552 General Notices. 



cause he is completely at the mercy of the seller, who has many ways of 

 cheating him if disposed to do so. One mode of imposing on the public is 

 to adulterate the article by means of dead seeds, and this has often been 

 done to the extent of 75 per cent. Another mode is to serve them with an 

 article of which the growth is unknown, and which, for want of a character, 

 will bring no price in the market among creditable buyers. It is, therefore, 

 bought to kill and mix with good seed, or to be retailed at a cheap rate. 

 There is nothing more absurd than buying cheap things for a garden. 

 Thousands of bulbs are sold at the marts under the hammer of rigging 

 auctioneers, and yet failure in the bloom, year after year, will not cure silly 

 people from buying. In seeds a man is not only robbed of the cost, but he 

 loses his ground, his crops, and his season. People can be found who will 

 sell a hundred packets of flower-seeds for a crown ; but would a man who 

 has a character to lose, or a connection to preserve, or whose time is worth 

 anything, do so? No ; and yet there are persons weak enough to buy the 

 rubbish, because it is cheap. We know we are handling a ticklish subject, 

 and that in this, as in many cases, we may offend people who might do us 

 good. Our hope is, that truth, however ugly, will ultimately prevail ; and 

 that if we offend one by telling unpleasant facts, we may gratify ten by 

 opening their eyes to the tricks which are played, and save them from be- 

 ing duped. Good seeds are of such importance, and the cost so small, that 

 we cannot, and never could, account for the prevailing disposition to look 

 at the price. Let us consider, for a moment, that a family wish to provide 

 a crop of cabbages, the difference between the very highest and the very 

 lowest price could not be three pence, and when the crop comes it may not 

 be worth the price paid for the seed, and it may be all that can be required. 

 " Penny wise and pound foolish" is a saying often applied to those who run 

 after cheap things, but in no case does it come with such force as in gar- 

 den matters. If a man buy what he can see, he may be taken in a little, 

 and pay a small penalty for running after bargains ; but in seeds a man is 

 buying a future crop of something that may be good or good-for-nothing ; 

 and if the latter, he will have lost all his time and room as well as his money. 

 We, therefore, strongly advise the public to avoid cheap things in all garden 

 matters. Avoid all auctions but those on a man's premises, where there is 

 a tangible reason for selling, and a chance of fair buying. We do not 

 mean a sale where a man once a year pretends his ground is wanted for* 

 building, and has a sale with reserve upon every lot worth having. How 

 often have we seen sales on the same premises, and the ground, after it was 

 over, about one-third cleared. The best thing the public can do, if plants 

 are wanted, is to go to a respectable nursery, buy only what is wanted, and 

 of the size it is wanted. Avoid auctions altogether ; leave them to the 

 trade, who, if they can buy worth their while, purchase, and if not, let 

 things alone. A gentlemantmay be sure that if he does get a bargain, to 

 all appearance, there is something which the trade discover and which he 

 does not, and that nine times in ten such bargains are dear." — [Flor. Cab., 

 1853, p. 112.) 



