American Agriculturist, December 13, 1924 
Cash Prizes for Best Letters 
We Want Your Ideas and Help to Make A Great Farm Paper 
I T may be a little early for making 1925 
resolutions, but we are making the one that 
more than ever the readers of American 
Agriculturist shall determine the policies 
of the paper and through their ideas and letters 
furnish much of the material that we will 
publish. 
We have plans already under way for giving 
what we hope will be the best and most interest¬ 
ing farm paper in 1925 that has ever been 
published. But before we go forward with these 
plans, we want your approval or disapproval so 
that we can be sure that the service we are 
furnishing is what you want and what you need. 
Therefore, we are printing on this page an out¬ 
line or an announcement of some of 
the leading policies, writers, and 
articles which have been appearing in 
American Agriculturist and which 
we expect to continue and improve in 
1925, if you approve them. 
The Cash Prizes 
For the best letter discussing the 
American Agriculturist its writers, 
articles and policies, we will pay a 
prize of $5; for the second best we 
will pay $3; for the third, $2; and $1 
each for the next ten best. If any 
prize winning letters are of equal 
merit, we will give the same prize to 
both writers. 
Here Are the Conditions 
1. Letters must be written by men 
or women actually residing on a 
farm. 
2. They should be from 200 to 500 
words in length. 
3. They should tell what article 
or policy you like best in American 
Agriculturist, giving your reasons. 
4. Name and discuss your second 
and third choice with reasons. 
5. Mention other good features , 
articles or writers that you especially 
like. 
6. Give some constructive criticism 
of things that you do not like in the 
paper and why. 
7. Perhaps you can sxiggest some 
new features or ideas that you would 
like to hate appear in the Old 
Reliable American Agricultur¬ 
ist in 1925. 
Just write a friendly letter which 
you think will help us in getting out 
a paper that you will like to read. 
We may or may not publish any of the letters. 
We particularly want them for our own infor¬ 
mation. 
Whether or not you get one of the prizes, 
you can know that your letter and its sugges¬ 
tions will be appreciated and will be of help to 
us in increasing and perfecting our service 
to 135,000 people. 
Below is the statement of what we have been 
trying to do and are planning to do next year. 
Look it over, and then write us. 
What American Agriculturist Is Trying to Do 
L Articles on Farm Life by Jared Van Wagenen, Jtj 
Mr. Van Wagenen lives on his farm at Lawyers- 
ville, Schoharie County, New York, but for years 
he has worked during the winter on the farmers’ 
institute programs. ... 
2. Articles on Farming and Subjects of Interest to 
Farmers by H. E. Cook: Mr. Cook lives on his farm 
at Denmark. He is one of the most successful 
farmers in Northern New York and for many 
- years has been a regular contributor of Plow Handle 
T alks in American Agriculturist. 
i. Articles on Fruit, Fruit Growing , General Farm 
Conditions, and Cooperative Organizations in 
Western New York by M. C. Burritt: Mr. Burritt 
was formerly extension director of the New York 
State College of Agriculture, but has retired to 
take active charge of his fruit farm at Hilton, 
Monroe County. 
4. Farm Engineering and Farm Mechanics Articles: 
Most of these articles are contributed by Prof. 
F. C. Behrends of the New York State College of 
Agriculture, one of the best experts on the opera¬ 
tion of farm machinery in America. Mr. Behrends 
is also a very pleasing writer. 
5. Marketing: Special attention is paid every week to 
the preparation of what we think is one of the best 
market pages in America. This is supplemented 
by frequent editorials and summaries and reviews 
of the market situation. All of this is published 
in the belief that if the farmer knows the facts, he 
can be trusted to use his own judgment. Is this 
work worth while? How can it be improved? 
6. Broadcasting Radio Market Reports: In cooperation 
with the New York State Department of Farms 
and Markets and the United States Department of 
Agriculture, market reports are broadcast every 
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 
twelve o’clock from WEAF broadcasting station. 
