Jie MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
it is or not, but take him at his word and expend forty, fifty or sev- 
enty-five dollars for something that is worth less than half as much, 
or practically worth nothing to them, it is not so much a question of 
the money lost as it is of discouragement to the man or to his neigh- 
bors who engage in anything of that kind. Here is one of our 
neighbors who pays fifty to a hundred dollars for the best kind of 
fruits or trees, as he supposes, and they are an entire failure. He 
might as well throw his money away; and he will become so dis- 
couraged that he will never want to take hold of anything of the 
kind again, even if he knows it is good. The question of punishment 
of fraud is not so easily got at as some people suppose. An agent 
comes in and sellsa bill of goods, and after a long time you find 
you have been defrauded, but you cannot get at the man—you do not 
know where to find him; and the man who has expended and lost 
fifty to seventy-five dollars will not spend another hundred to pros- 
ecute the man who has defrauded him. You would not do it,andno 
one else will do it, and the consequence is the entire neighborhood 
is discouraged. Wecan not expect to punish such frauds. 
I have no ideas as to the form of law that is necessary in this case, 
but I think it should require those who wish to sell stock, some one 
that can be got at, to give the necessary security that they are re- 
sponsible, and that they are responsible for the acts of their agents. 
We have our state law for the preservation of game, and it is proba- 
bly all right. Some claim it is manipulated largely in the interest 
of sportsmen and not a benefit to any one as a matter of support. 
We have game wardens all over the state,and it becomes almostim- 
possible to ship game out from any part of the state. I donot know 
under what terms these game wardens work, but it strikes me we 
might have wardens appointed to make it their business to look 
after the agents who come into this state to sell nursery stock and to 
see that they give bonds. Theyshould have certain districts to work 
in and should be deputized to catch onto these agents as they come 
into the state and see that they are complying with thelaw. It may 
not be practicable, but if there is any law passed that might be one 
of its provisions, that there should be wardens appointed to catcn 
onto those agents who come here for fraudulent purposes. In our 
neighborhood there has been more or less of this fraud perpetrated; 
trees have been sold for a dollar apiece that were absolutely worth- 
less for our part of the country; still by talking smoothly they could 
make the people believe they were all right, get them interested and 
induce them to buy. Some of the trees that were sold for a dollar 
apiece could have been bought from most nurserymen for twenty 
to twenty-five cents apiece. 
Mr. Philips, (of Wisconsin): I agree with Mr. Kimball that this 
is a matter of a good deal of importance. We are just now looking 
to you people a little to see what you are going to do in reference to 
this matter. I had a letter last Saturday from one of our prominent 
horticulturists saying he wanted me to watch closely the Minnesota 
people to see what they were going to do, and to send him a copy 
of the law you proposed to enact just as soon as I could. We need 
a law, anda good one. I know of agents who have traveled about 
during the past season and induced men to buy what they claim as 
