NOTE 



The peculiar typographical arrangement 

 of the following matter, and the high num- 

 bers carried by, the pages and the illustra- 

 tions, are due to the fact that it is printed 

 from plates that were made for the fourth 

 volume of Bailey's Cyclopedia of American 

 Agriculture, for which work it was written 

 by the editor's special request. An agri- 

 cultural publisher, who objected strongly 

 to having the facts about his business put 

 on record in the Cyclopedia (though the 

 facts are in no manner discreditable) in- 

 duced Prof. Bailev to omit this article at the 



last minute, the author absolutely refusing 

 to consent to changes that would have 

 falsified history. It seemed that the not 

 inconsiderable labor devoted to obtaining 

 and arranging the multitudinous facts, 

 names and dates here embodied ought not to 

 go to waste, particularly as there is now in 

 existence no history of the American agricul- 

 tural periodical press, and the men who are 

 qualified by their recollections and knowledge 

 of the most vital period, covering say the last 

 fifty years, to prepare such a history, are 

 now very few and are fast passing away. 

 The author therefore bought the plates of 

 the publishers, and presents the sketch as 

 the reader sees it, intending to place it in 

 a number of the larger libraries of the coun- 

 try, that the story, however imperfectly 

 and unsatisfactorily related, of the develop- 

 ment of one of the most important agencies 

 that have co-operated to make present-day 

 American civilization what it is, a story 

 that it will be very difficult if not quite im- 

 possible to compile again, when a few more 

 years shall have gone by may be per- 

 manently preserved. 



HISTORICAL SKF.TCH OF AMERfCATST J 

 AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS 



By Gilbert M. Tucker 



A. sketch of the history of the American agri- 

 cultural press may be conveniently divided into 

 four sections, dealing respectively with (1) the 

 pioneers, all established, so far as is now known, 

 during the decade ending with 1828 ; (2) the now- 

 old papers, those that were founded before say 

 1850 and outlived the nineteenth century; (3) the 

 developments of more recent years ; and (4) the 

 branching off of our rural journalism into special- 

 ties, marked by the appearance of a number of 

 periodicals devoted to subdivisions of the art of 

 husbandry. " Horse papers," chronicling chiefly 

 the events of the race track, and publications 

 intended for readers who live in the country as a 

 matter of pleasure, not gaining their livelihood by 

 the practice of any branch of farming, are not 

 included in the purview of this article. 



THE FIVE PIONEERS 



The pioneers of the American agricultural press 

 of which distinct record has been preserved, the 

 list being undoubtedly incomplete, were five the 

 first American Farmer (not the present paper of 

 that name), the Ploughboy, the first New England 

 Farmer (not the present paper of that name), the 

 first New York Farmer (not the present paper of 

 that name), and the Southern Agriculturist. 



The original American Farmer was established 

 at Baltimore by John S. Skinner, April 2, 1819, a 

 weekly of eight quarto pages, for which the nomi- 

 nal subscription price was four dollars, (Fig. 33). 

 Some nearby subscribers must have paid practi- 

 cally a good deal more, the bank bills of Wilmington, 

 Del., being quoted in tlie first issue as passing at 25 

 per cent discount, so that persons tendering such 

 bills were probably required to give between five 

 and six dollars ; and undoubtedly it was one of their 

 best investments. The head-line describes the con- 

 tents as "Rural Economy, Internal Improvements, 

 News, Prices Current," and an editorial announce- 

 ment says : " The great aim, and the chief pride, of 

 the American Farmer, will be, to collect informa- 

 tion from every source, on every branch of Hus- 

 bandry, thus to enable the reader to study the vari- 

 ous systems which experience has proved to be the 

 best under given circumstances ; and in short to put 

 him in possession of that knowledge and skill in the 

 exercise of his means, without which the best farm 

 and the most ample materials will remain but as 

 so much dead capital in the hands of their propri- 

 etor." A rather remarkable offer is added : " If at 

 the end of the year, any subscriber should think he 

 has not received his 'penn'orth,' his subscription 

 money shall be repaid to him on demand." The 

 paper seems to have run until 1862, when its pub- 

 lication was discontinued. (The second American 

 Farmer, started in 1866, was a different affair ; 

 so is the present American Farmer, dating from 

 1884 ; and there may have been others.) 



Two months after the birth of the American 



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