xii. IRISH GARDENING. 



Advertisements. 



Correspondence — continued. 



Bargains. 



Sir,— With the advent of Decemberand Irish Garden- 

 ing" a friend remarked, "I think this last number (the 

 paper, not the month) particularly g-ood." I thought so, 

 too ; nevertheless, that opinion quoted verbatim, had 

 something; to do with the fruit-tree discussion, ovei- 

 which piquant pens are engag-ed in a little wordy war- 

 fare, and like a little war, if not very much in itself, 

 sometimes means a lot. Discussion beg-ets discussion, 

 and another friend (gardeners have many) said relative 

 to this matter, but more in allusion to the sweet uses of 

 advertisement, h\ which an unpractical public are lured 

 by g-laringly low prices to stock their ground with 

 rubbish, " Oh ! this is called ' sharp practices.' " This, 

 it must be explained, covered more ground than the 

 quid pro quo of business, and extended into the great 

 field, advertising — advertising in that manner which 

 conveys impressions not borne out by facts. I, in m\' 

 haste, summed up the whole thing under a less palatable 

 name, but my friend (friend number two) toned the hasty 

 and ugly conclusion down into " sharp practices " — 

 sharp, not corrupt, within the meaning of the Act. This, 

 undoubtedly, is a far-reaching question, and a broad 

 one — too broad to narrow down to isolated instances 

 or exceptional circumstances — hence, in expressing a 

 few thoughts on this matter for the benefit of purchasers 

 who do not know, and for the protection of gardeners 

 tvho </(> know, but are helpless, I will for the nonce close 

 my eyes and ears to the whole correspondence in Irish 

 Gardening on the subject, and conversation contingent 

 on it. 



First, as to very low prices quoted for nursery stock, 

 they are, as an intending jubilant buyer exclaimed, 

 " rubbish prices." That is so, and what one obtains for 

 rubbish prices is, of course, rubbish which he, apparently. 



brought not into the calculation. This is merely a 

 truism, but it takes some people a long time to discover 

 it. We have yet to find the nurseryman who is trading 

 on a purely philanthropic basis — viz., parting with 

 valuable goods at rubbish prices. Yet, somehow, there 

 are not a few who think it is being done, and flatter them- 

 selves over the great bargains they are getting. How 

 bargain hunters can ignore plain, solid facts it is hard 

 to understand, but they do for a time, at least ; yet it is 

 not so much the vendor that deceives them as it is that 

 they deceive themselves. But a little reflection would 

 serve to show how obvious is the whole thing, and 

 whether it is the difference between an apple-tree at 

 eighteen pence and one at five shillings, or laurels at 

 a penny and sixpence, respectively-, the purchaser just 

 gets what he is paying for, no more, and he need not 

 flatter himself to the contrary. 



On one occasion, during some rather extensive shrub- 

 ber}- work, seveial hundreds of bushy laurels (rotundi- 

 folia) were bought, the price working out at about six- 

 pence each. An interested visitor (one who always 

 wanted to know the price of everything, and a good deal 

 more besides) said they were far too dear : he could get 

 laurels far cheaper from " So-and-So. ' He gave " So- 

 and-So's " address, and a quotation asked for resulted in 

 a sample hundred being ordered, three feet high, at 

 eight shillings per hundred. Being duly advised that 

 "trees" were waiting at the station, a farm-cart was 

 despatched for them, with orders to the carter not to 

 crush them, but to go twice if necessary. Those we 

 had had been put straight into the wagon without 

 packing, and had such massive roots that something 

 less than a hundred filled our rather small cart. Sequel: 

 In due course the carter came back full trot, with a 

 broad grin but no outward and visible sign of a hundred 

 laurels three feet high, until he pointed (somewhat 

 triumphanth') to a long, lean bundle in the bottom of the 

 cart. A hundred laurels ! save the mark. " Thraneens " 

 the man called them as he undid the bundle ; something 



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