The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1914-04-10
GUARANTEEING
FRUIT TREES
TRUE TO NAME
BY JAMES TROOP, Department of
Entomology, Purdue University, Ex-
pertinent Station.
Purdue University Agricultural Ex-
tension.

Judd Farmer, entitled. Insist on
Justice in Nursery Stock" "All Trees
and Plants Sold Must Be True to
Name" etc. That sounds good.
wish that we might soon reach that
ideal condition of things In the nurs-
cry business, as well as in everything
else 1t is certainly a serious matter
when man, just starting in life. per-
haps, buys his first bill of trees with
which to start his orchard, which is
expected to furnish a good variety OF
fruit for the family in the years that
are TO come, and then, after waiting
three TO six years, finds that his pears
are all Kieffers, his peaches all seed
lings, and his apples are all Ben Davis
or some other equally good variety
Now, whenever mistakes of this
kind occur, and no one will deny that
they do occur, the nurseryman is al
ways the one that is responsible. Or
course, We all want square deal,
especially when we purchase fruit
trees; but this rule, like most others,
should work both ways. In other
words, there are two sides to this as
we'll as to every other important ques-
ton; and ii is the other side Of the
question to which l wish to call atten-
ton briefly. There is no doubt but
what there has been much crooked
work done in selling fruit trees. more.
perhaps, than in most other farming
operations, mostly because of the time
which is required for the trees TO
come into bearing, which will enable
any fraud to be detected. A farmer
may sell horse or COW, and guaran-
tee the animal to be perfectly sound.
If 1t is not, the defect Will show itself
very quickly, and redress may be had.
Not so with apple trees. Four to six
or eight years must elapse before the
deception will show itself. But the
question which | wish to discuss is
this: Is the nurseryman, the man who
actually grows the trees, always re-
sponsible for this general miX-up OF
varieties, which we sometimes find!
Most articles seen in the newspapers
on the subject, give one the impress
sion that such is the case. My opin-
ion is. however, that If one will take
the trouble TO investigate, and trace
the whole matter back to its source.
Ii will be found that in the majority
of cases, the trouble is not due so
much TO the unreliability of the nurs-
eryman, as it is to the unreliable mid
dleman. or in other words, to the tree
dealer or the dishonest agents, or even
to the carelessness of the farmer him.
self.
am satisfied that most nurserymen
are honest, and that they try to the
best of their ability to keep varieties
| true to name, but where so many
thousands of trees are handled. sew
eral times over, before they finally
reach the planter, it is not to be won
dered at that occasional mistakes are
made In fact, the strange thing about
| il all is that so few mistakes are
made.
No nurseryman who has any regard
for his reputation for truth and hon
esty will guarantee every tree which
|
he could cut all of his buds and scions
from bearing trees himself, do the
budding and grating himself, take up
the trees, sort and pack them himself,
he might be willing to do so, but, with
several hundred acres. perhaps. of
nursery stock, several men are cut
ting scions or buds, many times from
trees that have not borne fruit yet;
these are worked up by other men OF
more or less experience. who may oil
may not be able to distinguish varie
ties by the wood or leaves. Then. too
when it comes to digging and grading
and packing, these trees are handled
by a number of other men of more
OF less experience. Is it any wonder
that, before the final label is attached
to the trees. some of them get mis-
placed and mislabeled in spite of the
watchful eye of Che foreman. BE
ware then of the nurseryman who
guarantees his trees to be absolutely
true to name. He knows that in spite
Of all he can do there is a possibility
yes and a probability, that such
guarantee cannot be made good. The
Orange Judd Farmer of January 8
gives "A Typical Case OF Injustice,
where a fruit grower purchased 10
of peach trees from an agent repre-
senting a certain nursery company
ard none of the trees proved TO b.
true TO name. and the nurserymal
acknowledged that it was an error
I would call a case of that kind a de
liberate fraud, not a mistake at all
and ii should be dealt with as such
However. | do not believe that cas-
OF this kind is representative of tn
nursery business in general at all. !
belongs with the fakes and frauds, an,
not TO legitimate business
= Federal Law on the Subject.
The Orange Judd Farmer furthe
states that we propose to secure tn
enactment by the United States cor
gress of a law requiring that all null
sery stock shipped from one state int
another shall be true TO name, a
we'll as free from insect or funpOu