Miscellaneous. 359 



sistently refuse to ever place another order even with a well estab- 

 lished, reputable dealer. 



Happily, these traveling fakers have had their day in many 

 localities, and the many reputable nurserymen in the State are ad- 

 vertising so extensively that the people are learning to place their 

 first orders direct, and better satisfaction, of course, has resulted. 

 The Farmers' Institute lectures have been the means of doing un- 

 told good in exposing conscienceless fruit tree agents. 



Another fake which infests our State is the newspaper which 

 claims to disseminate reliable horticultural information. This sort 

 of literature may come in the form of periodicals bearing the name 

 of horticulture as their leading title, or may be disseminated in the 

 form of advertising literature by parties who have land to sell, or 

 through the medium of supplements or so-called "farm pages," 

 published by some of the regular newspapers. The trouble with 

 the agricultural news in the regular issues of the city papers is 

 that it is supposed to be of a popular nature. This means that 

 the articles are often written by editors or correspondents who 

 know absolutely nothing of the subjects they discuss. I have 

 known of one particularly flagrant instance of this kind. The cor- 

 respondent in question prepared agricultural notes for two or three 

 very prominent newspapers of the country. I think it is quite safe 

 to say that this individual would not know a sheep from a goat, nor 

 the difference between some of the commonest of the farm and 

 garden crops if he were to see them growing in the field. He com- 

 piled all of his matter from any source that seemed to promise an 

 interesting "story." It has been just this kind of literature that 

 has prejudiced the farming class against any and all agricultural 

 information that comes in printed form, and has done more to re- 

 tard agricultural education than all other causes combined. The 

 reputable horticultural journal is of recent date, and while the 

 people have learned very fast, not all have learned to distinguish 

 the genuine from the fake. 



Many farmers have, from time to time, been imposed upon by 

 the sellers of special fruit tree fertilizers. Many of these fertili- 

 zers have not injured the trees, but on the other hand, have caused 

 a vigorous growth, but they are not what is claimed for them. In 

 the first place, they often consist chiefly of some very common fer- 

 tilizing ingredient, but extravagent claims are made for them, and 

 the prices are alv/ays unreasonable. The basis of these fertilizers 

 has usually been nitrogen in some form or other. Of course, this 

 induces very marked twig and leaf growth on most forms of vege- 



