INFLUENCE OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 395 



and after unanimously passing this vote, went on to designate 

 who the men should be. And every farmer in the State to-day, 

 who is worthy the name, and who is enjoying the benefits of im- 

 proved implements and an intelligent system of culture, should 

 be proud of the fact that that society was a Maine organization, 

 and those men thus drafted, to become in the grand future of our 

 , agricultural history, so truly representative farmers, were Maine 

 men. And as I mention the names of Samuel Wood and Wil- 

 liam Richards of Winthrop as the first known subscribers in our 

 State to a farmer's newspaper, let us lift our hats to their memo-- 

 ries, that they were willing to be thus drafted, and above all that 

 they were willing to pay their subscription dues — for the records 

 of this ancient society, the second association of the kind formed 

 in the United States, and which I have minutely examined with 

 the deepest interest — while giving place to votes of the most 

 trivial and often of the most amusing nature, nowhere mention 

 that these men ever failed to pay the printer. By this action the 

 first agricultural society of New England recognized the power 

 and influence of the press, as a direct and potent agency in the 

 work of " improving the art of husbandry, and elevating the call- 

 ing of the farmer," the primary objects for which it was organized. 



But to come down to a more recent date. It is but little more 

 than thirty years — and many here can remember further back than 

 that — when the members of this pioneer agricultural society of 

 New England, feeling the need of a farmer's paper of their own, 

 set about obtaining subscribers for a Maine agricultural journal. 

 It was started in 1833, and it would be quite amusing had I time 

 to tell you what opposition it met with, how many subscribers it 

 had, and how they paid for it. I may say in brief however, that 

 for ten years the Maine Farmer, originally called the Kenxebec 

 Farmer, did not have above three hundred subscribers, and more 

 than half of these paid for it in beans and potatoes ! You will 

 smile at this, I have no doubt, but I have the statement from the 

 original publisher of the paper himself. There was no money in 

 circulation, and farmers could not get money for anything they 

 sold. Trade was all barter; and for years the standing announce- 

 ment in the paper was: "all kinds of country produce taken in 

 payment" — and the poor, lean, hollow-bellied editors were mighty 

 glad to get it. 



Reflect for a moment upon the condition of farmers and farming 

 in our State when the first farmer's newspaper was established. 



