STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, Q^^ 



native Idnds. It is a fact that a determined effort has been 

 made to establish the trade in and use of these varieties of trees 

 at very high price. What has been the effect upon the prop- 

 agation and planting of our best old sorts ? Cotemporaneously 

 with the introduction of the "Russians," old kinds began to 

 be discarded. We were told it would not do to plant the 

 old standard kinds; that they were not as hardy, and were 

 destined to be superseded by the new kinds. The tree 

 agents are not allowed to offer for sale more than two or 

 three of the old famous sorts, as the R. I. Greening, Northern 

 Spy, or Roxbury Russet, and say the}'" cannot furnish stand- 

 ard trees at the former prices, at a profit ; that the "Russians" 

 are very costly to produce, and that the old standard kinds 

 can be more profitalily sold for fifteen cents each than the 

 new kind for fifty cents. The average price for "Russian'' 

 trees for four years past has not been less than seventy-five 

 cents by the dozen, though sometimes an agent will take 

 almost any price rather than lose a sale. It is my opinion 

 that the exorbitant prices charged for these trees had a 

 tendency to discourage and dissuade many persons from 

 purchasing at all, and that such prices are out of all propor- 

 tion to the real cost or value of the trees to a great majority 

 of our farmers. With this condition of the business in view, 

 let us consider other well known facts, which are the direct 

 consequence of the manner of prosecuting the trade by its 

 numerous agents. 



While the general interest in fruit cultivation is, as has 

 been shown, greater than ever before, and while millions of 

 dollars are being annually invested in the establishment of 

 orchards, and great nurseries for supplying the increasing 

 demands for good trees, there is evident a deep feeling of 

 dissatisfaction with the manner of furnishing stock to or- 

 chardists for planting, a sense of being wronged, victimized, 

 cheated. So intense is this feeling in many minds, that the 

 dealers in fruit trees find it very difficult to operate profitably 

 in many sections where they have sold trees very extensively 

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