DISCUSSION. 197 



In the same class of salesman belong the whole root man, and 

 the budded tree man, who claims a monopoly on the same kind 

 of trees they sell, and claim that Nebraska tree men are not up 

 to date, and never discovered things as are well known to them. 

 Experience of twenty-five or thirty years of a Nebraska nursery- 

 man does not count for as much as one or two months of experi- 

 ence as salesman which they have had. Only a year or two since 

 I came across a "gang" of men in one of our western coun- 

 ties who were making a run on "Buck Thorn Hedge" at fancy 

 prices, and furnishing Osage Orange to fill their orders. Per- 

 haps more sales are made on the old trick of selling at fancy 

 prices and agreeing to take half their pay from one-half the 

 third years crop, the purchaser always thinking he is getting 

 the best of the bargain. Our observation is that the majority of 

 sales over the west are made on such schemes as these; schemes 

 to which the honest nurseryman or salesman does not resort. 

 Is there any remedy for all this? 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Shroyer: I am not a nurseryman, but I am a buyer of 

 trees, always have been; I believe I was a born lover of trees. 

 While the gentleman was relating the experiences with tree 

 agents, many recollections came back to me. I don't know 

 whether I felt bad or not. I have been through the mill, but I 

 want to say that I visited a nursery and saw trees dug up early 

 in the morning and left on the ground in the hot sun until one 

 o'clock in the afternoon. Now can you wonder why such trees 

 w^ould not grow, and why we don't patronize home nurseries 

 more? It is for such reasons as this that we deal with the 

 tree agents. 



Mr. Bliss: What the gentleman says about the home nur- 

 sery digging up trees early in the morning and leaving them on 

 the ground until afternoon may be true occasionally, but I would 

 like to ask whether a home nursery is more liable to do that 

 than any other nursery. I believe as a rule that our home nur- 

 serymen handle their stock very carefully. 



The President: If you have a home nursery that don't do 

 business right, then find another that does and deal with them. 

 Know their reputation. They are generally reliable though. 



