'IIIK GAKni-M'K'S MOXllll.Y 



lAprii, 



llowfis valm-tl at SI ,22'. I ; seeds s^l 1 ,2(i;?, and of 

 dutiable arliele were i)ull)s, Si .">47 ; dried ^Tasses, 

 si .CUT; seeds, Sirj.Sf)! ; trees anil plaiils, S;r),721); 

 of other arliclos of a more aLirieidlnral eharae- 

 ter on wliieh duties were paid, were S150,()0() 

 worth of jjotatoes, perha|)s Ironi lierniuda in 

 early crops. 



Wiiv (;.\i{I)Km:ks siioiLi) M.MtitY. — As 

 note<l elsewhere, the "a^ent" lias hern (rai)ped 

 and eauuht by the Gahdknkk'.s Monthly 

 folks, after he has had. lor over a year, the 

 <,'ood ])iekini; under his "a<j;ency" for many 

 other i>ei'iodicals, seed houses, an("l nurserymen, 

 and eould not be eauLrht. We learn that one 

 izardener near (iermantown was saved by the 

 Uood sense of his wife. He had a^'rced (o <iet 

 (he Gakdknkij's Monthly, "'to be weekly, in 

 I future, with no increase in price," and the 

 " shears,'' aiul he went rejoiciuir to (he. house for 

 the 82 for the ijentleman, who politcdy assured 

 him that ••' he need not pay the money now until 

 ; after he got the magazine, if he did not want to; 

 j but as he liad the receii)ts at liand it miiiht save 

 trouble to pay at once." But the wifi; forcibly 

 incjuired what he was "after in paying out money 

 [ to a stranger," which happy thought struck the 

 gardener as sensible, and so " Mr. AVaters" was 

 asked to "call again." A wife like that is a 

 treasure to any man, and ^School Jjane. German- 

 town, should be proud of her. It seeins clear 

 that a man who consults his wife before giving 

 I money to a bogus agent, has decidedly the best 

 I of it, and we recommend the practice to those 

 ! who have never .J)een visited l)y Mr. "Waters. 

 ! or C. E. Anderson, oi- any such man. 



I Bakwix and Bkyant. — The portraits of the 

 I philosopher and jjoet, as published, have astrik- 

 j ing resemblance to each other. 



Prof. Riley in Europe. — We noticed re- 

 'cently the misconceived criticism of an Euro- 

 I pean author on Prof. Riley's work. We note 

 I that they are not all of that gentleman's o]iin- 

 ion. Prof. Charles -Toly, in La Science PoiirtniH, 

 ending a review of the work of Prof. Riley 

 relative to Doryphoi-a, says : "We do not hesi- 

 tate to highly commend the labors of a man 

 Avho is an honor to the learning and intelligence 

 of his counti'3'." 



Transactions of the Minnesota Horti- 

 1 cultural Society. — From Prof. Charles Y. 

 1 Lacy, Secretary, St. Paul. There are few trans- 

 actions of so truly a horticultural cbai'acter. 

 The work of the society covers every bi-auch of 

 j the art. and the work is done well. Those who 

 think the State can grow nothing but crab 

 apples, will learn better by reading this volume. 



Drew's Window Garden. — Our correspond- 

 ent, Mr. Drew, has Avritten a small pamphlet on 

 Window Gardening, which may be had for 25 

 cents of Geo. W. Park, Mount Vernon, O. 



Horticultural Importations.— Those re- ! Mr. Robinson's Wild Garden. — Of a new 

 ceived into the port of Philadelphia from edition of this work a recent notice tells us : 

 Eui'ope have not been heavy the past year. Of *" Illustrations for a re-written and beautifully 

 articles not subject to duty, there were dried illustrated edition of this book are now being 



l)ublic urounds some injustice mi<rht be done. 

 Among articles furnished to th(> iioston author- 

 ities were some for which they i)aid s]."i() per 

 IdO. Tiiis was a subject for investigation by the 

 city. It is contended that the price was not ex- 

 horbitant, but was the regular wholesale rates 

 of that irrade of i»lants in this counlr^v. It is 

 said thai the investigating ccnnmittee reported 

 substantially to this etVect. Sq far as this par- ' 

 ticular case may be referred lo l)y our remarks, 

 lie thinks that one should be excluded. 



The Post-office Ruler Again. — Tlic Post- 

 oHicc schoolmast(M- is after I^ncle Samuel's bad 

 boys again, and the hands have to be held out ; 

 for the ruler. Now that our reformed Congress 

 has re-enacted the franking privilege for its 

 members, so that their dirty linen can be sent 

 free throu>rh the mails to their laundries at i 

 home, horticulturists have to be looked after, 

 and their lin'ilities cut down to the lowest possi- 

 ble ebl). In all large cities a special agent has 

 been appointed, whose duty is to open packages ' 

 and examine their contents. The smallest 

 package must be "• open at the ends," or it is 

 .subject to letter postage. It has been hitherto 

 thought to be cjuite sufficient that the general 

 envelope be open, but now every o or 10 cent 

 package of flow^er seeds must be " open at the 

 ends," as well as the main Avrapper ; even 

 good Mr. Cresswell's "transpan-nt wrapper" 

 will pass no more now. On making iiupury at the 

 Philadelphia post-oflice whether, in the case of 

 coarse seeds, bags sewn at the ends roughly, so 

 that the seeds could be examined through the 

 stitches, would do, we were told it would not. 

 The package must be so that " the whole interior 

 can be easily examined." 



It is strange that in these days, when a person 

 can send a message by a penny j^ostal card, that 

 a great Government like ours should imagine its 

 "customers" would steal a mes.sage through 

 under cover of a package of seeds or cuttings. 

 The whole of these " rules " are insulting to the 

 American people. The fact is, there is no idea 

 that any one will cheat the Government out of a 

 penny postal card in this way. Thi^ real inten- 

 tion is to favor the express companies as much 

 as possible, by embarrassing the postage of 

 seeds and cuttings through the mail, and this 

 makes the insulting insinuation that we are all 

 on the alert to rob the (Government of a penny 

 message the more unbearable. It will not do, 

 in the face of the liberal postal facilities of other 

 countries, not to seem to be as liberal as they are 

 to their people, so our (Government can pretend 

 to be progressive also, and then so embaiTass 

 the working of the law as to make it practically 

 useless. 



The express companies have gained a new 

 triumph, and all under the pretence that we will 

 " diddle " the Government out of a penny postal 

 card ! 



