XVI EULOGY. 



the form of a small sheet, issued monthly, and at the 

 very moderate price of twenty-five cents per year. So 

 little, however, did it become known ; so very deficient 

 was the taste for reading on agricultural subjects ; and, 

 consequently, so extremely limited was its circulation, 

 that the same volume, which has since passed through 

 three editions, and now reposes on the shelves of more 

 than twenty-four thousand American farmers, was found, 

 at the end of the year, to have accumulated a debt, over 

 and above its receipts, of nearly five hundred dollars. En- 

 tertaining, however, a thorough conviction of the utility of 

 the undertaking, and never doubting its ultimate success, 

 he made an arrangement with the society, by which he be- 

 came sole proprietor of ' The Cultivator,' assuming the 

 payment of all its debts and liabilities. The superior 

 merits of the paper soon began to render it more general- 

 ly known. It was found necessary to enlarge it, and to 

 increase the price to fifty cents per annum. Notwith- 

 standing the increase in price, the subscription list for the 

 fourth volume, published from March, 1837, to March, 

 183S, amounted to twenty-three thousand. It was then 

 deemed expedient, still further to enlarge and improve ; 

 and, accordingly, in March, 183S, at the commencement 

 of the fifth volume, a larger, more expensive, and better 

 executed sheet, was issued, at the subscription price of 

 one dollar per annum. This increase in price at first di- 

 minished, very considerably, the number of subscribers. 

 They were, however, gradually increasing, and, at the 

 time of his death, amounted to about sixteen thousand. 



We might naturally expect that a mind, thus active 

 and gifted, could not long continue to exercise its powers, 

 without acquiring a more or less extended and solid repu- 

 tation. The new and vigorous impulse he was giving to 

 agriculture and horticulture, awoke to activity a kindred 

 spirit in the breasts of his countrymen. This call to re- 

 newed agricultural efforts met with a corresponding res- 

 ponse from many portions of the Union, Societies, de- 

 voted to agriculture and horticulture, originated in various 

 sections of our country ; and, among their first acts, has 

 usually been the recognition of their obligations to Jesse 



