1857.] Character of Nurserymen. 119 



— as to the real duty of that nurseryman upon the receipt of such 

 an explicit order? Was it not discreditable in him to fill it under 

 the circumstances ? Was it any wonder that the receiver was thrown 

 into a perfect frenzy of perturbation ? I presume every reader will 

 exclaim that the order should have been returned at once, with the 

 reasons of non-compliance. This man sets it down in his note- 

 book that when he purchases fruit trees again, he will see them. 



The next order which comes to hand is from a new beginner. Per- 

 haps he has been a merchant or steam-boat captain all his life, and 

 scarcely knows one apple from another when he s«es them. He has 

 just retired from business upon a snug little farm, and is desirous 

 to have upon it none but the very best varieties of fruits. Accord- 

 ingly he sits down and writes to the nurseryman to 'send him one 

 hundred apple trees, consisting of the best and most choice varieties.' 



This order, it will be seen at once, gives the vender immense lati- 

 tude. He has just got clear of his more scrutinizing customers, 

 who have taken his best fruits, but here is a ' green one ' who pan- 

 ders so handsomely to his cupidity, that he finds it almost impossi- 

 ble to avoid an exhibition of his moral turpitude, by sending forth 

 indifferent trees, bearing such varieties that properly belong to the 

 tail end of an obsolete catalogue. Even if his stock be good and 

 abundant, it seems quite impossible for him to forego the temptation 

 of sending off, under such circumstances, such trees as he may pos- 

 sess in great quantity — and that nohody else will have. When the 

 trees of this purchaser come into bearing, he is sadly disappointed . 

 in the quality of his fruit, and without any discrimination between 

 nurserymen, his patience being quite exhausted, he declares ' they 

 are all a set of rascals,' and will never trust them more. 



The manner of shipping trees, too, is another abuse which calls 

 loudly for reformation. The nurseryman is too apt to send some 

 stupid numskull to the river with a load of trees, and bills of lading 

 in hand, which he gets signed by the clerk of a steamboat, when off 

 he goes, leaving the bundles upon the wharf to take care of them- 

 eelves, instead of giving explicit orders as to where they should be 

 stowed ; or, what would be better still, wait and see that they were 

 put into the right place himself. As a general thing, steamboat men 

 are about as ignorant of the nature of a tree, as a New Zealander is 

 of Natural Philosophy ; and, in consequence of this want of proper 

 judgment, thousands upon thousands of choice trees are ruined by 

 being placed in too close proximity to the steam boiler. 



