1875.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
413 
by.” There are but few “local” agricultural papers— 
and by local we mean intended for one particular state— 
which are prosperous, and if it wore not betraying busi¬ 
ness confidence, we could astonish Mr. W. by naming 
those which have recently been offered for sale. It is 
all very well to talk about “ local ” papers, and en¬ 
couraging your own journal, but people are so per¬ 
verse, that they will buy where they get the most for 
their money. Some of the local papers are very excellent, 
and we would like to sec them succeed, but the American 
Agriculturist is able to give in a single number what costs 
more than papers of less circulation can afford to expeud 
in a year. Mr. IV ,’s tailor may show him that he ought 
to encourage American industry by buying a certain coat, 
but.if a much better coat of English cloth and make is 
offered him at the same price, lie will no doubt take the 
foreign product. It is just so with journals, people are 
bound to get the most for their money. Now there is a 
great deal of nonsense talked about sectional differences, 
or as the article quoted has it: “ the climate, crops, sea¬ 
sons, and tastes of farmers of each section differ greatly 
from those of any other.” If this were the case, which 
we do not admit, it is the one great reason why a farmer 
should have a paper from outside of his “ section,” that 
lie may know what is going on elsewhere. There is also 
a great deal said about eastern papers not being suited to 
the western farmers, and much of this is pure bosh. When 
a farmer goes to a new country, he at first has to struggle 
with the natural condition of things ; if he settles on the 
prairie, he breaks up the tough sod, he builds his sod 
cellars, and may be a sod-liouse, and does all his rough 
work of subduing the prairie in the only way it can be 
done; if he goes into a timbered country, there is but 
one way to get his lands into fields ; lie must chop, build 
his log-house and barn, and have logging bees, and burn 
up his timber; he must work among the stumps until 
they rot, and do all this just in the same way, that all 
other pioneers have done before him; he needs no paper 
to tell him how to do this; it is a work of strong arms, 
time, and patience. But there comes a time to the settler 
on the prairie and in the backwoods, when he gets beyond 
the primitive state, and he then wishes to know what he 
can do to better his condition. Heretofore he has had no 
time for the conveniences of farm-life ; he now is able to 
put up for himself a good barn, and he would like to 
know what kind farmers elsewhere build ; the log-house 
has done good service, many happy days have been 
passed there, but then the girls are growing up, and he 
can afford a frame-house, and he wishes to know how to 
build one. He has done pretty well with his dairy, but 
he has heard that there are better cows for butter ; the 
woman-folks have been talking about fruit, but he has 
never had any time to plant fruit trees and vines ; and he 
has seen on his journey to town fine vegetables that he 
would like- to have. It is, when the “ western,” or any 
other pioneer, has arrived at this point that he cares for 
any agricultural paper at all, whether “ local ” or “ na¬ 
tional,” and when he wishes to know what the rest of 
the world is doing, he naturally selects the journal which 
seems to him to have the widest scope, and will give him 
the most varied experience. No state can be more un¬ 
like all the rest of the Union, than California, yet their 
agricultural and horticultural journals are largely filled 
by quotations from those of the Atlantic states and of 
England, showing that they regard it as their duty to 
present news in their departments, no matter from where 
it may come. All these “ shrieks of locality,” as the po¬ 
litical papers have it, amount to nothing. Principles are 
the same everywhere, the same laws govern plant-growth 
in Oregon as in Maine ; Ayrshire cattle and Berkshire 
pigs are the best for certain uses almost everywhere. A 
farmer intelligent enough to take and read a paper, is al¬ 
so intelligent enough to make a proper application of 
principle to his circumstances, and to know the probabil¬ 
ities of the success of processes that have been found 
useful elsewhere, upon his soil. The intelligent farmer 
wishes to know what others are doing, how they have 
succeeded, and in what they have failed. More than that, 
he has learned that it is just as well to save a dollar, ns to 
make one, and if he live in that indefinite land, called 
“the West,” he is quite ready to adopt any labor-saving 
appliance, if it come from the east, north, or south. So 
much upon general principles. So far as the American 
Agriculturist is concerned, we claim that it is true to its 
title “ American,” and that it is of great value—far more 
than it costs—to every tiller of the soil, whether he bo a 
large stock-farmer, a grain-grower, a truck-farmer, or- 
chardist, or only have a small village garden. And this 
no matter in what, habitable country on the globe he may 
be. We do not know when these great “ Changes in Jour¬ 
nalism ” (we suppose the “ Independent ” won’t change, 
and more’s the pity) are to begin, but certainly our sub¬ 
scription list for the present year does not show any dis¬ 
couraging symptoms. It may interest the many friends 
of the American Agriculturist to know something about 
where it goes, and how wide is the brotherhood of its 
readers. Editorially, we know nothing about the sub¬ 
scription list, except in a general way, but we do know 
from letters addressed to the editors, something about 
its readers. Sometime ago wo began to keep a memoran¬ 
dum of the editorial letters received each day, jot¬ 
ting down the topics, and~ the states they were from. 
