238 GARDEN AND FARM TOPICS. 



first move is to learn the names of the wealthiest and best 

 known people in the neighborhood. He then begins his 

 canvass, calling at houses where he has reason to believe 

 none of the male members of the family are at home. He 

 has just returned from California, where he had the great 

 good fortune to discover three kinds of the most gorgeous 

 of all Lilies, hitherto entirely unknown, and now for the 

 first and only time offered for sale. Their size is immense, 

 the colors gorgeous, and the fragrance lovely. No such 

 Lilies have been seen before. He has sold Mrs. Brown, 

 and Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Jones (naming well-known 

 neighbors) bulbs of each of the three kinds at four and 

 five dollars a bulb; but as he has only a few left, and is 

 anxious to get home, he will sell the remainder at two 

 and three dollars each. His victims hesitate in doubt a 

 few moments, and then drop into the net. I had the 

 pleasure of blocking this fellow's game in one instance, 

 appearing on the scene just in time to do so. In one 

 locality, within my personal knowledge, this man sold 

 dozens of these bulbs to confiding victims. I saw some 

 of these "gorgeous" new California Lilies when they came 

 into flower, and they were all neither more nor less than 

 the common white garden Lily, (Lilium candidum^) fine 

 bulbs of which can always be bought for twenty cents 

 or less. 



Another instance maybe mentioned, in which the rogue 

 offered for sale, at a dollar a paper, the seed of a variety 

 of Mignonette, even more famous than the red Mignon- 

 ette of Aunt Peggy, mentioned above. This bore mag- 

 nificent spikes of flowers, nearly two feet long and of 

 delicious fragrance. 



A lady friend, one of his victims, carefully sowed the 

 seeds, and waited anxiously for the appearance of the 

 plants. The seedlings proved to be so vigorous that she 



