Soe ee ee a es 
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HORTICULTURAL FRAUDS. 269 
the first premium, that the La Crosse fair was a bigger con- 
cern than the Rochester fair. If that was the true way of it, 
absolutely true, I think those exhibitors were excusable. They 
were excusable on the ground that our society here educated 
them right up to that point. (Laughter). For the sake of the 
men not growing their own exhibits, it was thought best at the 
state fair to offer a large premium, that they called ‘‘sweep- 
stakes.’ That encouraged men to beg, buy, borrow or steal 
fruit to place on the table for exhibition. Now, these men had 
practiced that and made their fruit exhibits and had received 
their money; they had had a great deal of training in that line. 
They say ‘‘Itis hard to teach old dogs new tricks,’ and these 
men had become so accustomed to that sort of thing that they 
could not leave off all at once. (Laughter). Now, the strong 
probability is that by another year they will get all over it, 
and they will not exhibit any fruit that they have not grown. 
I guess I have said enough, and Iam perfectly willing that 
any of the other frauds should step in and make their confes- 
sions. (Laughter and applause). 
Pres. Underwood: Are there any other confessions to make? 
Mr. Harris: I have no confession to make in reférence to the last 
state fair. There were only two specimens of Wisconsin apples 
there to my knowledge, one an Avista from A. J. Phillips, the other 
a Northwestern Greening from some source. All the appJes I ex- ° 
hibited there in competition I grew. 
Mr. Dartt: I want to offer a strong hint: “The bird that is hit 
always flutters.” (Great laughter and applause). 
Mr. Richardson: I had seriously thought of saying a word or two 
on this subject, but now that neighbor Dartt has given out this hint 
I shall keep still,as [am anurseryman. (Laughter). 
Mr. Harris: I will acknowledge that the plate of apples that Mr. 
Richardson brought there helped me very much, as he was kind 
enough to set it on my table. 
Mr. Richardson: Mine were not entered. 
Mr. Dartt: Harris’ were entered. (Laughter). 
Pres. Underwood: We would like to hear from Mr. Wedge. 
Mr. Dartt: I do not think Mr. Wedge isafraud. (Laughter). 
Mr. Wedge: I have not come prepared to state the case which our 
president has in mind, but all of us in the southern part of the state 
that are all interested in horticulture have had our righteous souls 
vexed by the frauds that have been perpetrated by agents claiming 
to represent nurseries in northern Illinois, the Princeton Nurseries. 
Their scheme has been advertised all over the state, selling almost 
everything and delivering almost anything. Farmers paying about 
eight dollars for nursery stock that might possibly be of the value 
of two or three dollars. The law we have had, the law which pro- 
tected our people from those frauds and which has worked fora 
number of years to keep such peopie out of the state, by a test case 
