HUMBUGS IN HORTICULTURE. 221 



bulbs the size of hickory nuts sold at two hundred and 

 fifty dollars per hundred. About that time one of these 

 worthies came along with samples of a Lily of fine size 

 and appearance, which, he said, he had just received 

 from Japan. There was no doubt of its genuineness, for 

 tie had seen it in flower. He had a large stock, and would 

 sell at one hundred dollars per hundred, but he was 

 willing to take half that amount down, and the other 

 half when the bulbs flowered and had proved correct. They 

 did not prove correct, and he never called. The bulb he 

 sold was the common White Lily {Lilium candidum), 

 which is sold everywhere at five or six dollars per hun- 

 dred. These same scamps flood the rural districts every 

 year with blue Gladiolus, scarlet Tuberoses, and other 

 absurdities in bulbs and seeds, usually on the same terms 

 of one-half cash down, the other half when the rara avis 

 has feathered out. The present season (1887), one of these ' 

 worthies found out that the flowers of Tuberoses and 

 Lily of the Valley, by being placed in red or blue ink, 

 would in an hour or two absorb enough of the ink 

 to make them a beautiful blue or red. Carrying the 

 colored flowers with him, having the shape, fragrance, and 

 general appearance of the actual flowers of these bulbs, 

 he was successful in selling hundreds of dollars' worth of 

 these wonderful novelties, at ten times their actual value. 

 It is needless to say that they never try it twice on the 

 same victim, but avail themselves of our broad continent 

 to seek out new fields for their operations. 



One of the most successful swindlers of this type was 

 Comanche George, whose fame became almost national. 

 George made his advent in New York in 1876. He waa, 

 he said, a Texas scout, and for years his rifle, revolver, 

 and bowie knife had been the terror of the red men; but 

 one day, in his rambles on the lone Texas prairies, his 

 eye was arrested by a flower, whose wonderful coloring 

 eclipsed the rainbow, and whose delicate perfume was 



