236 The Principles of Fruit-growing. 
one expects to plant an orchard. Buy where the best 
trees can be obtained, and where there is good reason 
to expect reliable stock and honest dealing. It is 
generally advisable to buy at the nearest nursery at: 
which the desired stock can be secured, for the buyer 
has more personal knowledge of the nurseryman, he 
can visit the nursery, he saves freight, and he may 
be able to secure his stock in fresher condition; but 
trees of equal excellence will generally thrive equally 
well when transported from long distances, if they 
arrive at their destination in good condition. While 
one should endeavor to secure low prices, it should be 
remembered that nursery stock should never be pur- 
chased simply because it is cheap. Poor stock is 
dear as a gift. Yet farmers who annually plant a 
few trees, and who buy of agents, often pay exorbi- 
tant prices. In a certain town, when farmers were 
paying 28 cents apiece for peach trees in lots of a 
dozen, any reliable nursery would have been glad to 
have supplied the same varieties at $8 per hundred, 
at the nursery. Plums which should have sold for 15 
cents to 20 cents apiece were selling to farmers for 
50 and 60 cents apiece. The man who seriously ex- 
pects to plant an orchard for profit will not be led 
into any wild scheme or new varieties by agents. He 
will generally buy directly of the nearest nurseryman 
who can supply the desired stock and varieties at the 
prices which suit him. Some nurserymen employ reg- 
ular and reliable agents, and such agents carry a cer- 
tificate from the firm they represent. But while these 
salesmen may be perfectly straightforward, and may 
