STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 165 



growth which is essential to beauty. Their only object is to sell their 

 lots, and they think the chance of doing so will be increased if the 

 new streets of the subdivision are planted beforehand. They do not 

 expect and rarely find that a purchaser is more critical than them- 

 selves, and when the lots are once disposed of they have no farther 

 thought on the subject. 



This large demand springs up in every new and growing town and 

 is answered by a class of men, many of whom are as ignorant as their 

 customers, of the nature and requirements of a living plant and think 

 it may be handled with as little care as so much lumber. Their rivalry 

 leads them to under bid each other, and the purchaser closes a con- 

 tract for the delivery and planting of thousands of trees, at prices that 

 would be ruinous' to the contractor if anything approaching the need- 

 ful care, were bestowed upDu the selection, lifting, planting and sub- 

 sequent nursing of every one of these baby vegetables. The trees are 

 got from the woods or the refuse of nurseries, are torn out of the 

 ground without the least regard to the preservation of their roots, the 

 tops are lopped off, and they are often exposed to sun and air for many 

 hours before being stuck into holes in the ground and left to shift for 

 themselves. The result is that the real estate dealer the next season 

 calls the attention of the would be purchaser of a lot, to the long rows 

 of poles which line the streets, having a few leaves at the top, which 

 in due time are expected to expand into such luxuriant foliage as to 

 over-arch the street, but in reality either perish before the season is 

 over or drag out a miserable existence as unsightly cumberers of the 

 ground. The blame for such a state of things is not to be laid solely 

 at the door of the tree dealers. Its primary cause lies in the all per- 

 \»ading passion for low priced goods of all kinds. — forgetful of the fact 

 that it is fatal to all true economy. Its prevalence is one of the 

 worst evils which taint our social system, and is so much a matter ot 

 habit that it betrays itself in absurd inconsistencies, — as for instance 

 the philanthropist who bewails the fate of the half starved sewing 

 girls, but seeks the cheapest clothing store when he has to buy a 

 coat. 



There is as much difference in trees as in horses; they show quite 

 as plainly the evidence of good grooming, and I may add that there 

 is quite as much jockeying in the trades. 



What should we think of a man who bought horses by the thous- 

 and on contract, " warranted for one year?" Should we give him 

 anything but derision if he complained that he had got only a lot of 

 raw-boned, spavined creatures that had never known the luxury of a 



