HUMBUGS IN HORTICULTURE. 227 



the pages of the Gardener's Monthly became the battle 

 ground for the opinions of the " discoverer" and myself. 

 But the gratuitous advertisement did not avail him much, 

 for he and his secret soon passed into oblivion, and were 

 heard from no more. There are no secrets in horticul- 

 ture. The laws that govern the germination of a seed, 

 the rooting of a cutting, or the taking of a bud or graft, 

 are the same now as they were a thousand years ago, and 

 anyone pretending to have any secret knowledge in the 

 matter is either an ignoramus or an imposter. 



Since the above was written several other swindling 

 schemes have been perpetrated. Among others, the bulb 

 man has turned up again. Having for the time being 

 become too well known in the city, he has betaken him- 

 self to the rural districts, where he plied his trade last 

 fall most successfully, finding his victims chiefly among 

 confiding women. Taking pattern of the " Blue Eose 

 Man," he has provided himself with gaudy pictures of 

 impossible Lilies, which ought to deceive none but the 

 thoughtless or ignorant. As a matter of precaution, it 

 may be well to describe his methods of operating. His 

 first move is to learn the names of the wealthiest and best 

 known people in the neighborhood. He then begins his 

 canvass, calling at houses where he has reason to believe 

 none of the male members of the family is at home. He 

 has just returned from California, where he had the 

 great good fortune to discover three kinds of the most 

 gorgeous of all Lilies, hitherto entirely unknown, and 

 now for the first and only time offered for sale. Their 

 size is immense, the colors gorgeous, and the fragrance 

 exquisite. No such Lilies have been seen before. He has 

 sold Mrs. Brown, and Mrs. Smith, and Mrs. Jones 

 (naming well-known neighbors) bulbs of each of the 

 three kinds at four and five dollars a bulb ; but as he has 

 only a few left, and is anxious to get home, he will sell 

 the remainder at two and three dollars each. His vie- 



