HISTORICAL SKETCH OF AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS 



78 



March, 1834 Jesse Buel started, at Albany, the 

 monthly called the Cultivator, which he con- 

 tinued till his death in 1839, when Luther Tucker 

 bought it and united it with the Genesee Farmer 

 (Fig. 38). This turned Mr. Tucker's paper into 

 a monthly, which he thought too slow for the 

 times, consequently beginning, January 1, 1853, 

 the Country Gentleman as a weekly. Both papers 

 were continued until January 1, 1866, when the 

 Cultivator was fused into the Country Gentleman. 

 This makes a story of continuous publication from 

 January 1, 1831, not a single issue having failed 

 tto appear on its appointed day, and no change of 

 ownership having occurred except by descent 

 from father to son. This record is believed to be 

 unique in journalism, in this country at least. 

 That of the New York Herald, of which one would 

 naturally think, is not equal, 

 the Herald dating its existence 

 only from 1835. 



Besides the Country Gentle- 

 man, not more than eight agri- 

 cultural papers established in 

 this country before 1850 were 

 continuously published until 

 1900; probably not so many, be- 

 cause there is reason to believe 

 that at least two or three of 

 the nine have had breaks in their 

 history. At all events, the fol- 

 lowing list is complete, if not 

 more than complete : 



Second to the Country Gen- 

 tleman stands the Maine (at 

 first called the Kennebec) Far- 

 mer, born at Winthrop, an 

 eight-page weekly, January 21, 

 1833, "E. Holmes, editor," sub- 

 scription price two dollars. Dr. 

 Holmes continued editor for 

 thirty years, and was propri- 

 etor also until 1839, when the 

 ownership passed to Seavey & 

 Robinson, who held it until 1843. 

 Subsequent publishers have been 

 Russell Eaton, 1844-58, Homan 

 & Manley, 1858-61, Homan & 

 Badger, 1861-78, Badger & Man- 

 ley, 1878-97, and since then the 

 Maine Farmer Publishing Com- 

 pany. B. F. W. Thorpe is the present editor. The 

 place of publication was changed in November, 

 1843, to Augusta, where it remains. 



Third among the old papers is the Boston (now 

 called the American) Cultivator, dating from 1839, 

 and one of the earliest local namesakes of the 

 Buel - Tucker monthly, others being the Southern 

 Cultivator, the Ohio Cultivator, the Northwestern 

 Cultivator, the Kentucky Cultivator, and so on. The 

 first publisher of the Boston paper of whose name 

 record has been preserved was Otis Brewer ; he 

 was succeeded'^ some time in the seventies, by 

 George B. James, the present editor and manager. 



Fourth is or perhaps we should now say, was 

 the Massachusetts Ploughman, established in 



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