AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSERYMEN. 201 



are indebted to the French people for many of our finest sorts, but neither 

 the Frenchman, nor the Englisliman, nor the German know what it is to use 

 fruit as we use it. In no city in Europe can you buy such a great variety of 

 fine fruit as in New York, and in no country in Europe is fruit within the 

 means of the working classes as it is in our country. 



''We, as nurserymen and fruit growers, can congratulate ourselves that 

 owing to our efforts there is produced in no other country in the civilized 

 world fruit of such fine quality, such immense quantities, and so wonderfully 

 cheap as in our own." 



Mr. Barry, of New York: The reference made to the fruit we enjoy here 

 is certainly correct. The American who visits Europe is greatly surprised at 

 the poor quality of the fruit that he finds in that country, and the high 

 prices that he pays for it, and it makes us, who live in this country, feel that 

 we enjoy a great privilege in living in this progressive region. I think that 

 the people who live in this country, generally, do not appreciate the advan- 

 tage that they have in enjoying fine fruits — for instance, the apple. The low 

 price at which it can be obtained enables everybody, the poorest in the land, 

 to enjoy the fruit in the same degree that those on the other side, who are 

 the richest of the land, can enjoy. That is to say, the poorest on this side 

 can enjoy the fruit as well as the richest on the other side of the water. We, 

 as a people, do not appreciate this fact. If apples cost us 110 or $12 per 

 barrel, as they do on the other side, we would think a great deal more of 

 them. We would apitreciate them more and eat them more freely than we 

 do. I think the time is coming when the people who go abroad will see this 

 thing, and they will come home and appreciate it more than they now do. 

 Think of the variety we have of apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, etc., 

 and all the small fruits and grapes. Why, certainly, gentlemen, we do not 

 appreciate what we have to delight the eye and palate. If we had to live 

 here without meat and all those things, we could live on our fruit alone, and 

 we ought to be thankful that we live in such a country and such a fertile 

 region. 



"The Work of the Association" was the title of a paper by Mr. Herbert 

 Myrick, of Springfield, Mass., in which, besides allusion to various affairs of 

 the association, Mr. Myrick made this defense of the tree agent: 



"The system of selling nursery stock by traveling agents has long been 

 assailed by the agricultural press. That it has been abused is beyond a doubt, 

 but no well informed person can deny that this system has carried horticult- 

 ure where otherwise it would still be unknown. Many a farmer has bought 

 a bill of nursery stock in sheer desperation to get rid of the agent, and in 

 future years has realized that that agent was his best friend after all. In 

 other words, a large number of men whose orders can only be obtained 

 through agents, would never set large or small fruits unless urged, or even 

 forced to do so by the pertinacity of a modest 'nurseryman on wheels.' In 

 this way the traveling agent has been a blessing in disguise — very much dis- 

 guised in the judgment of some people, but nevertheless a blessing. 



"The question to be solved is, how can this agency system be protected 

 against fraud? It is about time that the press ceased its sweeping denuncia- 

 tions of nursery salesmen, because the good should not suffer for the mis- 

 deeds of the bad. No editor expects people are going to rush to buy his 

 paper, but he has got to make something that they must have and bring it 

 to their attention, either through agents or otherwise, to secure their pat- 