These were entirely editorial letters of inquiry, and the 
record was made to allow us to know the wants of our 
readers in different parts of the country, in order that we 
might so far as possible meet their wishes. This memo¬ 
randum, while it probably does not give the proportion 
of subscribers in the different states, does fairly show the 
range of editorial correspondence, and we give the figures, 
remarking that as a general thing, those the farthest oft' 
most generally, asked about things which are to us the 
nearest home. In arranging our memoranda under states, 
we find there are 804 letters from within our own terri¬ 
tory, and 3G from other countries; in all 840. Had we 
commenced the memoranda at the end of last year and 
the beginning of this, the number from abroad would have 
been much larger, as we find [that subscribers in distant 
countries, where postage is costly, keep what they wish 
to say to the editors until the time they renew their sub¬ 
scriptions. 
States and Territories alphabetically arranged, from 
which 804 editorial letters were received: 
Alabama.10 
Ark. 0 
La. 5 
Me.17 
Md.33 
North Car.15 
Ohio.55 
Peim. .90 
Colorado. 5 
Dakotah. 2 
Del. 4 
I). C.2 
Fla. 7 
Georgia.10 
Ill...'.55 
Inti.40 
Iowa.28 
Mich.20 
Mo.26 
Minn.12 
Miss. 5 
Montana. 2 
Nebraska. G 
N. II. 7 
N. J.32 
New Mexico.... 2 
Nevada. 1 
K. 1. 2 
South Car. 3 
Teini.17 
Texas.15 
Utah. 3 
Vermont. 8 
Virginia.28 
Wash. Ter. 2 
Wisconsin.19 
Wyoming. 2 
Kentucky.20 
New York.70 
804 
From various other countries : 
Brit. Honduras.. 
Canada. 
Choctaw Nation. 
England. 
France. 
In the above list Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, 
Illinois, and some others, count up heavily, but when we 
come to compare the population of these states with that 
of those which show smaller figures, it will be seen that 
our correspondence, in proportion to the population, is 
very largely from the newer and more distant states. 
We are not much concerned ns to the changes which it 
is predicted will take place in the “great hereafter,” so 
long as those who, in these widely separate localities, 
give us constant assurance that our paper meets their 
wants. We append extracts from the letters of a few 
correspondents at different points, but as they were 
not written for publication, we do not give names. 
Massachusetts.—A. lady writes from Woburn : “ For 
long the American Agriculturist has been a household 
treasure.” 
Mem Hampshire.—A Subscriber in Hancock, says : “ I 
find many very valuable hints in your excellent paper, 
and would not part with it for double its cost.”—These 
will suffice for New England, and we omit New York 
altogether. Looking to the southern states, wo find from 
Maryland, a farmer writing from North Branch: “ It is 
so interesting to me that I would scarcely know how to 
do without it.” 
Virginia.—A. lady in Lee Co., says: “I am very much 
pleased with the American Agriculturist. You may 
count me a life-long subscriber, and lam trying to induce 
others to take it, as I think it the most practical agricul¬ 
tural paper I have ever seen ; there is something in it to 
suit every one.” 
Florida— A Suwannee Co. subscriber is “taking it 
now, and I expect to continue. I often feel repaid for 
the subscription price by a single article in one number, 
and wish that every farmer could read the journal, and 
profit by its useful hints and suggestions.” — “M. C.,” 
another Floridian, in a letter to the Florida Agriculturist 
says, and we would here thank our excellent cotempor¬ 
ary for publishing it: “ One is very much mistaken if ho 
thinks that skill and experience in northern fields is of 
no use here. We would dislike to do without the sug¬ 
gestions and facts of the American Agriculturist, even 
down here. The principles are the same everywhere in 
agriculture.” 
Looking to the western states, we find many words of 
commendation, from which we select but a few. 
