IN THE FRONT YARD. 31 



care. A man wants an evergreen. If he gets a good- 

 sized one it will cost him something. But he hears 

 where he can get 100 seedling evergreens sent hy mail 

 for $2.00. He orders them, smiling in the meantime 

 at the way he has circumvented his nurseryman. He 

 plants them. But they are too small to go out in the 

 open, the reflection of the hot sun from the ground kills 

 them, or the dry weather, or the weeds take them. Per- 

 haps 4 or 5 will live, and they are little sickly things, 

 and the money is gone, and the time lost, and nothing to 

 show. 



So for immediate use for outdoor planting the mail 

 order system is a delusion and a snare. But it is very 

 hard for people to see the difference between a chicken 

 that has just learned to peep and the fine fat fowl all 

 ready for market. 



Another serious drawback is the tree fakir. He 

 was built without a conscience. He never comes to the 

 same place twice. It isn't safe. He sells an immense 

 amount of lip and cheek and very poor stock. I met 

 one not long ago, who told me how he worked it. Said 

 he: ^'T sell 7,000 roses a year at $1.50 each. I just 

 razzle dazzle them with big names and down they go. 

 I sell lots of picea pungens — Colorado blue spruce. I 

 always get $2 apiece for them, and then substitute Black 

 Hills spruce, which I can buy for 20 cents. They don't 

 know the difference." 



The tree fakir is a hynotist. He gets his customer 

 in a corner and he is at his mercy. 



My neighbor thought she would try a new man, and 



