STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 133 



dition, if true to name, but with the great mass of tree planters the 

 smooth-tongued agent with his rubbish and frauds is the one thing 

 needful. Though fleeced a score of times thej^ patronize him the 

 twenty-first time as freely as ever, and the bigger the price of the 

 fraud the more greedily they swallow the bait. The lact is 

 notorious that tree agents have sold one hundred trees of the Gideon 

 apple at one dollar per tree, where I, the originator, have been able 

 to sell one at twentj'-five cents. They have been swindled so often, 

 and paid so dear for it, that they have come to love to have it so. 

 They are wedded to the agent; it is love's union, and dead trees, 

 plants and grape vines cannot separate them. — Peter M. Gideon. 



TEEES ENHANCE AND BEAUTIFY. 

 Trees, the most beautiful objects in nature, should not be over- 

 looked. The average farmer has so much to do with trees as lum- 

 ber, or as objects to be removed to fit the land for cultivation, that 

 he regards them as too trivial, commonplace or weed-like to be 

 esteemed as objects of superlative beauty, to be planted and care- 

 fully tended for their looks. But nothing adds more to the pleas- 

 antness of a home than trees judiciously planted about it. A few 

 near the house may break the fury of the winter blizzard or the 

 summer heat, in addition to their aesthetic uses. Trees are partic- 

 ularly appropriate b}- the roadside. How charming they are, rising 

 from the smooth green ! Why should not the roadside trees, 

 enchanting mankind and wooing the birds with the charm of their 

 rich foliage and symraetrical shape, be the rule instead of the excep- 

 tion? Man}' a farmer who calls himself enterprising, and who 

 does raise good crops, forgets that with a few hours' work he could 

 plant a dozen trees that would greatly enhance the value of his 

 estate, and continue to yield blessings of beauty long after he has 

 passed away. Here, too, common varieties possess as many ele- 

 ments of real beauty as those more rare. There are no more beau- 

 tiful trees than the common maple, elm, spruce or cedar. There is 

 a row of hemlocks in front of vay residence in the country, and my 

 personal attachment for that kind is very great. Some writers, 

 combining aesthetics with the material, advocate the hickory and 

 chestnut for roadside planting. It may seem a little thing to bring 

 a sapling from the woods some cloudy day, and plant it near the 

 house, but it will prove a pleasing and profitable investment. 



