494 Retrospective Criticism. 



Smith, whose name it bears ; and tliat it was done by him without any 

 solicitation on our part. And further, if we had possessed the smallest 

 desire to see our collection puffed up bejond its natural height, and for 

 that purpose had employed a hireliuir, Mr. Smith would have been one of 

 the last persons to whom we should have made an application. From 

 knowing, as we do, something of the cool but determined independence of 

 his disposition, we shall feel somewhat surprised if even Mr. Laundy him- 

 self do not in future pause before he ventures his suspicions concerning 

 him. Respecting the statement of Mr. Laundy, that Mr. Smith is a man 

 not possessing any knowledge of plants, we at once declare such statement 

 to be the result of ignorance concerning him, or otherwise a gross libel 

 upon his character. Judge you. Sir, whether a man active both in body 

 and mind, who has been under the instruction of some very excellent 

 cultivators, and has subsequently had the management of a good general 

 collection for nearly 20 years, and, withal, possessing a love of plants, — 

 judge you, we say, whether such a man is likely to be without any know- 

 ledge of them. The fact. Sir, is, that Mr. Smith, instead of being un- 

 acquainted with plants, has shown himself preeminently skilful in the 

 cultivation of them ; and of this fact Mr. Laundy himself cannot possibly 

 be ignorant. — R. Jeffries and Son, Nurserymen. Ij^sivicli, Suffolk, June 24. 

 1833. 



Mr. Smit/i's Repty to Mr. Laundy' sRemm'Jcs on the Lists of the rarer Plants 

 grown l)y R. Jeffries and Son, which Mr. Smitli had communicated, and whicJi 

 is published in p. 102. — Sir, In reference to the lists of plants grown in 

 provincial nurseries, and especially to that supplied by me of the rarer 

 plants of Messrs. Jeffries and Son, inserted in p. 102., H. Laundy " thinks " 

 (p. 368.) that these lists do not deserve a place in your valuable pages, on 

 the ground of public usefulness, unless they contain plants that are rare and 

 difficult to be pi'ocured." I, however, am of a contrary opinion ; for " I 

 think " that there are a great many plants which are neither " rare nor dif- 

 ficult to be procured," which are not so generally grov.'n as their excellence 

 would seem to justify; and I also "think" that H. Laundy cannot deny 

 that this is the fact. In case, however, he should make an attempt to do so, 

 I would provisionally ask, v/hether, from the numerous plants which might 

 be named. Magnolia conspicua, Chimonanthus fragrans, Wistan'a Conse- 

 qaima, Thunbergfa alata, andQuisqualis indica, are not species which justify 

 my opinion ? or whether they are cultivated to one tenth of the extent to 

 which they deserve to be ? and also whether such deficiencies do not arise 

 more from want of information as to whence they may be obtained, than 

 from the circumstance of their being either " rare " or " difficult to be pro- 

 cured " ? H. Laundy proceeds, and adds, " and unless all those enumerated 

 are not only possessed ij/ tJie j^arty contributing the list" (this is, indeed, 

 prettily stated ; for it implies that honour and accuracy in one man are not 

 equal to honour and accuracy in another : the following, however, is super- 

 lative,) but possessed by them in sufficient quantity for sale." Query, 

 Who is there but knows that when a nurseryman procures a rare plant, 

 it is in the intention therefrom to supply every applicant, although in 

 some cases he may not be able to do this in the first instance. H. Laundy 

 farther states that " such lists, too, would appear with a better face if 

 they came directly and professedly from the interested party, as their 

 doing so would cast the responsibility for their accuracy on this party." 

 — He adds, " I may venture my suspicion that Mr. Smith's name is insuffi- 

 cient to veil the real actor ; Mr. Smith being a man not professing any ac- 

 quaintance with plants, although a very creditable kitchen-gardener. " 

 With respect to the first part of this sentence, be it known and remembered 

 that my name was not given for the above purpose, but for that of supply- 

 ing the readers of the list in question with its authenticity; and I not only 



