FOREIGN TREE DEALERS. 293 
FOREIGN TREE DEALERS. 
Cc. L. SMITH, MINNEAPOLIS. 
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before reading what 
Ihave written here, there are afew things I want to speak 
about of which I intended to write, but which Idid not get into 
my paper. One thing that I overlooked is the fact that some 
of our successful men, some of our enterprising men, scme of 
those who have exercised a very large influence on the horti- 
cultural interests of this state have come to us as foreign tree 
dealers, and we ought not to overlook the fact that sometimes 
in entertaining foreign tree dealers we have entertained angels 
unawares. Dr. Jewell was one of those men who came to us as 
a foreign tree dealer, and his work stands as his greatest monu- 
ment today. A. W. Sias came here as a foreign tree dealer. 
Mr. O. I’. Brand came to Minnesota and learned a good many 
things about horticulture, started a nursery and raised a great 
many trees in Minnesota. L. B. Hodges, the man who was 
instrumental in organizing this society, and who probably gave 
the greatest stimulus to tree planting on our prairies, came 
here as a foreign tree dealer. 
The reports of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society make fre- 
quent reference to the “ foreign tree dealer,” but I think you will all 
agree with me that the reference is always far from complimentary 
orcommendatory. In fact, I think it maybe said without exaggera- 
tion that at every meeting of the society almost every member has 
some grievance to record or some abuse to report against the “ for- 
eign tree dealer.” 
During all the years since this society was organized the Peres 
tree dealer has been kicked and cuffed, denounced and derided, his 
devices have been exposed, his stock black-listed, his name madea 
by-word. Laws have been enacted against him, the powers of the 
press invoked to suppress him; but despite all this he has lived and 
prospered, increased in numbers,multiplied his devices,and contin- 
ued to harvest the dollars from the farms, the villages and the cities 
of thestate. When it comes to honors at our anuual meetings or at 
the state fair, our own painstaking, persevering, conscientious, in- 
telligent and philanthropic horticulturists carry them off easily 
and worthily; when it comes to dollars,a band of well organized 
foreign tree dealers, with books of pictures, bottles of fruit, yards 
of cheek, vivid imaginations, no limit of language and no trace of 
conscience, wili easily gather more dollars in a single season than 
a conscientious, fair-dealing, local grower can get in a lifetime of 
faithful work. 
__ Primarily,thisis why the foreign tree dealer continues to flourish: 
because there is money in the business, They are after money, and 
are more interested in gathering dollars than in the distribution of 
reliable horticultural information. Asarule, their motto is “Get 
