HUMBUGS. 383 



such a nature as to relieve them from any legal 

 responsibility, but drawn in such a way as to give 

 a common person the evidence of bona fide agency. 

 In return for this it is presumed that the dealer 

 pays a better price for the stock. In other cases 

 the dealers have refused to have labels put upon 

 the stock, as they ' ' prefer to make their own varie- 

 ties." In one case a very large lot of pistilate 

 strawberries were bought and billed out alone, 

 either through ignorance- or cupidity. This is worse 

 than robbery. The plants will grow but they will 

 not bear and the labor and pleasurable anticipation 

 of seeing the wife and babies gathering in the heap- 

 ing baskets of crimson beauties, as they looked in 

 the pictures, will end only as it began, in the dis- 

 appointment of a dream. 



The better plan for all would be to sell through 

 bona fide agents, giving to each one a certificate as 

 such under the court seal, then employ only such 

 men as would obey orders, and make a contract 

 that to deceive any one should cause discharge. 



The best way would be for every planter to send 

 direct to the nursery, but this is out of the question. 

 The nurseryman has the same right to live that 

 any one else has, and if he depended on dispos- 

 ing of his goods in this way he would be compelled 

 soon, either to give up living or change his 

 vocation. 



With all the ills surrounding the present system, 

 it is still better than to wait for the trade that 

 would never come. From this we see that under- 



