STATE HORTICULTOBAL SOCIETY. 167 



penalty he would surely suffer of having only a miserable crop of un- 

 saleable runts? And yet there are plenty of men who are ready to 

 furnish and warrant the growth of trees on terms which render proper 

 care an impossibility, and the reason that such men exist is due to the 

 persistence of purchasers in trying to get good work for poor pay. 

 And as I said before, it is this spirit which casts a blight upon every- 

 thing we attempt. There is not a branch of art, literature or manu- 

 factures that is not tainted with the shams which so many of us are 

 willing to tolerate rather than paj' the worth of a sterling article. 



As long as there are purchasers animated by such a spirit, there 

 will be sellers ready to supply them, but it is surely a primary duty 

 of such associations as this to warn all who have any hope of satis- 

 factory results to beware of cheap tree venders, and proclaim far and 

 wide the fact that fine trees are an impossibility without expenditure 

 of time and labor, which must either be performed in person or paid 

 for in money. It is simply throwing money away to attempt to do 

 such work cheaply, and thousands upon thousands of dollars are an- 

 nually expended in the effort. 



SELECTING STOCK. 



Yet I am well aware that there is another side to the question, and 

 that the evil is not confined to those who expect good results from 

 parsimonious expenditure. Unscrupulous dealers will be as ready to 

 cheat by demanding high prices and claiming a superior quality of 

 goods, as by under-bidding, if they meet with a customer who is more 

 likely to be caught by such a plea. The only safe course is to deal 

 directly with men of established reputation, which they cannot afford 

 to jeopardize by false dealing. A man whose life is devoted to the 

 rearing of trees for sale, who has a large and costly nursery in which 

 the business is systematically conducted of growing the trees from 

 seed, and planting them in nursery rows, transplanting them from 

 time to time as they require wider space, and securing by that means 

 an abundant growth of fibrous roots immediately about the stem, so 

 that they may be removed without injury — a man, in short, who de- 

 votes his life to the business, and is dependent for his success upon 

 the reputation he acquires for furnishing good stock, is of necessity a 

 responsible party, with whom it is safe to deal, and from whom ifis 

 safe to expect reasonable satisfaction in case of accident. 



Such men and such nurseries are easy to find, and if men who ap- 

 preciate the value of good stock will apply directly to them they can 

 get what they want, and then, if they will pay competent workmen for 



