pints to i\)t lurthscrs 0f %xm, Bnh, h. 



[O pursuit or profession in life, however useful or honorable 

 it may be, or however purifying and ennobling its tenden- 

 cies, is wholly exempt from the evils of dishonesty. Not 

 even the most sacred of all human vocations can escape this 

 misfortune. Will any one wonder, then, that there should 

 be dishonest nurserymen and seedsmen, and dishonest deal- 

 ers in trees, plants, and flowers ? Surely not. A great deal 

 has been said about the dishonesty of nurseiymen, seeds- 

 men, and florists ; but if a rigid comparison Avere made 

 between them and any other class of dealers, we care not 

 Avhich, we have not the slightest hesitation in saying that 

 the result would show that no other branches of trade are, on the whole, conducted 

 with greater honesty and fairness. It may be said that we are an interested party in 

 this case, and therefore not competent to judge ; but we take it upon us to say that 

 we are. We believe we are as well acquainted with those who are engaged in horti- 

 cultural commerce in the United States, and have enjoyed as many and as favorable 

 opportunities of studying their characters, as most other men ; and, on the strength of 

 this knowledge, we are willing to place them, for honesty of purpose, for energetic and 

 industrious habits, and the general usefulness of their hves, against any other class. 

 We have no desire to make invidious distinctions or comparisons, or to pit one class or 

 profession against another, but we would remind those who are ever prating about the 

 tricks of nurserymen and seedsmen, that there may be as many short-comings charge- 

 able against their own calling. Who does not hear, every day of his life, about false 

 weights and short measures? Look at the imposition practiced by the manufacturers 

 of all sorts of cloths, by the substitution of one material for another, so that a person 

 who is not thoroughly skilled in all their devices, is sure to be cheated. We have 

 ourselves been sold cotton for woolen goods, by men who are so careful of their repu- 

 tation that they would either knock down or institute a suit for slander against any one 

 who would question their honesty. Look at the thousand deceptions in articles of food 

 and drink — in tea, coffee, sugar, wines and liquors of all sorts — and in tobacco. In- 

 deed, one can scarcely think of an article, whether of use or luxury, that can safely be 

 bought from a stranger by an inexperienced person. The very saijits of the world are 

 engaged in this traffic in spurious commodities unblushingly. Yet these same hypo- 

 crites will cry out about the dishonesty of the poor nurseryman or seedsman who 

 happens by mistake or carelessness to sell one variety for another. 



Let us not be understood as justifying the frauds or errors of nurserymen or seeds- 

 men ; far be it from us to do any such thing. We shall rather expose and condemn 

 them. But it .should be remembered that it is an easy matter for them to make mis- 

 takes, and exceedingly difficult to avoid them. They are handling a great number of 

 varieties of the same article, and their sales being Imiidled into a few weeks, renders 



Junk 1, 1855. 



Fl 



ho. VI. 



