THIRD €n Smjirntrc tjjE fnil uni }1 je ffliuh ♦ SERIES. 
Vol. I. ALBANY, NOVEMBER, 1853. No. XI. 
The Cultivator for 1854. 
As the first volume of the Third Series of The Cul¬ 
tivator is drawing to its close, we deem it an appro¬ 
priate time to tender our acknowledgments for the 
many complimentary letters we have received during 
the year, and to assure our friends that we have not 
been insensible to the gratifying tokens, received from 
so many sources, that our efforts to supply the agricul¬ 
tural public, at a greatly reduced cost, with a sound 
practical journal, have given so universal satisfaction. 
Relying as we do, upon the gratuitous exertions of the 
friends of rural improvement, for support, their ver¬ 
dict in our favor is of the most vital importance. 
As we are soon to enter upon a new volume at the 
same reduced price, we wish to remind our readers, 
and especially those who have so kindly acted as 
Agents, of the fact that The Cultivator has, for the 
twenty years it has now been published, never turned 
aside from the great work for which it was established, 
to wit, “to improve the soil and the mind,” and thus 
to elevate the standing and character of the American 
husbandman. In accomplishing this object, it has 
brought to its aid, not only the developments of the 
laboratory, but the more sure test of experience, be¬ 
lieving, after all that chemistry has yet done for agri¬ 
culture, that the practical results which have followed 
the application of an intelligent and discriminating 
judgment to the culture of the soil, afford the most 
sure and certain guide to those who are seeking im¬ 
provement. While it has gladly availed itself of the 
developments of science, it has studiously endeavored 
to bring them to the test of experience; and it is be¬ 
lieved that it is not saying too much to repeat what has 
often been said by its readers, that the volumes of The 
Cultivator are a more valuable repository of the true 
principles and practice of American husbandry than 
can be found in any other work. Having no special 
theory to inculcate, it has recorded and discussed with 
freedom, the various theories which have been pro- 
mulged, and sought to deduce from them such princi¬ 
ples and suggestions as were worthy the consideration 
of the farmer. With no other interest to subserve than 
the public good—with no private advice or nostrums 
to dispose of, for a consideration—with no connection 
with or interest in any other establishment, it has been 
and will continue to be our aim to promote the best in¬ 
terests of the entire farming community, and to make 
our paper, in the best acceptance of the term, a truly 
National Agricultural Journal— one to whose 
pages all may refer with profit and safety 
If, as we have reason to suppose, the dissemination 
of the true principles of agriculture, is one of the most 
efficient means of promoting its improvement, then the 
circulation of The Cultivator ought to be greatly 
extended. It is now furnished at a price so low as to 
render its cost no obstacle to its unlimited extension, 
for there are none so poor that they cannot afford to 
pay fifty cents, for a large handsome volume of near 
400 pages. 
It is for the readers of The Cultivator to decide 
the measure of its influence and usefulness. If the prin¬ 
ciples we advocate, the information we publish, the 
hints we throw out, from time to time, are, as we are 
often assured, of great practical value, and calculated 
to place the science and art of Farming upon a correct 
basis, it is a matter of no small moment that these 
teachings should be made accessible to the greatest 
possible number of farmers. What that number shall 
be is a question which must be answered by our read¬ 
ers, and in which every subscriber should feel an indi¬ 
vidual interest and responsibility. The suggestions and 
the facts we present for your consideration are equally 
important to the hundreds of farmers in every town 
who are not readers of any agricultural journal, and 
who, consequently, are not making that advance which 
the careful perusal of such a paper would enable them 
to do. Who is answerable for this 1 Whose fault is it 
that the means of improvement are not in the hands of 
more farmers ? Partially their own, but more that of 
those who, knowing a better way, have not made the 
necessary exertion to spread the knowledge they have 
acquired through the medium of the press. We can 
speak as well to one hundred thousand as to one ; and 
it is for our readers—those who have the welfare of the 
farming interest of our country at heart, to say how 
many or how few shall partake of the benefits to be de¬ 
rived from the perusal of our journal. Knowing as we 
do, the great number of farmers who read no periodical 
devoted to their calling, we cannot hesitate, with this 
view of the subject, to appeal to each and all of our 
readers to aid us in the good wbrk in which we are on- 
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