6 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



A little different, but much harder case, was that of a colored woman who 

 desired me to look at some trees, etc., they had just set out, and which must 

 be paid for with money earned by wood-sawing and house-cleaning. Among 

 the rest were two scrubby little cherry trees, labeled simply " white cherry." 

 The name of course, excited suspicion, and stepping back and taking a good 

 look, I mentally exclaimed, "Nothing but Morello suckers!" I was sure of 

 it; but to leave no doubt, examined carefully for any signs of budding or 

 grafting, clear down to the roots, removing eartli enough for the purpose. 

 These two trees, I suppose on account of color, were one dollar each, and a 

 couple more, for some equally good reason, cost the same, and two miserable 

 little grapevines, Concord or something, at fifty cents each, made the five 

 dollars her husband had agreed to pay. Two dollars and a half had been paid, 

 and the man was soon to be around for the rest. You may be sure I hated to 

 tell that poor woman what those trees were, and that very fine cherry trees, 

 true to name, could be bought for thirty or forty cents each, and excellent 

 grapes for half, or less, than they had paid. 



Would five years in the penitentiary, at hard labor, be too much for a thief 

 like that? Is it not likely that the first mentioned smooth-tongued villain was 

 the same who sold in that and adjoining neighborhoods, at marvelous prices, 

 a number of that wonderful Canadian peach, which, on account of its north- 

 ern birth, was never known to flinch at the most intense cold, but would bear 

 without fail, every year, large crops of peaches of great size, and of the very 

 best quality. I learned that one tree did bear a few little worthless specimens 

 before the late hard winters cleaned them out. 



Not so very long ago, in driving to our lower lot, I overtook and picked up 

 a nice, slick-looking fellow, who, when he got out, said he was an agent for an 

 eastern nursery — most of them say that — and opening his large book, kindly 

 invited me to look at the pictures. From a child I have loved picture books, 

 and of course gazed with open-mouthed wonder at the beautiful peaches, 

 grapes, etc., painted in a style that nature has utterly failed to reach. 



I did not say much, but I suppose my looks betrayed me as a fit subject for 

 operation, as he turned the leaves rapidly till he found a showy plate of the 

 Allen raspberry. Ah! that was what I ought to have. Why, an acre or so of 

 it would make any man rich; the money there was in it was astonishing; you 

 could almost see the dollars rolling in, as his oily words rolled out. But I 

 hadn't time to listen to their, or his jingle, but as a parting word, told him I 

 had been in the nursery business, in a small way, for forty years, and twenty 

 or thirty years ago was induced to buy two dozen of the Allen, and had grown 

 grayer day by day in my efforts to get rid of their progeny. 



What more I said need not be repeated, but, as Phoenix once said, "he 

 seemed to hear something break," and he broke down the road at a pace that 

 I trust carried him to some bourne from which he will never return. 



The above are given, not as isolated cases, but as fairly representative of 

 thousands occurring in various portions of the west. Of course, there are 

 reliable men scattered here and there all over the country, who do their best 

 to supply stock as represented, and who should be encouraged, especially those 

 who push into remote and difficult places of access, inducing people to set val- 

 uable fruit and plants, who, but for them, might never have the opportunity. 

 If asked the best method of purchasing, I can but repeat what has been so 

 often said already. 



Buy at the nearest reliable nursery, going, if possible, yourself, though it 



