294 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
money, honestly if you can, but get money.” In doing this they 
visit all parts of the state, they see all classes of people, they tell all 
kinds of stories, use various arguments and illustrations. These 
are often apt, ingenious and timely. They are intended to arouse 
the interest, fix the attention and stimulate the desire of the listener; 
that they accomplish their purpose is evidenced by the fact that 
they secure the objective dollar. Admitting that the betrayal of 
trust, loss of interest and disappointment often destroys the value 
of the lesson to the individual, the fact remains that the widespread, 
continuous, persistent, intelligent, persuasive, plausable—aye, con- 
vincing missionary work of the foreign tree dealer does induce peo- 
ple to plant trees on the farms, in the village garden or on the city 
lot. 
Not all their stories are true, nor all their trees good, neither are 
they all bad. Millions of cuttings of the white willow were sold the 
early settlers and became the foundation of the beautiful groves 
around the farm homes of central and southern Minnesota. Later 
on every farmer was visited from one to a dozen times each season 
and urged to plant seedling cottonwoods around his home, Elo- 
quently the tree dealer pictured the discomfort of a home on the 
prairie unsheltered by trees during the long, cold winter; then 
came a glowing picture of such a home transformed by trees 
to a haven of rest and comfort where the snow did not 
drift, the winds did not blow and the blizzard had lost its 
terror. Thatthese itinerant foreign tree dealers were power- 
ful educators is evidenced by the living monuments they 
have raised in trees and groves, and the empty pockets of their stu- 
dents. Millions of seedlings of the ash, box elder and soft maple 
have been distributed by foreign tree dealers. And we should not 
forget that in nearly every instance where the dealer secured an or- 
der for one or more thousands of those seedlings he had to lecture 
for an hour or more on the benefits to be derived by tree planting. 
The planting of small fruits has been greatly stimulated by the 
work of the foreign tree dealer. He stops at the humble home of 
the prairie farmer, exhibits his wonderful samples, natural size, 
tells of marvelous yields, assures the farmer that his soil is pecu- 
liarly adapted to the growth of small fruits, delivers an elegant, 
beautiful, carefully prepared and convincing dissertation on the 
healthfulness, economy and pleasure of a good supply of berries 
grown in one’s own garden. . The education is successful; the farm- 
er and his family are convinced, and the order is given—royal rasp- 
berries, golden gooseberries, tree currants, grapes that need neither 
covering nor pruning, and various other things so new, rare and 
wonderful they were never heard of outside the catalogue of the for- 
eign tree dealer. 
Nevertheless, the farmer has been educated, inspired and bene- 
fited. His raspberries prove to be Turner or Philadelphia, his goose- 
berries are Houghton, and his currants are Red Dutch. They cost 
him four prices, but he got the fruit, the education and the exper- 
ience, while the educator got the money. 
These foreign tree dealers are not all bad, neither are their trees 
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