40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND 



first year I began to import plants (directly) from 

 Messrs. Low of the Clapton Nurseriers, the founder of 

 the establishment, his son, who died lately, was the 

 same man who came hither in 1854 and who came to 

 see me here in Albany, with Mr. Edgard Sander, now 

 a resident of Chicago, this Mr. Low who, when he 

 saw me at 15 or 18 yards distant, hallooed me : Are 

 you Mr. Menand? Yes, I answered, when he said 

 again : Mr. Menand ! the fellow who sold in Brooklyn 

 last May an Ixora coccinea, 4, four pounds, $20. 

 "When he spoke these words we shook hands. Well, 

 by God! or something equivalent, you are a lucky 

 fellow or man to sell a plant $20 ! We would be glad 

 to sell all our stock Ixora for that amount. I would like 

 to see those four pound plants. We were within 3 or 4 

 yards of them, they were in hot bed frames behind us. 

 I opened the sashes and showed them to him. I had 

 perhaps 6 or 8 dozen of different sizes when he turned 

 round and said : If our plants were as good as these 

 we would not sell the stock for 4 pounds. I answered 

 him that I believed him, and we continued to talk of 

 something else of giving him an order for some 

 plants, this was the main object of his visit. Then we 

 began to argue about the identity of an Enca^ he gave 

 it a name different from the one I had. He said my 

 name was incorrect. Then I told him you have cheated 

 me for it comes from your establishment. He said 



