tising who do not at present need publicity, and many breeders who need publicity are not advertising.

For many years to come we shall have in this country a class of farmers whose prejudice against prominent

breeders of live stock will enable the small breeders to make money, provided the latter make use of printers' ink. It is the erroneous impression among a somewhat benighted contin gent of the rural population that the well-known breeders of established reputation ask more money for their cattle than humbler producers usually quote on the same class of stock. In some instances this, unfortunately, is true. Aversion to buying an intangible slug of a breeder's reputation along with an animal of his raising, may be warranted, when at perhaps one-half the price paid, a beast of equal merit could be purchased from a breeder of obscure distinction. But this question has another aspect: a bull, for example, bought from a breeder whose name is familiar to registered live stock producers on both sides of the ocean, will do the purchaser more good in an advertising way than the same animal if

secured from an unknown stockman. This goes to show that reputation is another name for publicity, and is worth buying. But the temptation in some instances is to sell reputation instead of good stock. No man's name can make an animal of outstanding inferiority desirable for breeding purposes, and the stockman who, after building an honorable reputation, becomes so lucre-hungry that he is willing to sacrifice that priceless possession, deserves the fate which inevitably awaits him.

* * *

Several years ago I visited a farmer friend who had two Shorthorn bull calves (both eligible to registry) which he thought good enough for use on high-grade cows for the production of steers. He said he could get $35 each for them from two of his neighbors. I persuaded him not to let them go at that price and suggested that he advertise them in an agricultural paper. acted on the suggestion and thus announced the result: "The bulls sold for $75 each and the ad cost $3.50." There are hundreds of small breeders who could duplicate this result by adopting the necessary means.

The Editor, AGRICULTURAL ADVERTISING Sir: Mr. Shepherd's statement on page 62 of your May issue that the Genesee Farmer "failed or sold out as an unprofitable venture," has no foundation in fact; nothing of the kind occurred. The founder of that paper, your present correspondent's father, bought the Cultivator in 1839 and consolidated the two, taking very naturally the broader name, the Genesee Farmer having long before that time outgrown the Genesee country.

The Country Gentleman was started as a weekly in 1853, by the same man, please notice, who continued the Cultivator monthly until 1866, when he united the two as The Cultivator and Country Gentleman, a title that was retained until 1898, when the first part of the title was dropped.

Not one single issue has ever failed to appear on the appointed date, and there has never been any change of ownership except by descent from father to son, since the beginning in 1831. To say that the changes of name from Genesee Farmer to Cultivator, and then

He

to Cultivator and Country Gentleman, and finally to Country Gentleman, (publication having been absolutely uninterrupted and ownership continuous), make the present Country Gentleman anything but the continuation of the old Genesee Farmer is ridiculous.

The Southern Planter was omitted from my list of American agricultural periodicals that ran through the second half of the nineteenth century for the reason that I have a letter from Mr. Shepherd himself, dated March 29, of this current year, in which he informs me that "there were only scattering issues published during the war," and that "the regular publication was resumed Jan. 1, 1867." The last statement implies, of course, that there was no "regular publication" during a period of a year and a half or more after the close of the war. My list includes only periodicals that appeared regularly on their appointed dates, without any omission, during the period referred to.

GILBERT M. TUCKER. Albany, N. Y., May 14, 1904.

J

and democratic parties will both meet in the next few weeks to choose their standard bearers. Then will come a lull for a while preparatory to the breaking of the political storm that will rage until November.

The unusual circumstances connected with these nominating conventions is the almost absolute indifference among manufacturers and business men about the outcome. Various reasons are given to account for the fact, but about the only thing they really succeed in proving is that it is a fact.

Perhaps never before have business conditions been so little disturbed in presidential years as at the present time. Heads of big enterprises are planning for the future just as if the election of the right man for the country's prosperity were already an assured fact.

In truth, it is, and his name is

I

Bounteous

Crops. His running-mate is Good Prices. It was a winning ticket, and it came from the "great and glorious West" and South. The real facts are that our manufactured goods being largely used in this country, depend upon the price of farm products for their sale, and the manufacturer must rely on the tiller of the soil for his market.

While the farmer garners his crops this fall, there will sound over the hill tops the eloquence of statesmen of various degrees urging him to vote one way or t'other to save the country, and as he looks up from his,healthy toil, we can hear him laugh to derision the dangers due to the downfall of the constitution and the perils of the Republic, and reply, "Oh, well, I guess we can stand it as long as cattle are $4 on the hoof."

And his confidence is the surest sign that there is no danger ahead.

T is a good thing to get over on the other side and look at the view from the other fellow's standpoint. No two persons see the same thing alike, even when they look at it from the same viewpoint, and often there is a considerable difference when we look at a thing from opposite sides.

All of us have theories concerning supplementary advertising-catalogues, circulars, follow-up letters and other forms of advertising theoretically supposed to support and strengthen news

tant questions in seeking for the truth in this matter.

Follow-up letters written without some good excuse for writing them, are useless in promoting business and waste time that might have been used for some better purpose.

Even with all the evidence against the system that has been developed by our inquiries, we are still doubtful as to their lack of effectiveness. Even those who denounce them in strong terms might have been influenced unconsciously to give the catalogues they received closer attention and in that way may have been induced to buy articles that otherwise would have been neglected.