Ohio— A lady writes from Trumbull Co.: “I have 
enjoyed the reading of your excellent, paper for about 10 
years. I have found every page well worth reading ; you 
can not say that of many papers.” — A farmer in Gallia 
Co., says: “A word about the American Agriculturist ; 
it is what every farmer ought to read. I feel that I can¬ 
not well do without it. * * I think it ought to be cir¬ 
culated among farmers, then there will be no cause for 
going west.”... A friend in Summit Co., who read a 
neighbor’s copy for October for 30 minutes, forwards his 
1 [Hungary.2 
12 India, (E.). 1 
11Mexico. 3 
2 New Brunswick 2 
1 Nova Scocia.... 4 
Newfoundland.. 
New Zealand.... 
Prince Ed. Isl... 
Spain. 
30 
subscription and says: “ This time put me down for life, 
and don’t wait long until you get the Nov. number on 
the way. My subscription expired with last year, and I 
felt .too ‘tight’ to renew. Then I made a mistake. 
Can't farm without it. Will come out behind this year- 
just for that reason. The Oct. number is worth the 
amount I send you; if for any reason you can’t send the 
paper, just keep the money for value received in 30 min¬ 
utes.”-But it may be said that Ohio, Indiana, and Illi¬ 
nois are now old states, and no longer belong to the “far 
west,” we will let these go by and quote from a few that 
are not open to this objection : 
Wisconsin. —We get from Waupaca Co: “Times awful 
tight. No cash. Cannot get along without the American 
Agriculturist. Lost last year. Manage to send for it this 
year. Tight squeeze.” From 
Wyoming Ter.— J. B. S., writes: “It is becoming a 
household necessity; am sorry I had not found it two 
years ago.”_Here is an interesting letter, too long to 
give entire, from 
Colorado ; the writer when he lived in an eastern town 
took the American Agriculturist and had 8 volumes bound. 
“And many a useful hint did I find there. I was not en¬ 
gaged in farming, but concluded that the useful informa¬ 
tion, suited to all classes, that I found there well repaid 
me.” When he went west he had to leave his bound vol¬ 
umes behind, but after he became established at “ ranch¬ 
ing,” he sent for the paper and says : “I often feel like 
writing to you, as though I had an interest in the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, and have aright to.” We content our¬ 
selves with but one quotation from the Pacific coast, 
where, if in any part of the country, a “ local ” would be 
better than a “national” paper; this comes from the 
orange groves of 
California, in Los Angeles Co., and reads: “And one 
more word, and that for the American Agriculturist. 1 
have read every number since Jan. 1871, and would not be 
without the bountiful store of information I have gathered 
from its pages, for a ‘ California ranch.’ And may it long 
continue to go on with its noble work.”_Our subscrip¬ 
tion lists show that the American Agriculturist meets the 
wants of farmers in all the English colonies far better 
than any of their home journals, and we find it taken 
largely in Australia and in the other islands, in Africa and 
elsewhere. Both our German and English editions have a 
large circulation in Germany, and space only prevents our 
quoting from letters received from that country giving 
most gratifying assurance of the great utility of the 
American, Agriculturist to German and Hungarian 
farmers. We conclude this already long list of extracts 
without by any means exhausting the material by one 
from 
Tasmania, which says: “Your interesting and valuable 
paper is much l-ead in this remote part of the world, be¬ 
cause you describe a great many of our difficulties that are 
not mentioned in the English agricultural papers.”.... 
There is at least one “ national ” paper that does not think 
its career of usefulness has ended ; it is called 
The American Agriculturist. 
- m m -— 
Science Applied to Farming.—XI. 
By Prof. W. O. Atwater, Wesleyan University, 
Middletown, Conn. 
More about Digestion of Foods—Practical III* 
formation about Feeding. 
The question of the influence of potatoes and 
roots on the digestion of hay, is exciting' considera¬ 
ble interest. One correspondent, indeed, thinks me 
inconsistent, and good naturedly accuses me of 
leading him astray. His case is, in substance, this. 
Some of the earlier articles of this series impressed 
him with the necessity of having the proper propor¬ 
tions of albuminoids (nitrogen) in the food for his 
stock. He had some clover made into hay for next 
winter’s use, and planned to raise a lot of potatoes, 
select the largest and best for market, and feed the 
rest to his cattle. By mixing clover, which is rich 
in nitrogen, with potatoes containing an excess of 
carbo-hydrates, he would have a cheap and ap¬ 
propriate ration for his cattle. But the experiments 
described in the last articles show that potatoes fed 
with clover decrease the digestion, and so instead 
of economizing by this plan, he finds that lie will 
lose a certain percentage of the clover which would 
otherwise he digested and utilized. The way out 
of this difficulty may he found in the distinction 
between 
Coarse and Concentrated Foods, 
to which I have frequently referred. The tables in 
previous articles have shown in figures what most 
