HUMBUGS IN HORTICULTURE. 23! 



two years in the gardens in and around New York, with 

 about as much chance of their growing as the fence 

 pickets. 



The bulb peddlers, a class of itinerant swindlers, 

 deserve brief attention. They have always some won- 

 derful novelty in bulbs; and their mode of operating, to 

 the uninitiated, has a semblance of fairness, as they are 

 liberal fellows, and frankly offer to take one-half cash on 

 delivery, and if the goods do not come up to the repre- 

 sentation, the other half need not be paid. For example, 

 when the Gold-banded Japan Lily was first introduced, 

 bulbs the size of hickory nuts sold at $250 per hundred. 

 About that time one of these worthies came along with 

 samples of a Lily of fine size and appearance, with which, 

 he said, he had just arrived from Japan. There was no 

 doubt of its genuineness, for he had seen it in flower. 

 He had a large stock, and would sell at $100 per hundred, 

 but he was willing to take half that amount down, and 

 the other half when it flowered and had proved correct. 

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

 he sold was the common White Lily, (Lilium candidum^ 

 which is sold everywhere at $5 or $6 per hundred. 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. It is needless to say that they never try it twice on 

 the same victim, but avail themselves of our broad conti- 

 nent to seek out new fields for their operations. 



One of the most successful swindlers of this type was 

 Comanche George, whose fame became national. George 

 made his advent in New York in 1876. He was, 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, 



