HUMBUGS IN HORTICULTURE. 239 



ventured to separate and transplant them in the open 

 border. They grew and grew till they finally rivaled in 

 growth the famous mustard seed mentioned in the good 

 Book. The reader will probably smile when I tell him 

 that this famous Mignonette proved to be Pearl Millet. 



The following from the New York Tribune of February 

 1 9th, 1882, shows that occasionally these enterprising 

 gentlemen receive their deserts: 



" The case of John Harrison, the industrious seed 

 peddler, who was locked up in Newark the other day, is 

 one which calls for commiseration. It was a propitious 

 season for business in his line, for the near approach of 

 spring had begun to warm up the desire to worry the 

 soil and plant something, a desire that slumbers in the 

 bosom of every man or woman who is the proprietor of a 

 garden, a back yard, or even of a flower pot. Our vender 

 was therefore driving a brisk trade, when he was arrested 

 for obtaining money under false pretenses. The pretense 

 and falsehood charged were Mr. Harrison's statement 

 that his seeds, when dropped into water or earth, would 

 speedily germinate and grow into a bush, which would 

 suddenly burst into beautiful and fragrant bloom, and 

 then bear a rich fruitage of * wash-rags;' a crop which at 

 once commended itself to the cleanly and thrifty house- 

 wives of New Jersey. Now there is a well-known vine 

 of the cucumber family which flourishes in the West 

 Indies, and bears a gourd-like fruit, the spongy lining of 

 whose tough shell is used by the simple islanders to brush 

 their huts with when they have any, and for toilet and 

 culinary cleansing as well. Mr. Harrison's descriptions 

 of this vegetable may have been a trifle too eloquent, but 

 surely a merciful magistrate would consider this nothing 

 more than justifiable professional exaggeration. Any one 

 who has been attacked by a roving tree agent, armed with 



