213 GARDENING FOR PLEASURE. 



trap of the horticultural swindler as the veriest rustic, be- 

 cause his city experience of impostures in other matters 

 helps him nothing in this. He may not be much trou- 

 bled 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 under- 

 stands 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 

 auctioneer may scream himself hoarse, offering gold watches 

 at five dollars 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 

 represented by the pictures on the walls : for example, 

 Asparagus was shown as having shoots as thick as a 

 broom handle, the seeds of which were selling rapidly at 

 one cent apiece, warranted to produce a crop in three 

 months from the time of sowing. An old lady bad just 

 become the possessor of five dollars' worth, and seemed 

 deligh ted with her bargain. 



One of the most attractive pictures on the wall was 



