STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Qg 



Having pretty clearly stated my belief respecting the trans- 

 actions of the travelling tree agents, it may be in order to 

 inquire whether any responsibility for the frauds committed 

 against the purchasers of fruit stock, justly attaches to the 

 nurserymen, who are engaged, with the employment of large 

 amounts of capital and an army of men, in constantly push- 

 ing their operations in tree growing? I believe from the 

 information I have gained of the character of our leading re- 

 sponsible nursery proprietors, that they are men of integrity 

 in business matters, which distinction, coupled with their well 

 known skill in the production of the most perfectly grown 

 trees, precludes the idea that the charge of fraudulent dealing 

 can justly lie against them. Besides, those who are familiar 

 with the annals of pomology, know that many of the lead- 

 ing proprietors of fruit tree nurseries are not only striving 

 actively for commanding success in their line of business, 

 but that they are devoted largely to the object of promoting 

 the ends of scientific inquisition into the causes of failure in 

 the various branches of fruit culture, and in laboring for the 

 building up of the fruit business by legitimate methods. It 

 is evident, therefore, that the self-sacrificing labors of these 

 men, and the aid to the cause of American Pomology con- 

 tributed by them, are sufficient to place them above the shaft 

 of condemnation which is aimed by those who profess to see 

 nothing in the whole business of furnishing trees to the poor 

 farmers but a big, wholesale humbug. 



Neither do I believe that all the men who are the respon- 

 sible contractors to furnish the farmers with nursery stock, 

 and who are the employers of the numerous travelling tree 

 agents, are morally answerable for the disappointment and 

 damage sufiered by those who are unfortunate in their deal- 

 ings with the tree-vending itinerant. I know of only one of 

 this class of dealers whose headquarters is in Maine, and I am 

 convinced, from my knowledge of his methods of operation, 

 that he is an upright business man, and is in all cases dis- 

 posed to be just and liberal with his customers, and has been 

 known to discharge sub-agents for dishonest dealing, whether 



