THE CANADIAN HORTICXJLTURIST. 123 



they solicit orders in their own name, and go into the market to buy 

 where they can huy cheapest. By this means a class of middle-men 

 has sprung up in the tree business, who supply purchasers with trees, 

 the purchaser not knowing from what nursery his trees come, and the_ 

 nurseryman equally ignorant of the person who plants what he has 

 grown. This system of selling by men who do not grow the trees has 

 now assumed a peculiar feature, and extensive co-partnerships have 

 been formed by them, under the style of which they advertize them- 

 selves as nurserymen, issue catalogues like those of nurserymen, hire 

 canvassers to go out and sell for them as though they were the growers, 

 and by doing a large business, are able to buy a part of their stock in 

 one nursery and a part in another, as they^find most to their advantage- 



This then is the present position of the tree agency business, and 

 now we have representatives of all these different classes of tree 

 ;agents at work among us; the agent who. is sent out by the nurseryman, 

 the agent who represents the nursery from which he buys at wholesale, 

 the agent who does not in fact represent any particular nursery, but 

 sells on his own account, and the agent who is selling for a firm of tree 

 brokers styling themselves nurserymen. 



Unfortunately there is no system of selling trees tha:t can not be 

 "Used by unscrupulous men to their own immediate gain, and the 

 defrauding of those wlio purchase of them. The method ef buying 

 that is least likely to result in disappointment through dishenesty of 

 the seller, is where the buyer purchases directly of the preducer. It 

 is usually found to be the fact that the desire to maintain a good 

 reputation in his business transactions, for the sake of his business, if 

 no better motive, will induce the nurseryman to deal honorably with 

 the purchaser. Next to dealing directly with the nurseryman comes 

 the purchasing through his accredited salesmen. The difficulty here 

 lies chiefly in knowing certainly that he is truly an agent of the 

 nursery. Most nurserymen supply their agents with a certificate to 

 shew that they are sent out by them, but even these have been forged. 

 In purchasing from those who- are not representing any particular 

 nursery, but are dealers or brokers in trees, of course confidence is 

 reposed only in the agent himself, and the purchaser relies solely upon 

 him to bring such trees in kind and quality as he orders. 



That those who buy through tree agents are liable to be imposed 

 wpon by dishonest men has been true in tlie past, and will be true as 



