4,92 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. [December, 
An Earnest Request. 
New Mailing Books are opened for 1880. To get sub¬ 
scribers names and tbe proper address from letters, pass 
them through the entry books, and thence to the proper 
place nnder tftie right one of the forty-five thousand dif¬ 
ferent Post Offices, requires much care and the work of 
our most expert and experienced clerks. We would be 
glad to have this work in progress from theyfrsf day of 
December, and not “ all in a heap,” about the close of 
the year. We therefore earnestly request every sub¬ 
scriber who can, to send in his renewal for 1880 on receipt 
of this number. It will take no more time now than later 
oh, and will greatly help us. A ready prepared subscrip¬ 
tion form is given on page 530, to be cut oft', and inclosed 
in place of a letter. 
The Unprecedented Opportunity to obtain 
first-class Books, not only those pertaining to Rural Life, 
but the best Standard works in all departments of Litera¬ 
ture, should not be neglected, as it is not likely to soon 
occur again. Printing or book paper was never before so 
low, as during the past summer, and it will advance in 
price, with every tiling else. Taking advantage of the 
t ow rates, the Publishers of this Journal made arrange¬ 
ments and contracts, enabling them to offer to our lead¬ 
ers a choice from 847 most desirabls works on extra¬ 
ordinary terms, as stated in the Premium List. Any num¬ 
ber of persons, from ten to a hundred or more, can unite, 
and by collecting $1.50 each, secure not only a copy of 
this Journal for a year for each member, but also as many 
dollars' worth of books, as there are persons in the club , and 
those books can be kept as a Library for the common use 
of all. Thus 30 or 50 persons uniting can secure $30 or 
$50 worth of books, which all can have the use of—-oue 
of the members acting as Librarian or Keeper. Many 
such Libraries are already made up. Farmers’ Clubs, 
Granges, etc., should not let this opportunity pass, to 
secure a good Circulating Library. Many individuals are 
collecting such clubs without the aid of others, and 
securing the books for their own use. 
It Does Day, Always, to read about what 
others do, and say, and think, in the same line of work 
or business. If one docs not find direct information 
specially applicable to his own work, yet the thoughts 
and methods of others incite new thoughts and plans 
in the reader’s own mind, that lead to profitable results. 
The reading, thinking man, makes bis head help his 
hands. Brains tell everywhere, and in nothing more 
than in farming, gardening, and housekeeping. And 
the fewer brains one has, or thinks he has, the more 
anxious should he be to get all the facts and suggestions 
he can from other people’s thinking and experience. 
It mi over the INDEX, herewith, and then say 
if yon would be without the information and the new 
thoughts suggested by these thousands of items, the 
many hundreds of engravings, etc., for the small sum it 
has cost. The next volume will at least be equally val¬ 
uable ; we mean to make it much more valuable. If 
our friends are satisfied, will they suggest to others of 
their friends and acquaintances the advantages of join 
ing the company of readers for 1880. 
Further Interesting and Important Fig¬ 
ures will be found in our market reports. From* the 
Port of New York alone, the exports of wheat from Jan. 
1 to Nov. 12 reached the enormous and unprecedented 
amount, of 55,735,601 bushels and an equivalent in flour 
of about 15 million more bushels, or a total of over 70 
million bushels. During the same time, nearly 30,001,000 
bushels of Corn, and 3,637,483 bushels of Rye w'ent out 
to foreign lands—over a hundred million bushels of grain 
from one port. Much more will continue to go, and 
more would have already gone, had not speculation run 
prices unwarrantably high. At fair, remunerative rates, 
all we can spare—and that is a good deal yet—will be 
taken by Europe; too high prices will check foreign 
consumption, and very materially diminish the demand. 
In return for these exports, gold still pours in upon us 
from abroad, and enters into all channels of trade, pro¬ 
moting the general prosperity of all classes. 
A National Agricultural Society. 
