124 THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



long as sucli men exist. They are to be found in every calling, but 

 there is probably no business which offers greater temptations to an 

 unscrupulous man than tree selling. Such a man soon learns that his 

 purchasers are very poorly informed on the subject of trees, and know 

 little or nothing of the character and qualities of either the tree or the 

 fruit, and from this fact are ready to accept any representation he may 

 make concerning either. The ignorance and credulity sometimes 

 manifested are really something marvellous, equalled only by the un- 

 blushing impudence of the men who practice upon them. What man 

 who had any information concerning tlie effect of frost upon peach 

 trees would have been deceived by the representation that by grafting 

 the peach upon a certain kind of stock it was made hardy, so that it 

 would thrive and bear large crops of fruit in such places as the coldest 

 parts of the Counties of Huron, Grey and Bruce ? And yet it is true 

 that large sales were made of peacli trees said to be worked upon this 

 wonderful stock at very high prices, ranging from fifty cents to a dollar 

 per tree. It is such ignorance as this that enables men of no principle 

 to sell at high prices such worthless tilings as were palmed off under 

 the name of Utah Hybrid Cherry, and to sell old varieties of hardy 

 trees at high i:)rices as though they were new introductions. This 

 want of information in regard to some of the most simple matters 

 connected with the planting of trees affords opportunity for deception 

 and fraud that ought not to exist, and though it is no excuse for dis- 

 honesty in tlie seller, is in this day of opportunity for information 

 quite unpardonable in the purchaser. The Fruit Growers' Association 

 has been supplying its members at the nominal cost of one dollar per 

 year, by means of its Annual Eeports and through the pages of tlie 

 Canadian Horticulturist, with such information as will enable them 

 to be on their guard against imposition, but unfortunately a very small 

 proportion of those who purchase trees are members, or ever see what 

 has been published. Many decline to become members to save the 

 dollar, and before the year is out are defrauded of several dollars by 

 buying at a high price some old variety of tree or plant under a new 

 name, that they would not have bought if they had read the publications 

 of this Association. Dishonest men find both profit and pleasure in 

 practicing upon ignorance, and grow bold in their dishonesty as they 

 learn how easily men are duped. 



But notwithstanding all the deceptions and frauds that are practised 



