228 GARDEN AND FARM TOPICS. 



fruit trees is as likely to know as little about Roses as the 

 man who grows Roses is to know about fruit trees, and 

 either is less likely to be posted on the merits of vege- 

 tables. So, then, if the partly experienced horticulturist 

 may be imposed upon in such a way, how safe is the field 

 when the swindler tries his tricks on the general public. 



The sharp man of the city falls as quickly into the 

 trap of the horticultural swindler as the veriest rustic, 

 because his city experience of impostures in other matters 

 helps him nothing in this. He may not be much troubled 

 when he sees a bootblack fall off the dock into the river, 

 particularly if his companion plays off the heroic role, 

 and plunges in after him to the rescue. He understands 

 it all, for both can swim like ducks, and there was no 

 more danger for the first than for the second, and none 

 for either. A well-stuffed pocket-book snatched from 

 under his feet is an incident that does not in the least 

 arouse his cupidity, for he has long been conversant with 

 the trick of the pocket-book dropper. The mock auc- 

 tioneer may scream himself hoarse, offering gold watches 

 at $5 apiece, and it hardly elicits a smile of derision. The 

 tears of the benighted orphan in search of his uncle does 

 not bring a dime from his pocket, for he understands it 

 all, together with a score more of the tricks of the great 

 city. But in the springtime, when his garden instincts 

 begin to bud, and he sees in some window in Broadway 

 flaming representations of fruits and flowers, he falls into 

 the trap and is ready for the spoiler. 



Some years ago I had occasion to act as an amateur 

 detective in one of these horticultural swindling shops, 

 the owners of which are now known in New York as the 

 " Blue Rose Men." When I arrived, there were at least 

 a dozen ladies and gentlemen engaged in buying seeds, 

 bulbs, and plants, the flowers and fruits of which were 



