THE ANNUAL MEETING. 141 



of propagating and disseminating nursery stock; and it does no one, or the 

 business, any good by intimating to a stranger, whom we have never seen or 

 heard of before, that he is a rascal and engaged in a bad occupation. If we 

 are positive that we do not need his goods, or are embarrassed by other matters 

 and cannot afford to invest just then, it is a very easy matter to pleasantly tell 

 him so. But you say, shall we entrust the selection of trees and the chances 

 for good fruit, after years of toil and patient waiting, to one whom we know 

 nothing of? I say by no means, but when a canvasser approaches you, treat 

 him at least with civility, or as you would like to be treated. Supposing an 

 honest, upright farmer should go to the city to contract his pork in advance of 

 delivery, and when offering it for sale, was sarcastically told that "a great 

 many hogs are sick and dying, and that they did not want any of that kind of 

 pork." After he had heard that "year in and year out," 1 would not blame 

 him if he had a desire to quit the business. Yes! I say, treat the canvasser 

 at least with civility, and if you have time, hear him "say his piece," and, if 

 he tells you anything that you know is impossible or even unreasonable, when 

 he gets through politely ask him if he ever read of the fate of Ananias and 

 Sapphira. But if one comes to you representing a good establishment, which 

 has a good reputation for fair dealing, and produces a duly authenticated cer- 

 tificate of agency, he is entitled to your confidence. But you say, "How do 

 we know anything about the standing of the concern he represents?" If he 

 gives good reference, it is very easy to ascertain ; and, further, if they adver- 

 tise in a reliable paper, it is pretty good evidence, for I presume to say that 

 none of our leading publications would advertise for a firm unless they believed 

 them to be honest; on the contrary, their exposures of fraudulent dealiugs are 

 of immense value to their subscribers, and even casual readers. 



But you say, perhaps the firm is all right, but possibly the certificate of 

 agency is a "fraud." It is a very easy matter for one to take down the 

 agent's name and date of the certificate, and at any time before the delivery 

 to write to headquarters and ascertain if the credentials are all right, and if 

 not, to countermand the order, if already given. You are well aware, I pre- 

 sume, that a misrepresentation of any kind, by either party in a deal, makes 

 that party criminally liable, or least renders the trade null and void. The 

 facts are, that it seems as if a certain class of people "liked to be hum- 

 bugged," and can never learn anything only by a costly experience. If this is 

 a fact, we may justly conclude that even dishonest tree-agents are doing them 

 a good service, and ought to be "encouraged" in their special mission. I 

 knew an honest canvasser once, who, after hearing a man tell how many times 

 he had been "humbugged,'' replied by saying, "Well, sir, if you have been 

 'humbugged' as many times as that, it will not hurt you any now, and I'll 

 agree not to humbug you any worse than the rest of them." He got his order 

 twice, and gave him "full value received" both times. 



As I said before, very few trees would be planted if it were not for the per- 

 sonal solicitation of the canvasser, except by those who make fruit-growing a 

 specialty. 



It is a sad fact, that many of those who need and want trees, even if they 

 knew just what they wanted and where to send for them, could not make out 

 an order correctly, and the chances for mistakes and dissatisfaction would be 

 great even in that case ; and if they could make out the order correctly, would 

 defer it year after year, and thus cheat themselves and their posterity out of 

 any fruit at all. Most of the commodities that we use at the present day are 

 sold either to the retailer or the consumer by traveling agents, and yet I will 



