Practical Orcharding On Rough Lands. 99 



This same careful business man will buy thou- 

 sands of trees without seeing a single one of 

 them. These trees are to be a source of profit 

 or loss for years. He expects — or should expect 

 — to bestow years of labor on them and yet he 

 has not given them the thought or consideration 

 that he did the work stock which could only 

 last a few years at best. 



Poor nursery stock has done more to retard 

 the development of orcharding all over the 

 country than any other one thing. The farm- 

 ers and fruit growers are largely to blame for 

 this. As has already been said they have been 

 willing to buy the very cheapest trees that could 

 be found. Not only have they been willing to 

 buy, but they have demanded cheap nursery 

 stock. We find in all lines of business when- 

 ever a cheap article is demanded some one is 

 ready to furnish it Nurserymen are no ex- 

 ception. In order that they may furnish the 

 stock at the figure demanded and still realize 

 a profit — and they would be foolish to attempt 

 to do business without a profit — they simply put 

 in enough trees that should have gone on the 

 brush heap to enable them to fill the order. In 

 this way the fruit growers are to blame for the 

 poor trees they have received. They fail to 

 realize that a poor tree might be dear as a gift, 



