FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 33 



quality has deterred them from further sottinc:. With some years of 

 experience and a chance for extensive observation in the past fifty years, 

 I have come to feel more and more that the man who raises or sells fruit 

 trees and does not realize the vital necessity for trn1h and honesty in 

 their names and quality is an enemy to the orchardist and should be 

 suppressed. I never have occasion to think along this line without re- 

 calling the late Hon. T. T. Lyon, who was not only an expert critic on 

 names and quality of the fruits, but a man of conscience and honesty 

 who could not be induced to recommend either name or quality without 

 the most painstaking experiments and carefully kept records. 



The need of lessons in honesty is enforced in the breeding of all sorts of 

 farm animals; in cattle whether for the dairy or feeding, or sheep for 

 wool or mutton. In the purchase of these for special purposes the aver- 

 age buyer must depend largely upon the raiser whether all the rules of 

 experience and intelligence have been complied with and honest records 

 kept. Here again the element of time is of great consequence to the 

 man who is purchasing animals to start a herd for any of the above pur- 

 poses. In the department of seed growing the need of honesty is made 

 quite as apparent. 



Thus we might go through all the departments and find that each one 

 has many illustrations of the need and the advantages of integrity. Hon- 

 esty is not only the best policy, but it should be the foundation of every 

 policy, individual, social or religious. The indifference or neglect, or, 

 what is worse, the misuse of these plain simple lessons is frequently exem- 

 plified. How many illustrations in marketing all sorts of foul or foreign 

 things in the grain or wool sold, weather-beaten or rotten hay hid in the 

 center of the bale, tags of dirty wool in the fleece, small, scabby, wormy 

 fruit in the center of the box, basket or barrel, with attractive surround- 

 ings seeking an unfair price, and in some cases obtaining it, but in the 

 main bringing damage and loss to the party in particular and to the pro- 

 ducers generally, besides greatly lessening the demand because of the 

 uncertainty from these deceitful practices. Much improvement can be 

 made along all these lines by an insistence, so far as possible, that a man 

 must put a responsible name behind everything offered for sale. One who 

 is not willing to do this advertises to would-be-buyers that they must 

 beware. Little below the market price too often induces the buyer to 

 take on sight but really unseen. 



Another phase not to be overlooked in these practices is the baleful 

 influence upon others. What sort of service can a man expect from hired 

 help who witness these deceits or are sometimes actually instructed to 

 put in and sell all the product, or to add water to make the milk go round, 

 or stuff and pad the fruit package. Still more serious is the example 

 to the children. James G. Blaine once said : "The farmers of the repub- 

 lic will control its destiny. Against the storms of popular fury, against 

 frenzied madness that seeks collision with established order, against 

 the spirit of anarchy, that would sweep away the land marks and safe- 

 guards of Christian society and republican government, the farmers of 

 the United vStates will stand as a shield and bulwark, themselves the 

 willing subjects of the law." This sentiment has been recognized from 

 creation; and in one form of words, or another, has been frequently reit- 

 erated by statesmen in various periods of the world's history. In recent 



