14 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
FOREIGN TREE DEALER . 
Minnesota Man’s Observations on the Activity of the Nursery 
Agent— Believes His Enterprise Should be Imitated 
Generally— A Plea for the Local Nurseryman. 
At the recent meeting of the Minnesota Horticultural 
Society, C. L. Smith of Minneapolis read the following paper : 
The reports of the Minnesota Horticultural society make 
frequent references to the foreign tree dealer, but I think 
you will all agree with m« that the reference is always far from 
complimentary or commendatory. In fact I think it may be 
said without exaggeration that at every meeting of the society 
almost every member has some grievance to record or some 
abuse to report against the foreign tree dealer. 
During all the years since this society was organized the 
foreign tree dealer has been kicked and cuffed, de¬ 
nounced and derided, his devices have been exposed, his stock 
black-listed, his name made a by-word. Laws have been 
enacted against him, the power of the press invoked to suppress 
him ; but despite all this he has lived and prospered, increased 
in numbers, multiplied in devices, and continued to harvest 
the dollars, from the farms, the villages and cities of the state. 
When it comes to honors at our annual meetings or at the 
state fair, our own painstaking, persevering, concientious, 
intelligent and philanthropic horticulturists carry them off 
easily and worthily. When it comes to dollars, a band of well 
organized foreign tree dealers with books of pictures, bottles 
of fruit, yards of cheek, vivid imaginations, no limit of lan¬ 
guage and no trace of conscience, will easily gather more 
dollars in a single season than a conscientious, fair dealing, 
local grower, can get in a life time of faithful work. 
Primarily this is why the foreign tree dealers continue to 
flourish; because there is money in the business. They are 
after money and are more interested in gathering dollars than 
in the distribution of reliable horticultural information. As 
a rule their motto is ‘Get money honestly if you can, but get 
money.’ In doing this they visit all parts of the state, they 
see all classes of people, they tell all kinds of stories, use 
various arguments and illustrations. These are often apt, 
ingenious and timely. They are intended to arouse the 
interest, fix the attention and stimulate the desire of the 
listener ; that they accomplish their purpose is evidenced by 
the fact that they secure the objective dollar. Admitting that 
the betrayal of trust, loss of interest, and disappointment often 
destroys the value of the lesson to the individual, the fact 
remains that the wide-spread, continuous, persistent, intelli¬ 
gent, persuasive, plausible and convincing missionary work of 
the foreign tree dealer does induce people to plant trees on the 
farm, in the village garden and on the city lot. 
Not all their stories are true, nor all their trees good, neither 
are they all bad. Millions of cuttings of the white willow 
were sold the early settlers and became the foundation of the 
beautiful groves around the farm homes of Central and 
Southern Minnesota. Later on every farmer was visited from 
one to a dozen times each season and urged to plant seedling 
cottonwoods around his home. Eloquently the tree dealer 
pictured the discomfort of a home on the prairie unsheltered 
by trees during the long cold winter ; then came a glowing 
picture of such a home transformed by trees to a haven of rest 
and comfort, where the snow did not drift, the wind did not 
blow and the blizzard had lost its terror. That these itinerant 
foreign tree dealers were powerful educators is evidenced by 
the living monuments they have raised in trees and groves 
and the empty pockets of their students. Millions of seedlings 
of the ash, box elder and soft maple have been distributed 
by foreign tree dealers. And we should not forget that in 
nearly every instance where the dealer secured an order for one 
or more thousands of those seedlings he had to lecture for an 
hour or more on the benefits to be derived by tree planting. 
The planting of small fruits has been greatly stimulated by 
the work of the foreign tree dealer. He stops at the humble 
home of the prairie farmer, exhibits his wonderful samples, 
natural size, talks of marvelous yields, assures the farmer that 
his soil is peculiarly adapted to the growth of small fruits? 
delivers an eloquent, truthful, carefully prepared and convinc¬ 
ing dissertation on the healthfulness, economy and pleasure 
of a good supply of berries grown in one’s own garden. The 
education is successful, the farmer and his family are con¬ 
vinced, and the order is given for Royal raspberries, Golden 
gooseberries, tree currants, grapes that needed neither cover¬ 
ing or pruning and various other things so new, rare and 
wonderful, they were never heard of outside the catalogue of 
the foreign tree dealer. Nevertheless the farmer has been 
educated, inspired and benefited. His raspberries prove to 
be Turner or Philadelphia, his gooseberries are Houghton, 
and his currants Red Dutch. They cost him four prices but 
he got the fruit, the education, and the experience, while the 
educator got the money. 
These foreign tree dealers are not all bad, neither are their 
trees all worthless. Only last year I found one who was sell¬ 
ing budded apple trees for only one dollar each. He was 
doing a thriving business in the neighborhood of a local 
nursery where thrifty, well-grown trees of varieties approved 
and recommended by the Minnesota Horticultural Society 
were for sale at nominal prices. The local nurseryman, how¬ 
ever, was unable to educate his neighbors up to the point of 
interest and confidence that would induce them to buy his 
trees. The foreign tree dealer with better methods did accom¬ 
plish this and sold hundreds of trees. His budded tree nur¬ 
sery was, however, a myth existing only in his imagination. 
When it came to filling orders he purchased a fine lot of 
hardy, thrifty, well-grown trees from a well-known local 
grower less than ioo miles away. The trees were carefully 
handled and I believe are all growing well. 
Our climate, the newness of the country, the character and 
habits of the people, make horticultural education a necessity; 
the cheapest, most reliable means of education is that afforded 
by the Minnesota Horticultural Society, and the pioneer horti¬ 
culturists of the state. The most expensive educator ; the 
unreliable educator ; but at the same time the best patron¬ 
ized, the most persistent and extensive educator is the foreign 
tree dealer. 
He is successful because the people desire novelties and 
sensations, they are greedy for new things, they are easily 
humbugged, in fact rather seem to enjoy it. No other method 
of selling trees has yet been found so successful as personal 
canvassing from house to house. 
No other means of education on the subjects of fruit raising 
and tree planting have as yet been discovered equal to thirty 
minutes personal contract with a well-qualified tree dealer. 
New names, novelties and high prices are necessary to 
cover the cost of this expensive mode of selling trees. 