These men and women may not have known that the follow-up letters had any influence on them, but there is a chance that this was the case. Some of them say they throw the letters away without reading them. Others declare that no urging would induce them to buy if they had not independently concluded to do so.

The few who speak favorably of follow-up letters were, to judge from their letters, among those who had educational facilities better than the average. This conclusion is derived from a study of the letters, noting the construction, penmanship, spelling and other indications of that nature.

give their patrons a full equivalent for the money they receive.

Many of these firms are firm believers in follow-up letters and use them regularly. We would like to know how many of them know beyond peradventure, that the system is a profitable one.

In considering returns from followup letters one element of doubt must always be considered. Farm people are notably slow to make up their minds and frequently do not buy an article for months after having asked for a catalogue. One of those who answered the inquiries we sent out said he studied over buying a windmill for several months before buying. Another says he frequently has an article in mind, with the intention of buying it, for a year before he gives his order for it.

Incubator manufacturers get many inquiries and requests for catalogues from people who have no intention of buying for five or six months, and farmers are asking now for gasoline en

The

Farmer's Guide

Is taken and read by the best farmers of the State of Indiana. It teaches modern farming and stock breeding and goes to people whose capacity to buy is equal to the needs of men, women and children who live in comfortable style. Its only claim to consideration, and the only one it ever makes, is that it

Brings
Results

that are satisfactory to its advertisers. In no other farm paper in Indiana can the advertising reach such a modern and progressive class of people.

The Farmer's Guide reaches the homes and has a place in the affections of

28,000

gine and corn harvester catalogues who will not buy before midsummer or autumn.

Such people would buy whether the follow-up letters were sent or not, and do not buy until after the last letter would be sent in the most elaborate system, and where a record is kept they would be credited to the follow-up. It is safe to say that a good percentage of slow sales are due as much to procrastination as to any arguments sent subsequent to the receipt of the catalogue.

Another thing is noticeable in the letters under review. The farmer and his wife have discovered the trick of imitation typewritten letters. They are not at all fooled by this much used form of follow-up letters, and where this is the case the letter falls flat, for the sender is credited with an attempt to deceive, and loses prestige thereby.

That the public has been educated to expect follow-up letters is proved by a letter received by an extensive advertiser not long ago, in which the writer asked for a catalogue and ended by saying: "Send your last letter now."

That request was brought out by the practice of making a "special offer" as the final argument in a series of follow-up letters. This practice has become so general that it is now looked upon as a regular result of sending for a catalogue and not buying immediately. The public has been educated to expect a better offer than the one contained in the catalogue. Special offers were all right at one time, but now that every one expects them it has a tendency to make people slow about buying. They wait for the "last letter" in order to get the best price.

Here is where special offers work harm. The last and best price should be stated in the catalogue. If a manufacturer wants to introduce his goods into new territory it does no harm to offer to make an introductory price for the first sale, but there should be no special offer after that.

Y

JOU can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, runs the old saying. If he does

drink, it's a sign he's thirsty, and to make him thirsty, put salt in his food. It used to be something of the same doctrine that made men advertise. You can advertise, they said, but you can't make them buy. If they do buy, it's because they are "thirsty."

It's on the theory that "thirsty" men will buy, that advertisements are put in papers and expensive catalogues printed.

They are all right and all the inducement that the man who wants a thing needs. But they stop right there.

The follow-up system is the salt in the food.

Perhaps that is why some buyers don't like them, and there is no dis

"I think there is one practice coming into use by newspapers that should be abandoned at once. That is the practice of sending a sample with 'Marked Copy' stamped on the wrapper," writes a correspondent to AGRICULTURAL ADVERTISING. "I presume the object of this deception is to induce the recipient to look carefully through the paper, and I believe he usually does this. The first time one gets a paper so marked and looks through it without finding a marked passage he thinks it

puting the fact that of a large number of mail order buyers who have written AGRICULTURAL ADVERTISING, only the very few have a good word to say for them.

But salt makes men or animals thirsty in spite of themselves, and perhaps that is one reason why so many men don't like the follow-up systemit makes them too thirsty.

Among the modern developments of business, none has been given much greater prominence than the follow-up system. Much is claimed for it-too much, perhaps-but there seems to be no room to doubt that it is a useful adjunct to order getting. But before you get a business friend it is not necessary to "eat a bushel of salt with him."

Practice.

a mistake, but by the time he gets half a dozen and goes through them, only to find he has been tricked into hunting through the paper for nothing, he begins to feel disgusted at the petty deception, and it is safe to say the publisher who has tricked one in this manner has no chance to interest him in any manner. Every one looks carefully through a paper stamped as a marked copy and the trick of so stamping it in order to induce one to do this is a contemptible deception that makes enemies."

"The war will not begin for three months," says the procrastinating Russ.

"I have a mind it will begin right now," says the impetuous Jap, as he proceeds to wade across the Yalu and capture a few "impregnable" positions.

In the great game of war, "Do it now" is an imperative need if success is to be won and the heat of summer doesn't have any effect on its applica

tion. In the greater game of business, though, the summer is a season for resting on arms.

The summer months are the dreaded times of nearly every business that sells by mail. Farm papers find their advertising columns empty, while a few months before they were getting contracts faster than they could provide space for them. Even the best of them