Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1881-01-14
SPEED THE PL0W."
Buying Fruit Trees.

The tree peddler is now abroad in
the land, and his voice will be heard,
kle the turtles, for a month or two
to come. Beware Of whom you buy
fruit trees, In this, as in all other
kinds Of business, there are swindlers
and unreliable dealers and agents. OF
all things. buying fruit trees requires
the utmost caution. If you make
mistake here, it is one that is almost
without remedy-at least for four or
five years to come. Several columns
could be written on this quite impor-
tant topic, but shall confine myself
to brief suggestions only, trusting to
the intelligent reader to thoughtfully
consider and act upon my text.
Had I known al much about trees
years ago as l now do, my orchard of
seventy trees would have been worth
four or five times as much as it now
is. knew almost next to nothing
about fruit trees or varieties, and re-
lied solely upon the statements Of the
tree peddlers in the selection Of varie-
ties. thought then that tree that
bore we'll in the north would bear we'll
anywhere that a tree would grow.
Fatal delusion! Here in Central
Kentucky my Rhode Island Greetings,
Pryor's Red and some others, now if
teen years old, and are only fit for fire
wood or shade. l have never plucked
. sound apple from them, nor a green
one either for that matter, as they fall
off before maturity. No orchard is
better kept than mine, either.
You ask, what 10 the novice to do.
then, if he desires to plant an orchard ?
The answer is, 60 to some of your
neighbors who know from experience
or observation what kind and varieties
of fruit succeed in your locality, and
then buy none others, from known
and Trustworthy nurseryman, and
home one at that, if such there be in
your State, and the nearer home the
better.
Do not be misled and deceived by
the flaming and beautiful pictures of
fruit the tree agent carries around
with him, nor the "bottled lovliness"
that he carries in his trunks, swelled
to twice or thrice their natural size BY
the alcohol in the bottle. The mar
velous tales these agents will tell You
about the wonderful fruits he has to
sell will entrap you to your own ruin
in purse and prospects. Here is .
specimen of their promises.
'The Baron Munchausen plum"
That, sir, is q plum grown only by our
firm. The seed was picked up of the
coast of Spain by a shipwrecked sail
or in 1860, aud planted by him, and
the tree grew into a beautiful shape
in three years, and at the fifth year it
yielded crop of thirteen bushels,
which sold in the Madrid markets at
SIS per bushel. 1t was tried in every
State in this Union by CRAFTS and buds
au9zs been found universally fruit
full and excellent everywhere. See!
here is . fair specimen in this pint
bottle of alcohol; you see, three Of
them almost fill the bottle. We have
less than five hundred of these trees,
one year old, left. You may have
them at S. tree, By all means take
six Of them, az you may not have an
other chance to get them, and in FIVE
years from now you can sell plums
enough to buy a small farm"
Of course, if the man who wants
trees is not cup to snuff" he will, con-
sulting only the size Of his bank &C.
count, order an extra large number Of
the "Baron Munchausen" plum trees,
one year old; but alas! only to find
in the end that Ga fool and his money
soon parts"
Thera- are many honest tree dealers
of codrse-men who are az reliable as
those in any other business but that
fact does not initiate against my ad-
vice. Beware of whom you buy fruit
trees, and of the kind you plant in
your loeality.-Fruit Recorder.