HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 97 



in his address'? There are parties ontside of our state, no doubt, 

 who are deeply interested in the repeal of our law, and there 

 may be parties within the state who will seek for its repeal. 

 It seems to me there should be some officer or some comniittee 

 of the Society appointed to look after this matter in case such 

 an attempt should be made. I wish to add that in my section of 

 the country, in Traverse county and round about, there have 

 been no agents who have been there and practiced their decep- 

 tions upon the people of the community to my knowledge since 

 the enactment of that law, and the people have really got their 

 eyes open. There have been heretofore practiced upon the 

 yoemanry there a great many deceptions, schemes and frauds, 

 and the result is people have become shy and very circumspect 

 under the protection of that law. Possibly there may be some 

 defects that may need to be remedied. But if anyone should 

 undertake to test the constitutionality of it it seems to me it 

 becomes us to be on the alert, in order to maintain the law and 

 protect the people of the state. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, wherever I have been around in 

 the state, the general verdict of Minnesota tree planters is that 

 the law has been doing good. One disadvantage, perhaps, where 

 trees are wanted that are grown outside of the state is to get 

 them, but where trees or plants are wanted in small quantities, 

 orders are sent direct to the grower for them. If the farmers of 

 Minnesota would make a practice of getting a catalogue and 

 making their own selections of stock, there would not be any 

 need of agents. 



I should be in favor of retaining the law. Perhaps in the 

 course of time there should be some features of it amended; I 

 think as a whole it has worked a great good. For two years in 

 Houston county, where I live, we have been free from those 

 agents who come through selling trees from Ohio and other 

 points, who make jieople think that they have found a new kind 

 of prune, or something of that kind, that came from Eussia. 

 They don't tell them that it came from the southern part of 

 Illinois, or take orders any more at such high prices as they 

 used to do. The law has had the wholesome effect to keep out 

 that class of dealers and the agents have commenced doing a 

 legitimate business. 



Mr. Gray. The gentleman who read the paper tells us some- 

 thing about not being able to get Jessie strawberries outside of 

 the state. What does that mean ■? If there is a law in this state 



Vol. IV— 13. 



