All neAv subscribers who may desire it, can 
obtain the first volume, neatly bound in boards, 
at one dollar the volume. 
SEND IN YOUR LISTS. 
As it is very important in regulating our edi- 
tion to know what number of subscribers will 
probably be obtained, we beg our friends to send 
in their lists at the earliest possible day. 
Mr. Baxter’s Address. — In this number 
will be found the first part of the address deli- 
vered before the Hancock Planters’ Club, in 
November last, by Eli Baxter, Esq., which we 
commend to the considerate attention of the 
reader. It abounds in home truths, which, if 
carefully weighed, cannot fail to be productive 
of much good. No planter, or head of a famU 
ly, in Georgia, should omit to give it a careful 
perusal. Especially do we commend it to the 
youth — many of whom are growing up with 
erroneous notions of the true position of the 
agriculturist in society. 
Improved Culture of Cotton. — The read-s 
er will find, in this number the third of the se-, 
ries of articles of Dr. Cloud, in disfence of his 
system of the culture of cotton. Accompany^ 
ing the article of the Dr., in the Albany CultL 
vator, is a draAving, representing the top and the 
35th and 36th branches of a stalk of cotton cuL 
tivated by his system, which is certainly a very 
flattering testimonial of the success of his 
method. 
The Doctor’s gallantry has not only induced 
him to bestow the highest praise upon this draAv- 
ing of the plant, which was executed by a lady, 
but has led him into an attack upon the correct 
ness of all other delineations, among which we 
come in for a share, and the very beautiful coU 
ton stalk in our head is compared to a pome- 
granate. Verily, this is not very flattering to 
the taste or capacity of the artist; but as we 
know not who he was, having copied it from a 
vignette on a bank bill, at a season of the year 
(mid^wunter) when we could not obtain an orL 
ginal drawing, Ave shall not enter the list against 
our friend, the Dr., as the merit or demeiit be^ 
longs wholly to another. 
Curing Saveet Potatoes.— In our next, wm 
will endeavor to afford J. L. Moody all the light 
on this subject at our command, 
