A The Farm Paper 61 Years Ago. MONG the agricultural publica tions enjoying a good old age is the Southern Cultivator. Founded in 1843 it had reached its three score years and one on March 1, and the occasion was advertised by a special edition. A copy of Volume 1 is also in the possession of AGRICULTURAL ADVERTISING. The Southern Cultivator was founded by J. W. and W. S. Jones. The first number contained a letter written by George Washington and then in print for the first time, sending his nephew to look after Mount from myself. But that you also may have a general knowledge of what I expect from you I shall convey the following view (which I have of the business committed to your charge) as it appears to me and direct you to govern yourself by it; as I am persuaded nothing inconsistent therewith will be ordered by Mr. Lewis without authority from me to depart from it. Then follows instructions for getting the ground into shape, for selecting and planting the seed and for attending the other work about the place, which shows SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. Vernon. The letter was written from Philadelphia July 14, 1793, and was to his overseers. It begins as follows: Gentlemen: It being indispensably necessary that I should have some person at Mount Vernon through whom I can communicate my orders, who will see that these orders are executed, or if not obeyed, who will inform me why they are not, who will receive the weekly reports and transmit them; receive money and pay it; and in general do those things which do not pertain to any individual overseer, I have sent my nephew, Mr. Howell Lewis (who lives with me here), to attend to them until I can provide a manager of established reputation in these matters. You will, therefore, pay due regard to such directions as you may receive from him, considering them as coming immediately that George was a pretty knowing It was first intended to call the paper the Southern Planter, but it was learned after the prospectus had been sent out that a paper of that name was being published at Richmond, Va., and rather than encroach upon the rights of our brethren" the name was changed. The issue was sent generally to postmasters who were asked to exhibit it to their neighbors and friends and solicit subscriptions. On the editorial page is this announcement, interesting in view of the changed monetary conditions of the present day: "We shall, in obedience to the suggestions of numerous friends, report regularly the value of money, particularly while we have a depreciated circulating medium in the state; but as we hope the day is not far distant when such a cur rency will be driven entirely from circulation, we think that such a report may, in a short time, be dispensed with." The number is largely made up of clippings and credit is given to Southern Planter, Maine Farmer, American Farmer, American Agriculturist, Nashville Agriculturist, Farmer's Gazette and Albany Cultivator. There are no advertisements, but in the terms which occupy the lower right hand corner of the last page it is announced that "advertisements pertaining to agriculture will be inserted for one dollar for every square of twelve lines or less or the first insertion and seventy-five cents per square for each continuance." The early issues were made weekly, so as to begin the second volume with the first of the year, when issues were every other week. In one issue, a correspondent asks: "Be so good as to give an idea of the plow called the cultivator.'' The following clipping from the Richmond Compiler is of interest: "The editor of the Richmond Compiler was present a few days since at an exhibition of a reaping machine invented by Mr. McCormick, of Rockbridge, Virginia, the operation of which he thus describes in a recent number of his paper: The machine, placed on small wheels, was moved by two horses around the rye field in which the exhibition took place, making a clear passage through the grain as it moved, about five feet wide. This it did with a completeness which it is impossible for the cradle to accomplish. This machine would effectually destroy the vocation of the "Gleaner, who has been in times bygone the subject of many a pretty story or pleasant poem. The wheels of the machine keep in constant motion a saw with edge and teeth not unlike a reap hook, which saws down the grain as it is bent and forced against its edge by a revolving apparatus, resembling a seine reel. The grain falls upon a bed or platform just behind the teeth, whence it is raked by hand. This raking of the grain away is the most laborious part of the process so rapidly does it accumulate that it is difficult to keep it properly cleared. The issue of June 21 completed the first half of the first volume, and the editor indulged in the following retrospect: "In entering upon the duties of publishing an agricultural work at the South we were not unadvised of the difficulties we should encounter in prosecuting the labor. We are the pioneers in Georgia -the planters generally had not accustomed themselves to consult theories and to investigate the experiments of others in the pursuit of their labors-indeed, they had followed so long in the beaten path of their fathers, that we anticipated no little opposition and not a few sneers at the introduction of what is usually denominated "book farming." We are happy to perceive, however, that the prejudices of a large portion of the people on the subject are rapidly dissipating. an A paragraph which appeals to our sympathies even at this date is it will be noticed, precedes the nouncement, and it suggests that someone might have been threatening dire revenge against the germs if only he had known of their existence: The prevalence of the INFLUENZA among the hands in our office must excuse us to our patrons for the delay in issuing this number of the Cultivator. In this same number is the first advertisement a 30-liner calling attention to the Bommer Manure Method. A graduated charge for obtaining a copy of the method was used, varying from $6 for gardens to $25 for a 400-acre farm. Having made a start, the advertising in the following issue increased to one column, but that was as much as the paper was able to secure before the close of the first volume. In honor of its sixty-first anniversary the Southern Cultivator issued a special number, a reproduction of the cover page being given on the preceding page. The present publisher is T. P. Hunnicutt. SOMETHING SURPRISING IN POULTRY JOURNALISM, COLLIER'S AND OF INTEREST TO ALL ADVERTISERS. Collier's Weekly in its advertising campaign, gave the following information to 39,183 Lines It will surprise many to know that the magnitude of the Poultry Industry has enabled its Leading Exponent-the Reliable Poultry Journal—to secure and hold more business than any one of the popular magazines above mentioned. In the month referred to THE RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL RAN 40,855 LINES. Suppose that none of your competitors are represented in its columns! What a chance for an advertising scoop. Send for a Free Sample Copy of THE WORLD'S LEADING (Biggest and Best) POULTRY JOURNAL whose Guaranteed Circulation is Invariably Exceeded. Address, RELIABLE POULTRY JOURNAL PUBLISHING CO., QUINCY, ILL. If the legitimate mail order advertiser would turn his time and attention THE TWENTIETH CENTURY FARMER with its 50,000 circulation is a good medium for a mail order advertiser to test his proposition-the rate-18 cents an agate line--is an absolutely flat rate-no discount for time or space-start and stop as you please-quit if it doesn't pay-no strings on you. Write for the information we have gathered from a mail order standpoint-also booklets and rate cards. The 1904 nursery catalogue from D. Landreth Seed Company, Bristol, Pa., is a good piece of work and printed on a fair grade of paper. Its thirty-two pages are divided about equally between flowers and vegetables. On the front and back covers are reproduced views of their Bloomsdale Seed Farm. Mr. J. Lewis Draper, formerly president of the Draper Publishing Company and for fifteen years a well-known figure in the field of agricultural journalism, has concluded to continue in his work along agricultural lines. He enters business once more with the Orange Judd Company. Springfield, Mass., New York and Chicago. and will be in the advertising department of the company. Mr. Draper is an advertising man of long experience. It was J. LEWIS DRAPER. rumored that Mr. Draper would take up another line of work, but at the last moment he concluded his place was with the agricultural press, and his present position is the resuit. A nursery catalogue of rare excellence is the 1904 book from Thomas Meehan & Sons, at Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa. The printing and illustrations are of an unusually high order and the text is made up of sane, conservative business statements, bound to inspire confidence in the prospective buyer. It has a heavy, wine-colored cover, unique in its freedom from startling display. The size of the book is 7 by 9% and contains 136 pages. Let us send you a Golman's Rural We think it approaches That's why it COLMAN'S RURAL WORLD St. Louis, Mo. |