AN ESSAY. 199 



ing embryo gardener passed the remark that in England 

 one could get a Laurustinus for two-and-six and three- 

 and-sixpence apiece. I heard some one asking Mm if 

 they were of that size. Oh ! no, but they would grow 

 to that size. When I left Albany with that plant I 

 had four or five more large ones two Polygalas and 

 two Laurustiuus, but of inferior size. A gentleman of 

 Albany who saw them on board the steamboat told me, 

 " Mr. Menand, if nobody in Brooklyn or New York 

 has sense enough to buy those plants, when they come 

 back to Albany, 1 want them" He saw them again 

 on our wagon, coming home. He stopped the men, 

 and told them to bring the plants to his house, that he 

 had bought them before they went to Brooklyn. 

 They did not mind, as I had not given any orders to 

 that effect. In less than twenty-five minutes he was 

 with me, and told me he wanted those plants that / 

 did not care much to sell, although I wanted the money 

 as much as he wanted the plants. He added, " 1 do 

 not ask you how much you want, but / must have 

 them." 1 think I got $140 or $150, I forget now. 

 Was not that cultivating the rootf And every year 

 since that time up to to-day I have sold contemporaries 

 of those plants, and I think it has paid. 



. . . However, successful as I may have been, I 

 would not advise any one to follow my example in rais- 



