58 Domestic Notices : — 



for several days ; sallying forth amongst the brethren of the tulip as well as of 

 the turnip tribe ; soliciting orders, and exhibiting a nursery catalogue, together 

 with a card on which appeared the words, " Joseph Ashworth, Florist, Roch- 

 dale, Lancashire ; " and also a collection of flower-roots, in a violet-coloured 

 bag, some of which he disposed of in this neighbourhood : though surely those 

 were not a portion of what cost him five shillings per peck, as his price for 

 one tulip, he stated, was fifty pounds. However, No. 43. of this Magazine 

 (IX. 230.) awakened my suspicions, which I speedily laid before " mine host" 

 (Mr. Wild) ; who, on inspecting his customer's bed-room, found he was gone. 

 The landlord, with commendable alacrity, got a constable, and both rode off 

 in the direction of Ledbury (16 miles hence); and, although two hours after 

 the impostor at starting, came up with him just as he had commenced dis- 

 pensing his favours at the Feathers Inn, in that town. Mr. Wild demanded 

 and received his bill, which amounted to several pounds ; and, moreover, as 

 his Rosinante was knocked up, he required the amount of phaeton-convey- 

 ance great part of the way back to this city ; which being paid likewise, Mr. 

 Green, alias Gern, alias Ashworth, was rather unceremoniously excluded from 

 the snug shelter of the Plume of Feathers. I should have mentioned that it 

 was only the presence of the constable with Mr. Wild that enabled him to 

 succeed so well, as this empowered him to say, " Pay me my bill, or you shall 

 return with us to Hereford in custody." Many circumstances respecting the 

 affair are quite amusing; but it would take up too much room to relate them. 

 The fellow's memory is astonishing, as I have been told by several persons in 

 this neighbourhood : gardeners who had lived in different situations, where 

 he had called, years ago, he recollected well, though they had scarcely spoken 

 to him before. Putting his barefaced lies out of the question, I never heard 

 of so finished a character, or one so likely to succeed in his attempts to 

 cheat. I am, Sir, yours, &c. — Win. Godsafl. Hereford, Jan. 1. 1834. 



The Floricidtural Impostor at Hull. — A person, calling himself Richard 

 Evans, nurseryman and florist, of Edgbaston, near Birmingham, was in Hull 

 last week, professing to sell the bulbs of tulips and ranunculuses of a superior 

 description, with particular names attached to them. His custom was, to 

 receive money for all roots under five shillings, and to give credit for those 

 above, till after blooming. He succeeded in dealing with several of our 

 florists; and, from one, obtained sixty tulips in exchange for fourteen of his 

 own boasted superior ones. He has also taken orders for georginas ; amongst 

 others, from the curator of the botanic garden, which he visited. He appears 

 to have a thorough knowledge of flowers, and knows the name of almost 

 every florist in the kingdom. He has been at Sheffield, York, &c. He left 

 Hull for Beverley on the morning of yesterday week, but forgot to pay for his 

 lodgings. On Saturday he departed from Beverley, leaving a bill of 1 Is. 8d. 

 unliquidated at the Packhorse. It is supposed that he has gone north through 

 Scarborough and Whitby, where he knew there were florists' societies. He 

 had a quantity of printed cards with him ; and generously promised to leave 

 three sovereigns as premiums for the Hull florists' shows. (Weekly Dispatch, 

 Dec. 30. 1833.) 



Vegetation under Glasses, ivithout Change of Air. — Dr. Aiken, the secretary 

 to the Society of Arts, read a letter addressed by Mr. N. B.Ward to Mr. R.W. 

 Solly, in which the former states that, nearly four years ago, he observed, on 

 the surface of some moist mould in a large bottle loosely covered with a lid, 

 in which he had buried the chrysalis of a Sphinx, some minute specks of 

 vegetation. A plant of Poa annua and one of Aspidium had made their 

 appearance. Curious to observe the growth of plants in such a confined 

 situation, he placed the bottle outside one of his windows, with a northern 

 aspect, where they remained more than three years ; during which time the 

 lid was never removed, nor was any water given to them in that period. The 

 plants grew very well : the Poa annua flowered the second year, but did not 

 perfect any seeds ; and the Aspidium produced four or five new fronds every 

 year. They ultimately perished, in consequence of the admission of rain, 



