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‘this province is no doubt a humbug. Now, all these things have the effect of putting a 
damper on whatever interest may be felt in fruit culture, and do inestimable damage to 
the fruit-growing industry. I do not know how we are going to combat that kind of 
thing unless we can educate the farmers up to refusing things until they have been tho- 
roughly tested by the Experimental Farms, where [ think all these things should be tested 
before they are recommended for adoption. This Association has made a move in the 
way of increasing the interest in fruit culture by sending out representatives to the 
farmers’ institutes. It is no use sending these men out to induce farmers to live and die 
in the very happy recollection of being humbugge]. We want to atiain some better 
results than that. There is another humbug which I will speak of now, which I did not 
mention before ; that is the man who goes out and sells trees on the ‘*‘ home-grown tree” 
argument. There are lots of little nurserymen throughout the province who go out into 
the country among the farmers and persuade them to buy the home-grown tree. These 
men may have an acre or two, but they will turn over a book and show the farmer many 
thousand trees they have sold as being home-grown trees. Now if a man has only an 
acre of lund and is selling thousands of trees he does not grow them on that ground, and 
he is just as bad as the nursery jobber. 
Mr. Cavers.—I represent the Galt nurseries. Wesend out many agents and we dis- 
tinetly tell them we do not grow all the stcck that we sell. Of course when our men are out 
canvassing we do not know what they tell customers. The more tender varieties of stock 
we could not grow as well as they could be grown elsewhere. We know that as the result 
of our experience, and we tell our agents to tell our customers that we can supply them 
with better stock of the tender varieties by not attempting to grow them ourselves. We 
do not know exactly what our men tell our customers but we distinctly inform them that 
all the stock they get is not necessarily grown in our own nurseries. We find that by 
growing only those varieties we can guarantee, we are able to give better satisfaction than 
if all were home grown. In the Galt district we cannot grow all that is called for. Now, 
what are we todo? Are we to be called jobbers and ruled out of the business because 
we do not have all home grown? And suppose a nurseryman is growing all this stock 
himself, is that a guarantee that the stock supplied a customer is what he says itis? The 
customer has to depend upon the reliability of the men he is dealing with in every case. 
We make it arule to send nothing out of our nursery that is not exactly what it is 
labelled. Sometimes we substitute, but when we do we put on just what it is so that the 
customer may refuse it if he likes. If ever a tree goes out with a wrong label it is a mis- 
take. Something has been said here about nurserymen sending out treeg that are not 
suited to the sections of country they are ordered for. Nurserymen have to send out 
what is ordered, and in some cases where, knowing that what is ordered is not adapted to 
the climate, something else has been substituted because it was more suitable, the cry is at 
once raised that there was some dishonest ulterior motive in the substitution. Now, what 
are we to do for that? In discussing this question of humbugs it would not be aniiss, per- 
haps, to take a look at it from the nurseryman’s point of view. We always endeavor to 
do things perfectly upon the square, but you see the difficulties we have to contend with. 
Mr, Denron.—My own impression is that the further south you go the more delicacy 
you will find in a tree for certain parts of Canada, and my disposition would be to encour- 
age more of our home selection. Referring to this question of humbugs which is under 
discussion it is very sad to go through my district. especially Lobo, and see so many 
orchards which men have planted and brought into bearing, and then found it was the 
commonest fruit grown, instead of being choice varieties such as these men paid for and 
expected to get from their trees. It is very hard in the face of that to induce men to 
enter more largely into fruit culture, but I think if they will take the list published in the 
“ Horticulturist” it will overcome the difficulty presented. We all know that men who 
have stuff to sell will sell it if they can. I believe the gentleman who has spoken is per- 
fectly honest, but are his men going to be sv strictly bound down when their living depends 
on the exteut of their sales? I think not. The farmers generally are ignorant of what 
is best for them to plant, and I think it is the duty of this Association, as has been 
said by my friend Mr. Race, to go forth and educate them, and in ten years from this 
time there will be a great change. 
5 (E.G) 
