340 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fakes are seldom, if ever, those who have any standing whatever in 

 the community where they live and would not be favorably reported 

 by a bank. Their record is soon established ; and the banks make it 

 their business to keep posted as to the character of the people they 

 are doing- business with and those who might become their custom- 

 ers. If, too, a man is responsible financially, and he perpetrates a 

 fraud upon a customer, he can be made to make it good. It is upon 

 his home record that we determine who is and who is not entitled to 

 become an advertiser. 



The advertiser may, however, be fully responsible, and yet his 

 business methods may be such as to bring disappointment and loss to 

 his customers. This, of course, we can never always fully determine 

 on the start ; but we make it a rule to inquire very particularly into 

 the causes of every complaint received from our readers against any 

 advertiser, and if there is evident carelessness on the part of the 

 advertiser in filling orders we discontinue the advertisement pending 

 a more thorough investigation. 



There is great variety in the way different nurseries pack their 

 stock. Some of the largest Eastern and Southern concerns often 

 are the most at fault. Work is always done in a rush, the packing 

 season is short and help sometimes scarce ; at such times men are 

 pressed into service who are not competent to pack the stock safely 

 for shipment. It is unfortunate that this is so, but the agricultural 

 papers themselves are not responsible for it and cannot protect its 

 readers unless the carelessness is reported. Again, customers them- 

 selves are too often ignorant of how to unpack and care for the 

 stock on arrival, and here comes in another complication for which 

 the farm paper cannot be blamed. The work done at the nursery 

 must be done in a thorough manner, and we believe it would be 

 well for nurserymen to have written or printed instructions deliv- 

 ered with the stock in every case. Some nurserymen do this, and 

 it is an advantage to them, for it instructs the customer, who too 

 often needs the information. 



To sum up the subject : We have endeavored to show that the 

 agricultural press is growing in intelligence and capacity ; that the 

 responsibility of the agricultural press to the public is recognized by 

 the editors and publishers of the papers themselves, and that an 

 earnest effort is made by most publishers to maintain a high standard 

 in determining the character of advertisers entitled to acceptance ; 

 that the constituency reached is becoming a more intelligent class, 

 and that the nurserymen themselves to some extent, in common with 

 all advertisers, come in for a share of responsibility, which must also 

 be felt and recognized bv them in this connection. 



