1H78.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



159 



Gardens are public gardens — tell something of 

 what we saw of these." But 1 cannot tell much , 

 in a few letters at any rate. I might as well 

 stop as continue with so little ; but to please her I ! 

 will go on with at least one more ; and if, gentle 

 reader, you are in haste to get this out of the way, 

 so as to be ready for planting your potatoes and i 

 beans, please don't blame me for detaining you. 

 That Fraudulent Agent. — The Country 

 Gentleman has the following from a correspon- 1 

 dent : "I have read the item headed Swindling i 

 Offers, in your paper of Feb. 21st. I have no i 

 doubt the person of whom complaint was sent 1 

 you is the same one that was operating for you I 

 (in his own behalf) last Spring. He has been 

 at work in this section for over a year, and has 

 no doubt fraudulently cttllected several thous- 

 and dollars. He has thousands of victims. The | 

 I'oitntry Gentleman, G ermantown Telegraph, \ 

 Gardener's Monthly, American Agriculturist and 

 the Farm Journal, all received his attention, 

 besides nearly all the seedsman, of whom he 

 was 'cousin' or 'brother.' The fellow is now 

 in limbo, and at the hearing, the com-t-house i 

 appeared to be full of witnesses against him. i 

 He was held on nine charges in $300 each." 



By the efforts of the publisher of the Gar- 

 dener's Monthly this fellow was caught, but 

 it appeared on the trial by the statements of per 

 sons in court that this man has been perhaps all his 

 life engaged at his business. There were a quantity 

 of foolish young girls to all of whom he was 

 engaged to be married, and one, whom he mar- 

 ried, was in the vicinity. How many more in 

 other parts of the country is not known. A 

 large number of photographs of probable vic- 

 tims were found in his possession. It seemed 

 hard to the publisher of the Gardener's 

 Monthly that no effort but his own should be 

 made to bring such a consummate scoundrel to 

 justice, but the result shows the wisdom of the 

 "parties of the other part." All his efforts 

 simply resulted in sending this gentleman to 

 pretty fair board and accommodations at the 

 public expense for sixty days, after which he 

 will have liberty to go on again with his swin- 

 dles. It would have been cheaper, and have 

 done just as much good to have paid the rascal's 

 board for sixty days than to have gone to the 

 trouble of catching him and the annoyance of 

 prosecution. Justice of this sort is an outrage- 

 ous farce, and in futui-e those who choose to 

 give money to strangers under pretense that 

 thev are collecting for the Gardener's Month- 



ly, must do their own prosecuting. If Mr."C. E. 

 Price" is to live decently at the public expense, 

 he may as well do it without all this fuss and 

 trouble to so little purpose. If such fellows- 

 were set for a year or two to break stones to- 

 mend turnpikes instead of being confined for a 

 few days in a cozy, comfortable parlor with a 

 Bible to read, and a kmd prison agent to visit 

 and talk to them about the " enormity of their 

 offences," and such like stuff, which has as much, 

 hold on their consciences as water on a duck's 

 back, there would be fewer of these fellows out- 

 side to plunder the unwary. As he will be out 

 about the last of May, let the Delaware people 

 take him, and give him a share of that State's. 

 attention. 



Baltimore Park Commission. — Annual 

 Report for 1877. — This interesting document, 

 shows how much can be done by system. All 

 the parks of the city are under one commission, 

 and one engineer. Mr. Fauls, at a salary of 

 $2,000 a year, superintends them all. The total 

 cost of all these parks for the year was but 

 $286,000. The cost of the great Druid Hill 

 park was about $106,000. The number of visi- 

 tors was 913,000. Thus we see that this beau- 

 tiful park cost ten cents per head to each visitor, 

 and we venture to say that there is no visitor 

 who would have thought double that sum too 

 great for the pleasure the trip afforded him. As 

 much of the expense is for construction, which 

 will stop some day, and nothing but mainten- 

 ance remain, while the number of visitors will 

 annually increase, we can understand why pub- 

 lic pai'ks are so popular. They are the cheapest 

 of all public gratifications. 



Horticulture at the Paris Exposition. 

 — We have been officially informed that 

 beside the exhibit of capsules, seed vessels, 

 seeds, &c., representing the forestry and horti- 

 culture of America, made by Thomas Meehan, 

 the only other representation of American horti- 

 culture at Paris, will be the Iowa State Horticul- 

 tural Society, which will exhibit the beautiful 

 models of apples made by it for Col. Brackett, 

 and which we feel sure will attract marked 

 attention. They will give a better idea than 

 has ever before prevailed in Europe of the 

 wonderful beauty of American apples. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society.. 

 — Premium list for 1878, from the Secretary, Mr. 

 Rol)ert Manning. $4,575, and are appropriated. 

 Liberal premiums are offered for essays on va- 

 rious Horticultural subjects. 