That the State Agricultural Societies, as a whole, have 
benefited the agriculture of the different States, there 
is no doubt. That a Society which should be to the 
whole country what the State Society is to its State, 
would be desirable, has occurred to and occupied the 
minds of many, is shown by at least two attempts to form 
such an Association. A National Society, which started 
out with whatever of prestige eminent names could give, 
had its apparently successful career suddenly terminated 
by the war. Later, there has been the National Agricul¬ 
tural Congress, which was never very strong in members, 
and has at each successive meeting so diminished in at¬ 
tendance that it can hardly survive another year. One 
need not look for the cause of the want of success of this 
Congress beyond the fact that it came into existence 
at the call of the superfluous Department of Agriculture, 
under the reign of Commissioner Watts, and its first 
meeting was held in the Department building. It was 
thus blighted at its birth, and though its subsequent 
meetings have been held elsewhere, it has never been 
able to free itself from the untoward influence. 
Another attempt to form a National Agricultural Soci¬ 
ety has been made—or rather, we should say, is about to be 
made. Some persons interested in agriculture called a 
meeting, which was held at the rooms of the Farmers’ 
Club of the American Institute a few weeks ago, for the 
purpose of forming a Society. The meeting was quite 
well attended, but it did little beyond appointing a 
Committee to consider the subject of forming a Soci¬ 
ety, and to call a subsequent meeting for its permanent 
organization, which meeting will be held on the 10th of 
this month. As some of those who have the matter in 
hand are very much in earnest, we have no doubt that 
the third attempt will be made to form a National Ag¬ 
ricultural Society. If there is a field for such a Society— 
and we do not doubt that there is, if the Society is 
equal to it—the present is a most favorable time for 
starting it. The public feeling is right for new enter¬ 
prises, and buoyant with the successes of the year. That 
a Society will be formed we have little doubt. What 
i kind of a Society it shall be, we shall know after the 
meeting has been held. We hope that it may be one 
that shall be of use to our agriculture as a whole, and 
thus a benefit to every farmer, rather than one that shall 
be an organized failure from the start. As the Society 
is as yet in the future, we may not be charged with offer¬ 
ing it unsolicited advice, but may, with propriety, say a 
word to the individuals who will meet to form the Society, 
as to what we regard as essential to its success: Cut free 
from and avoid the Farmers’ Club, and every other body or 
society at present in existence. In saying this, we have 
no reference to the character of the Club, which, we are 
told, is wonderfully improved, but because the prelim¬ 
inary meeting was held at its room—and we should say 
the same of any other club or association. In such mat¬ 
ters, it is a well established fact that a Society which 
starts under the wing or patronage of another can no 
more flourish than can most plants when set in the shade 
and drip of trees. If the Society is started in the room 
of the Farmers’ Club, with the men who have been 
prominent in the Club, conspicuous in its organization, 
the public will never learn to separate the two, and the 
Society will be regarded as merely an enlarged Farmers’ 
Club, whatever the name by which it may call itself It 
is absolutely essential to the future of the Society that 
it assume at the very outset a distinct and independent 
existence. A second point is, keep all axe-grinders to 
the rear. While we admit that a maker of a mowing or 
other machine, or of a fertilizer, or other thing largely 
used by farmers, may be disinterested in his love 
for agriculture, and ardently desirous for its advance¬ 
ment, yet the public will not believe that such per¬ 
sons can be disinterested, and the success of the So¬ 
ciety demands that men of this kind take a back seat. 
But there is another class of those who have a com¬ 
mercial interest in agriculture, those who will put 
themselves forward, and be active in the Society as a 
means of advertising. All such must be sent to the rear 
in the organization. We hope that a Society may be 
organized which shall enlist the active aid and co-opera¬ 
tion of the farmers in every State, and it will be the 
fault of the farmers themselves if this is not so, as the 
call for the meeting is full and general, and paias have 
been taken to have it reach every State. We hope that 
the meeting may result in the formation of a Society 
with which we may be in hearty sympathy, and one 
which shall at once commend itself to the respect of 
the agriculturists of every part of the broad land. 
