272 ANNUAL ETPORT 



President Elliot. Have you had any agents at St. Cloud or 

 in Sauk Kapids in the last two years'? 



Mr. May. I think we have. 



President Elliot. I would like a statement from a lady here 

 who has had some experience with certain things sold in that 

 vicinity. 



Mrs. Stager. I would like to ask Mr. May about his straw- 

 berry tree that he sends out, which grows three feet high and 

 you can pick strawberries from the top of it; several of our ladies 

 in the village bought them and have been waiting for them to 

 bear. They bought two years ago, from an agent of L. L. May. 

 I can't say whether they would bear as the cyclone took the 

 plants away, but would like to know if there is such a thing"? 



Mr. May. I doubt very much — I have never sold a straw- 

 berry tree with a representation of fruit being on that tree. 



Mrs. Stager. Well, that is what the agent said. 



Mr. May. The strawberry tree is a shrub, the burning bush 

 — a flow^eriug shrub. 



Mr. Harris. It is known, I suppose, as the Wahoo "? 



Mr. May. I don't know that I have ever heard the name be- 

 fore; it is a shrub. So far as representing a strawberry tree to 

 grow strawberries, that I never have. 



Mrs. Stager. I was asked to inquire about this, and there 

 was one thing that the agents of May & Co. told was that they 

 had their nursery here at St. Paul and the fruit was perfectly 

 hardy. Several neighbors bought of them. Last year they 

 came through selling the Sharpless strawberry at, I think, 12.50 

 a dozen. The agent sold all through the village and wanted to 

 sell me fifty and said he wanted me to have them anyway. 

 I said I would not take them if they came. In the spring L. 

 L. May sent me a card and said they were shipped to me; 

 I wrote back I had never signed for them and would not pay for 

 them. But the plants came and all who had signed for them 

 had to pay. He sent his bills to a lawyer there, who told me he 

 would sue me and I would have to take them. He said he had 

 my signature to the order; and I told him if it was I would pay 

 him, but he had to allow it was not, and therefore I didn't pay 

 for them. 



Mr. May. You did perfectly right. 



Mrs. Stager. I hardly think there is a tree or shrub standing 

 now that we bought of you two years ago. One man was told 

 your nursery was here at St. Paul and he ordered, it seems to 