7. Articles of Special Interest and Ilelp to Farm 
Women: The services of Mrs. Gabrielle Elliot 
Forbush are employed constantly to bring to the 
farm womenfolk in addition to the regular features 
of the paper, matters that pertain especially to the 
home; and in addition to this, three or four times a 
year, we publish a special home number. How 
can we better this work? 
8. Cartoons, Comic Pictures and Regular Pictures: 
During the course of the year, we publish a lot of 
illustrations, bringing out every phase of country 
life and some of them are used also in the hope of 
getting a smile and making the paper more read¬ 
able. 
9. Eastman's Editorials: A great deal of time is given 
by the editor in the preparation of editorials that 
are worth while to our great farm family. If they 
are not, say so frankly and tell us why. These 
include: Discussions of lower taxes on farm prop¬ 
erty, better marketing facilities; enforcement of 
prohibition; rural school improvement; developed 
under rural leadership; lower costs of production 
legislation favorable to the farm business; happier 
farm life, health, convenience, and recreation, 
such as horseshoe pitching, etc. 
10. Eastman s Chestnuts: These appear each week in 
the corner of the Editorial page. They are 
written on the theory that a smile once in a while 
is good for all of us. 
11. Investment Articles: Through the articles and letters 
by G. T. Hughes, our investment expert, we 
save our readers from losing many thousands of 
dollars every year. 
12. Farm, News: American Agriculturist makes a 
special feature of farm news, and tries to get in 
each week the news of particular interest to 
farmers. This includes “Among the Farmers,” 
notes, written by farmers of the differ¬ 
ent sections, accounts of important 
farm meetings, and all other news 
events which apply to farmers of our 
territory. Do you like these news 
stories? What part should be con¬ 
tinued and what omitted? 
Production Problems: In the different 
departments in the paper we publish 
regularly articles on poultry, dairy, 
sheep, swine, farm crops, and fruit. 
Do we have enough of such materials? 
Do you like these articles long or 
short? How can we make them better? 
Serial Story: We run one good serial 
story all of the time. Some of the 
recent ones have been “The Brown 
Mouse,” “The Broad Highway,” and 
“The Valley of the Giants.” Do you 
read them? Are you reading the 
present one, “The Trouble Maker?” 
Do you want them continued? 
15. Short Letters and Discussions by A. 
A. Readers: We believe farmers 
should have a considerable part in 
writing a farm paper and we plan to 
continue and enlarge this feature. 
Service Bureau: We consider this, next 
to marketing, the most important 
part of our paper. Do you read it? 
Have you ever used it? If so, with 
what results? If not, why not give it 
a trial? It costs you nothing. 
Articles Abord the Radio: The time is 
not far distant when a radio will be 
in every farm home. It is useful for 
both pleasure and business. If there 
is an increasing demand to know how 
they are built and how to get the best 
results from them. 
18. Regular Weekly Non-Sectarian Ser¬ 
mon: Not yet started. Do you want 
them? 
Discussions of Existing Cooperative Or¬ 
ganizations: This includes telling the 
news and discussing both the good and 
bad features so that farmers can make their or¬ 
ganizations better. 
20. Occasional Discussions of World Problems: Of course 
farm people are just as much or more interested 
in national and international affairs as other folks. 
Therefore, we believe their own paper should carry 
as much discussions of such problems as space 
permits. 
Kill a Kow 
I will be glad to cooperate, providing 
at least one thousand other dairymen 
will do the same, in selling or killing 
FOR BEEF PURPOSES at least one 
of the poorest producers in my herd 
between now and March 1, 1925. 
Name. 
Address. 
Cut this out, sign it and send it to American 
Agriculturist, 461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. 
Copyright. 1924. New York Tribune. Inc. 
WHAT EVERY HEAD OF THE HOUSE CAN APPRECIATE 
• ' —Darling in the New York Tribune 
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