Hnmbugs-inilions of Dollars Saved.— 
There is no question that the persistent exposures of 
humbugs and swindling schemes, and the agitation of the 
subject kept up constantly for a score of years in this 
Journal, have saved to its readers and the country many 
millions of dollars in the aggregate. Our own correspon¬ 
dence has plainly shown that the saving among our read¬ 
ers alone has been far greater than the entire sum paid in 
subscriptions since the paper came into existence. It is a 
remarkable fact that among the multitude of libel suits be¬ 
gun against us, not one has been even partially successful, 
but in every case , where the suit has not been gladly drop¬ 
ped or withdrawn, we have received the strong commenda¬ 
tion of judges and juries in the final verdict. We shall not 
slacken our efforts in this direction. If a copy of this 
Journal could be placed in every family, the swindling 
fraternity would have to go into honest pursuits, or starve. 
containing a great variety of Items, including many 
good Hints and Suggestions which we throw into smaller 
type and condensed form, for want of room elsewhere. 
The German Edition. —All the principal arti¬ 
cles and engravings that appear in the American Agricul¬ 
turist are reproduced in the German Edition. Besides 
these, there is a special department, edited by an eminent 
German cultivator. Our friends can do us a good service 
by calling the attention of their German neighbors and 
friends to the fact that they can have the paper in their 
own language, and those who employ Germans will 
find this Journal a most useful and acceptable present. 
Read the Advertising; Columns.— 
Letters are daily received by the editors, asking where 
pigs, fowls, seeds, fertilizers, machinery, etc., can be 
procured. We consider all the information of this kind 
that is given in the advertising pages sufficient, if those 
needing anything will only look there ; and can not find 
room to repeat what is already plainly told elsewhere, 
Every page of the American Agriculturist, including the 
covers, is interesting reading, and should all be carefully 
examined every month. In addition to looking after what 
one may want, the reading of what others have to say, in 
offering their wares, etc., starts up some new idea in the 
mind of the reader.—When writing to any advertiser, al¬ 
ways tell him in what paper his advertisement was seen 
No Parting Words.— Though closing the voi 
ume, we offer no valedictory. Our work goes right on 
from month to month, and year to year, and we coufi 
dently hope that every present reader will “ walk and 
talk ’’ with us in the future as in the past. Our own 
plans and purposes for the coming Volume are large, and 
we know it will be worthy of the continued patronage 
of all our past readers and of many new ones who have 
already come in thousands. 
This Number will be sent Free to all next 
subscribers for 1880, coming to baud pribr to Dec. 6tn. 
A Specimen Number will be sent to any addfess 
supplied by our readers. Of course they will only make 
this request in cases where such specimens will be likely 
to he useful. 
For the Whole Country*— -This is the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, and the Editors aim to make it useful 
to every part of the country, tothe entire American Coa 
tinent. A recent very large increase of readers at the 
West and South, where the circulation has always been 
liberal, shows an appreciation of the fact that this Journal 
is adapted to the wants of all sections. The principles of 
soil culture, feeding, etc., are the same everywhere Prof 
itable Farm work is being more and more subject to 
mechanical, labor-saving and labor-helping appliances 
No other Journal so abouuds in engravings and descrip 
tionsof such appliances, and the American Agriculturist 
fills a place occupied by no other, however many oca! 
journals are taken—the more the better. 
A Fetter Heady Written for You —It is 
often a bother to hunt up paper and fill it out in proper 
form. On page 530 will be found a Subscription Form 
prepared to be cut off without injury to the paper, and 
used as a letter after filling in the Blanks. When more 
than ton names are to be sent, an additional sheet can 
be added at the bottom. Let all matters for tbe 
Editors be on a separate paper, having also on it the 
date and your name and address. 
Over 25,000 men, Women, and Children 
have enjoyed the use of valuable articles obtained free 
from this Office, in return for their kind influence in 
making tiie American Agriculturist known to others and 
collecting and forwarding subscriptions—and they have 
doubtless thus benefited those invited to become readers. 
The Header of this can, without much trouble, be one of 
the many thousand who will receive these premium arti¬ 
cles the present month and during the coming winter. 
We invite every one to try it. If the premium list has 
been lost or mislaid, sand a Postal request for another 
