hared by the foremost thinkers in the horticultural
world. A four-year-old boy was once taken to see the animals in a
circus. He was very much interested, but, when shown the tremendous
elephant, shook his head and said "he is too big."

A small grove properly handled ought to be an excellent investment. The
various uncertainties and vicissitudes involved can, in a degree, be
compensated for by great care; and I suppose it would be possible even
with some of these big schemes--by placing enough money behind them--to
insure a fair degree of success. It must be borne in mind, however, that
these promoters, of whom we have been speaking, are not so much
concerned in the successful orchard as they are in big salaries and
profits, and, if one has money enough to pay big salaries and profits,
and still pay for the proper care of the orchard, then he does not need
an orchard. Most of these promoters charge too much for a proper and
honest development alone, and too little for the proper development plus
the profits and salaries of the promoters. I wish it were not so. I wish
the old earth could be made to smile bountiful crops without such
expensive tickling, but this is one of the checks and balances that
nature places upon her great storehouse of wealth.

* * * * *

The Chairman: This is a matter of very great importance and I hope we
shall have a good discussion, from a practical point of view, by men who
know about fraudulent promotions and their effect. We ought to go on
record in this matter right now. I know of numbers of teachers, doctors
and other poor people who have put money into nut promotion schemes
without knowing anything about the ultimate prospect of profit.

Mr. Hutt: One noticeable thing about the promoter's literature is that
he never knows anything about crop failure, and in the agricultural and
horticultural world that is a thing that is painfully evident to a man
who has been in business a great length of time. In the promoter's
literature it is just a matter of multiplication; if one tree will
produce so much in a year, a hundred trees will produce a hundred times
as much. I got a letter the other day from Mr. S. H. James, of Beaumont,
Louisiana, and he said, "I have been very fortunate, I have actually had
two good crops in succession," and when you come to compare that with
the promoter's literature--why he knows no such thing as crop failure.
Anybody who knows anyth