The Wyandot pioneer. (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1853-1868, 1853-09-14
Erauds of NurSerymen.

Frauds of Nurserymen.
Nurserymen have better chance to
cheat than most others, on account of the
long time required for detection and for
this very reason their frauds are greater
impositions, robbing time as wellas money.
Horticultural and rural Improvements
have been greatly impeded by the errors
which they have committed, ignorantly
as well as Intentionally. A very fruitful
source of unintentional errors has been the
practice of taking things on trust. Ayoung
nurseryman wishes to propagate certain
list of fruits, or an older one wishes to add
to his catalogue-they Immediately send
to some other nursery and obtain the
trees, and not willing to loose five or six
years to see them bear, they commence at
once to raise and sell trees from them, and
like the man who borrowed his absent
neighbors horse, intending to ask leave
when he returned, they sell the trees first,
and intend to prove their correctness af-
terwards. Anhonorable and worthy nur
seryman showed us cherry tree in bear
ing, which he had procured under the
name of Napoleon Bigarreau, and from
which he assured us he had already sold
hundreds of trees-that was then bearing
a bitter little mazzard Errors are in this
way multiplied. We could write fifty col
umns in describing the mistakes which we
have detected in receiving trees from diff
ferent nurseries. An eminent individual
(now deceased } from whose establishment
we expected to get every sort correct, sent
us, as time has since proved, more than
half his trees under wrong names. These
were mistakes, not frauds; and we have
no doubt that most American nurserymen
have endeavored to treat their customers
fairly, but not having seen much of what
they were selling, they were mostly work
ing in the dark. We question, however,
if as much as this can be said of Europe
an nurserymen, as they existed some years
ago, although we know there were honor
able exceptions-but the exceptions were
not the rule. 1t appears they thought it
of little consequence what was sent to the
ignorant Yankees of the western woods.
w. r. Prince, in or Ter to prove the rascal
ity of certain French dealers, invented a
list of such names of fruits as he had new
er heard of, and his order was filed un-
der those very names! We question if any
body but Prince could have done this.
The increase of the nursery business
has witnessed a, great improvement in the
accuracy with which it is conducted. Fa-
cilities for propagating from bearing trees
have increased the increased intelligence
of the community admits of less tolera-
ton of blunders and the desire of fair
reputation has stimulated many to accu-
racy, tosay nothing about the promptings
of genuine honesty, of which we believe
a portion of our nurseryman have respec-
table share. Europeans, where not actu-
ated by better motives, have discovered
that Americans actually possess shrewd
ness enough to know when they are well
treated, and they find it to their interest to
retain, if possible, what has lately proved
a very large share of their custom.
In connection with this subject, we wish
to add few remarks relative to warrant
ing the correctness of trees. Purchasers
have sometimes required it of nurserymen
and we observed lately that some of the
western papers advocate Legislative enact
ments for restoring losses by errors Or by
frauds.
Now, there are insuperable difficulties
in the way of ofreducing this proposition to
practice. In the first place, purchasers
make quite as many mistakes as sellers !;
and we have known them, after lapse of
years, to forget and misplace lost names
Ito attribute certain trees to wrong sour
ces--and to be quite mistaken in the cor
reetness of the fruit produced, from igno-
rance or erroneous notions of its charac-
ter. Nurserymen can afford TO warrant
their trees, under the following conditions
only: The trees, as soon as received, must
be set out, and registered in book by
careful and disinterested person. There
must be evidence preserved that any va
cancies in the plantation are not supplied
from other sources during the years that
elapse before bearing--or that the grated
portion is not browsed down by cattle, and