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cipes and direction, relating to agriculture and domestic economy," published by Bill Blake in 1820. This volume contains 191 pages of recipes for various domestic situations, many of which he had collected for the Intelligencer. The book marks the complete change from writing which purports to be literature, oi which the Ladies' Monitor is his last work, to books of directions for agriculture. It is likely that this particular volume of 1820 introduced him to the general public as an agricultural writer and led directly to his position as first editor of the New England Farmer.

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Less than two weeks elapsed between the last issue of the Intelligencer bearing Fessenden's signature and the first number of the New England Farmer,' August 3, 1822. Altho he made the columns of the paper his particular property so that he continued as editor under three owners, probably Fessenden never had any part in the ownership. The first proprietor was Thomas W. Shepard, who probably gave the editorship to Fessenden; later it was under John B. Russell, who carried on an agricultural publishing business with his seed and implement warehouse, using the paper as a de luxe house organ; and shortly before Fessenden's death the paper was taken over by Joseph Breck & Son, who had apparently bought the complete Russell enterprise.

Fessenden has been credited with being the first agricultural editor in the United States. Hudson says that this mistake was probably due to a misunderstanding of the nature of the Farmers' Weekly Museum and of Fessenden's contributions to that paper. It is more likely that the claim was made in ignorance of the two agricultural journals which immediately preceded the New England Farmer. Fessenden makes reference to these in his bow to the public in the first issue- and pays them the compliment of copying from them copiously, especially during the first months. Agricultural papers were the second species of popular journals dealing with specific interests, following the religious papers by two or three years." The pioneer in the field was the American Farmer, first issued April 2, 1819 (1818 according to Hudson), at Baltimore, by John S. Skinner, who edited it till his

'The bound volumes carry the full title: The New England Farmer, containing Essays, Original and Selected, relating to Agriculture and Domestic Economy, with Engravings, and the Prices of Country Produce. By Thos. G. Fessenden.

Journalism in the United States, 330.
Hudson, 330 ff.

death in 1851. The paper continued until 1867. This was followed in June, 1819, by Solomon Southwick's Ploughboy at Albany, which ran until 1840. The New England Farmer was the third purely agricultural periodical, then, founded, according to its editor, not to rival these already in the field, but to present agricultural information that applied particularly to New England. Being published at Boston, it could circulate better among the farming districts of the Northeast than those coming from a distance. The title chosen is simply descriptive of the paper, but it may well have been influenced by The Newengland Farmer; or Georgical Dictionary of Samuel Deane, a compendium of agricultural information arranged alphabetically by topics, which ranı thru several editions from 1790 to 1822, filling much the same place that Fessenden's volumes did.

In form and make-up, the New England Farmer did not differ materially from its predecessors. It was a quarto weekly of eight five-column pages, subscription price $2.50 a year. Fessenden promised in his prospectus that not more than one-quarter of the space should be given to advertisers, and probably he had no difficulty in keeping his word. At the appropriate seasons there are a number of advertisements of farming tools; there are always numerous small ads, and some notes of forthcoming books to which the editor is lending his patronage. The prospectus also states that "Party politics, and polemical divinity shall be likewise absolutely excluded from the columns of the New England Farmer." So far have we come from the days of the Weekly Inspector! He proposes to edit his paper on the principles of what he calls "reciprocal communication." In the first number he agrees to revise for publication any notes from practical farmers so that they need feel no hesitancy in sending in their discoveries.

The paper was composed of articles at first chiefly abstracted from other publications, the proportion of original matter continually growing. Fessenden edited the Farmer much as he had his earlier papers, with the shears, himself furnishing chiefly the ornaments and moral instruction. Almost every issue has a bit of his verse. He reprints many of his "Moral Lessons in Rhyme" from the Intelligencer, a few other of his earlier pieces, a number from local scribblers, and the remainder from ex

"Tucker: American Agricultural Periodicals, 71 (the first page of the pamphlet) ff.

changes. He includes a brief summary of news-almost as much as is found in the "newspapers" of the time. And he furnishes the public with a good sermonizing editorial very frequently.

Fessenden's missionary zeal, present in all his works except the early New England verse, here finds its fullest and most valuable expression. He was a, missionary in the field of agriculture, and realized his position, with pride. His text, often repeated, is found best expressed in the address delivered before the Society of Middlesex Husbandmen and Manufacturers, at Concord, Massachusetts, October 3, 1822: Agriculture must be considered honorable; it must be made increasingly profitable; and it must be conducted with skill and industry. He is especially fond of the latter phrase, “skill and industry." It runs thru a long serial editorial favoring the establishment of an agricultural college. He tries to overcome the natural and prevalent hostility to scientific method in farming, nicknamed Book Farming.

Besides a considerable number of small notes that came in, "recipes," and the large cuttings from other publications, his copy came largely from the gentleman farmers of Massachusetts. He early sought their patronage and seems to have secured it. He sent copies of the Farmer gratuitously for a time to the leaders. Colonel Timothy Pickering, now retired from politics, at first seemed sceptical of the undertaking," but soon became an active supporter of the paper and one of its chief contributors. John Lowell (1769-1840) contributed many papers, and so did others of the group. Daniel Webster appears as the Marshfield Farmer. These were men of independence, and many of them carried on their agricultural arguments with all the vigor of the forbidden political or theological varieties. Pickering quotes Sam Johnson in a letter to Fessenden after a battle with another contributor on the virtues of Shorthorns-“Thank God I am done with him." They were not easy people for a publisher to suit. Pickering says in the same letter, emphasizing the sentence by an index: "To correct typographical errors is an awkward business, especially in newspapers. I know your general correctness-but some errors escaped in my former letters." And he requests

"New England Farmer, I, 89 ff, October 19, 1822.

"Pickering Papers in the Massachusetts Historical Society, XV, 289. 'Same, XVI, 52 ff.

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copies of an issue, giving detailed directions for the folding of the papers.

The various agricultural societies took advantage of the New England Farmer to print notices of their doings and reports of their meetings, and to print for circulation the papers and reports delivered before them. This was a decided advantage to both parties and seems to have been appreciated on both sides. At first the most prominent was the old Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture. This society was in the control of the older men; when later the more aggressive farmers began to agitate for a new organization, the New England Farmer was a focal point for their movement:

The close combination of the Farmer office and seed-store with the agricultural warehouse of Breck attracted agriculturists and horticulturists from all parts of the country; so that the office of the Farmer became an exchange for the discussion of all matters of interest to cultivators. It was here that the subject of forming a horticultural society was discussed; and, when such a society was formed, the Farmer naturally became its organ, and continued to be as long as it existed."

Later the same History says, in speaking of the headquarters, that they "for several years oriented round Russell and the New England Farmer.”

One of the few specimens of Fessenden's correspondence which have been préserved indicates the character of the service he performed. It is addressed to Jesse Buel, an editor in Albany, and after acknowledging a contribution from Buel, concludes:

I have succeeded in obtaining for you a pound of Mr. Prince's "genuine Mangel Wurtzel seed" which is now in the New England Farmer Office subject to your order. Should any chance occur of sending it to you I will embrace it; but it is uncertain whether I can find safe conveyance.

Various opinions have been expressed as to Fessenden's fitness for and success in this position. The favorable and unfavorable judgments divide as to whether it is admitted that he had practical experience, some saying that his youthful work on his father's farm qualified him for the position, others denying that

History of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Boston, 1880, 47. 'Same, 141.

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