HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS 



79 



ful Agriculture, St. Paul, 1903. Others might be 

 added, including fourteen in foreign languages 

 Skandinavisk Farmer, Danish, Minneapolis, 1882 ; 

 Skodemannen, Swedish, Minneapolis, 1888 ; Hos- 

 podar,Bohemian, Omaha, 1891 ; Obzor, Bohemian, 

 Hallettsville, Tex., 1891 ; Gazeta Wisconsinska, 

 Polish, Milwaukee, 1892 ; Hospodarske Listy, Bo- 

 hemian, Chicago, 1898; Feld und Flur, German, 

 Dallas, Tex., 1898 ; Landmann, German, Milwaukee, 

 1902; Svenska Farm Journal, Swedish, Omaha, 

 1903 ; Odelmannen, Swedish, Minneapolis, 1904 ; 

 Gospodarz, Polish, Chicago, 1905 ; Revista Agri- 

 cola, Spanish, Chicago, 1905 ; Hacienda, Spanish, 

 Buffalo, 1905. 



One of the papers named in the last paragraph, 

 the Farmer's Voice, demands special mention as 

 having absorbed, a few years ago, the once well- 

 known Western Rural, which was the successor of 

 the first Michigan Farmer, a paper dating from 

 1843 under that name, though practically the 

 same as a journal of an earlier date called the 

 . Western Farmer. It was sold in 1865 to H. N. F. 

 Lewis, who changed the name to the Western 

 Rural, and in 1867 took it to Chicago, thus clear- 

 ing the way for the establishment of the present 

 Michigan Farmer. It was for some years immensely 

 successful, possibly the most profitable agricultural 

 paper west of New York ; and seems to have been 

 wrecked in consequence of embracing certain 

 vagaries in its editorial management which dis- 

 pleased its more sober-minded readers while failing 

 to attract the large patronage that was hoped for 

 among people of a different disposition. The far- 

 mers of America, whatever else may be said of 

 them, are, on the whole, men of sound judgment and 

 common sense ; and in the long run they give their 

 largest support to the best - balanced and most 

 reasonable journals, however much they may some- 

 times seem to be carried away for a time by the 

 presentation of heresies either in agricultural or 

 in economical science. Fortunate it is for the 

 country that such is the case. 



In Canada, seven agricultural papers of impor- 

 tance are issued the Farmer's Advocate, Lon- 

 don, 1866 ; Journal d'Agriculture, Montreal, 1879 ; 

 Nor' West Farmer, Winnipeg, 1882; Farming 

 World, Toronto, 1883; Prince Edward Island Agri- 

 culturist, 1883, and Island Farmer, 1887, both at 

 Summerside; Maritime Farmer, Sussex, N. B., 1895. 



JOURNALS DEVOTED TO SPECIALTIES 



The first of these appear to have been horticul- 

 tural the Horticultural Register, started January 

 1, 1835, by Thos. G. Fessenden and J. E. Tesche- 

 macher, and continued for four years, followed by 

 C. M. Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture, both pub- 

 lished at Boston. These were admirable journals, 

 able, dignified and enterprising ; the first had col- 

 ored -illustrations, not designed primarily as pretty 

 pictures, but for definite scientific purposes, which 

 they very satisfactorily accomplished. In somewhat 

 lighter and more popular vein was the famous 

 Horticulturist, started at Albany, July, 1846, by 

 Luther Tucker, who recognized the brilliant genius 



of the younger Downing, and thought he could 

 advantageously exploit it. After Mr. Downing's 

 death in 1852, Mr. Tucker sold the magazine to 

 James Vick of Rochester, from whom it passed 

 successively to R. P. Smith of Philadelphia, and to 

 several New York publishers C. M. Saxton, Mead 

 & Woodward, Henry T. Williams and others and 

 was finally absorbed by the Gardener's Monthly of 

 Philadelphia, dying at last with that magazine 

 years ago. It is not too much to say that these 

 three periodicals covered the whole field of horti- 

 culture, including pomology, flower and landscape 

 gardening in all their ramifications, as no periodi- 

 cal has covered it more recently and as no periodi- 

 cal makes any pretense at covering it now. 



Another pioneer in horticultural journalism, 

 though far more restricted in its scope, was the 

 beautiful and valuable Orchardist's Companion, 

 issued quarterly at Philadelphia by A. Hobby, 

 beginning April, 1841, and adorned with very fine 

 colored plates, accurately painted from nature, in 

 the real size of the fruit and leaves, and hardly 

 equaled, certainly not surpassed, by any similar 

 work of a later day. 



Other periodicals devoted to subdivisions of the 

 art of horticulture have risen, flourished for a 

 time, and passed away. Among those now pub- 

 lished may be named Green's Fruit Grower, Roches- 

 ter, N. Y., 1881 ; American Florist, Chicago, 1885 ; 

 Pacific Fruit World, Los Angeles, 1895 ; National 

 Fruit Grower, St. Joseph, Mich., 1896 ; Southern 

 Fruit Grower, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1896 ; Western 

 Fruit Grower, St. Joseph, Mo., 1897 ; Fruitman & 

 Gardener, Mt. Vernon, Iowa, 1897 ; and the Gar- 

 den Magazine, New York, 1904. 



Possibly not second in order among specialties 

 in agriculture having journals of their own, though 

 the writer believes that such is the case, was a 

 branch that would probably not be conjectured 

 silk-culture the American Silk Society having 

 established a monthly journal at Baltimore at the 

 beginning of the year 1839. Interest in this sub- ^ 

 ject, very vivid in the thirties and almost down fro~ 

 the outbreak of the Rebellion, has never quite died 

 out ; and monthlies devoted thereto are still issued 

 at New York City and at Tallulah Lodge, Ga. 



The third class of journals of agricultural spe- 

 cialties in order of establishment appears to con- 

 sist of dairy papers. A Dairyman's Record was 

 published semi-monthly at Little Falls, N. Y., as 

 long ago as 1859. This was succeeded in 1860, at 

 the same place, by the Dairy Farmer, the first 

 number of which gives notice that while "a few 

 advertisements will be received, upon terms to be 

 agreed upon," they will " be printed on a separate 

 sheet of paper." Prominent now (omitting trade 

 journals) are Hoard's Dairyman, Fort Atkinson, 

 Wis., 1870, and Kimball's Dairy Farmer, Waterloo, 

 Iowa, 1903. 



Live-stock breeding was for years most promi- 

 nently represented by the National Live-stock Jour- 

 nal, Chicago, 1870, succeeded by the Breeders' 

 Gazette in 1881. The Horseman and Stockman, 

 Minneapolis, was started in 1890 ; Blooded Stock 

 at Oxford, Pa., in 1896; the Western Breeders' 



