SOLON ROBINSON, 1839 117 



spirit of improvement, is made to assume an ever waking 

 watchfulness throughout the whole community. 



I am proud to subscribe myself one of your agricul- 

 tural friends. Solon Robinson. 



Letter from Solon Robinson, Esq. 



[Albany Cultivator, 7:19; Jan., 1840] 



[December 14, 1839] 

 Editors of the Cultivator: 



Doubts and fears came over my mind, on seeing the 

 announcement of the death of that most useful, and one 

 of the greatest friends of the agricultural community, 

 the late editor of this paper. 1 But could I be assured of 

 life until such time as my memory would be crowned 

 with such honors as this nation have universally poured 

 out of sorrowing hearts upon his, I would ask no greater 

 fame, or proud memorial for my children, than he has 

 left for his. May the mantle of their father rest upon 

 them, and may they be possessed of that fathers' meek- 

 ness to wear it becomingly. No doubt but it troubled his 

 last moments, as to what should be the fate of his darling 

 journal. Whether it would be able to sustain life when 

 its heart was taken away, or whether it would follow 

 him to that cold and silent tomb. How it must have 

 brightened his mind at that dark hour, could he have 

 foreseen the present bright prospects, that are now dawn- 

 ing anew upon this paper. No step could have been taken 

 by those into whose hands it fell, so well calculated to 

 carry out the good intentions of its founder, as this one 

 of uniting it with the Genesee Farmer. A consolidation 

 of interest will create an expansion of usefulness. The 

 business is arranged so late, that perhaps many at a dis- 

 tance will not be able to become acquainted with the fact 

 in time to partake of the benefits the present season, but 

 I am sure that much good will come of the union. 



1 Judge Jesse Buel, editor of the Cultivator, died at Danbury, 

 Connecticut, October 6, 1839. The Cultivator and Genesee Farmer 

 were consolidated at the beginning of 1840. 



