March, 19 15 
THE GARDEN M A G A Z I N E 
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(i Continued from page 199, January magazine ) 
Chapter IX 
Toward the end of May things went 
in more leisurely fashion. The shipping 
was rapid, but there was less haste and 
little anxiety. The azaleas and rhodo- 
dendrons, the young evergreens which 
went off now, were not so perishable, so a 
trifle of delay was not so serious a mat- 
ter. And now, more than earlier in the sea- 
son, came those flower-loving folk who 
liked to select their plants when in bloom 
— peonies and rhododendrons and roses— 
and have them marked for later shipment. 
Forethought is ever a gardener’s virtue. 
Also came landscape gardeners, too 
busy to visit earlier, to learn and note 
the varieties they liked. Some of these 
were old friends of Michael’s, for he had 
a wide and varied circle; some would be 
new comers to the gardens. Some, 
like Paul Fielding, would be students. 
A University professor, and old friend 
of Michael’s, brought with him one after- 
noon an English landscape gardener for 
his first visit. Michael, who was in the 
office, saw the pair as they approached, 
walking from the station. 
“Faith,” he said to Roberta, “’tis 
my frind the Professor, wit his univer- 
sity job again! ‘Michael’ says he to 
me, says he, ‘if ever ye get a chanst 
to sit down, Michael, there’s a Chair av 
Botany an’ Horticulture awaiting for 
you at the University!’ I’ll be after 
wantin’ it soon” said Michael as he was 
leaving the office to greet them. “My 
bones are gettin’ old.” 
When he had finished with his custom- 
ers he came back to the office, sat down 
in a big arm chair, leaned back and 
wiped the perspiration from his brow. 
“Hm,” he said, “ did ye see the English- 
man Professor Prentiss had wit him — 
him with the checked suit and the fat- 
ness?” 
Roberta nodded. 
“’Tis Mr. Jameson Forsythe, he is, 
av London, and he’s come here to show 
us how to lay out gardens, he has, but 
’tis little he knows about buyin’ plants, 
though I’ve larned him somethin’ to- 
day!” 
Michael settled his red neckerchief 
and smiled with satisfaction. 
“What did you do to him, Michael?” 
asked the young secretary, with a spark 
of amusement in her eyes. 
“ I sold him some plants,” said Michael 
grimly, “an’ if he comes out again, he’ll 
buy as he should!” He chuckled. “At 
fir-rst ’twas — ‘How much is that,’ p’intin 
to a foine rhodydendron. 
“ ‘Two dollars and a half,’ says I. 
“‘Too much’ says he. ‘And that?’ 
p’intin’ to as handsome an Abraham 
Lincoln, as ye might wish to see. 
“ ‘Five dollars,’ says I. 
“ ‘I c’u’d buy it for ten shillin’ in the 
ould country. And that?’ 
“ ‘Siven and a half,’ says I. 
“ ‘I c’u’d buy two better f’r a pound in 
the ould country’ says he. 
“I was tired out wid him, so I says to 
Professor Prentiss, ‘Y’r fri’nd reminds 
me of the Irishman that wint up fr’m 
Dublin to London.’ 
“‘How’s that?’ says he. 
“And Mr. Jameson Forsythe he pricks 
up his ears too and ‘ How’s that?’ says he. 
“‘There was an Irishman that wint 
up fr’m Dublin to London, and he wint 
into a shop to buy eggs. ‘How much is 
they?’ says he to the shopkeeper. 
“‘A penny apiece,’ says the man. 
“‘Faith,’ says the Irishman, ‘I c’u’d 
buy two f’r ha’ penny in the ould 
country!’ 
“ ‘Well,’ says the shopkeeper, ‘an’ why 
didn’t ye stay there thin?’ 
“‘Faith,’ he says, ‘I c’u’dn’t find the 
ha’ penny!’ 
“Professor Prentiss, he laughed and 
laughed, and Mr. Forsythe he looked a 
bit mad; but he bought like a lamb after 
that and niver a word did he say about 
prices! Niver a wor-rd! 
“Ye see,” Michael explained to Miss 
Davenant, chuckling again. “ ’Tis ex- 
actly the way wid those English garden- 
ers. Av course they can buy the plants 
cheaper there, but ’tis here they come 
f’r the ha’ pennies — the people with the 
money to spind. 
“’Tis an arrt it is, to sell plants. 
There’s some ye have to lead along gintly 
and tinderly; there s others, like Mr. 
Jameson Forsythe, that ye have to larn 
a lesson. 
“Mr. Penfield was here to-day, wid 
his wife, and sorry I was to see thim come 
together. 
“Take Mister Pinfield alone, he’ll 
buy well. Take Mrs. Pinfield alone, and 
she’ll buy well! But he’s a shy buyer 
when his wife is wid him ! ” 
Michael could diagnose a customer 
with the skill of an accomplished phy- 
sician diagnosing a case, and give him 
exactly the right treatment. 
It was a different form of instruction 
from that Roberta obtained from Ru- 
dolph Trommel or from Mr. Worthing- 
ton, but it was intensely interesting and 
afforded her much amusement. 
“Oh yis,” she heard him say to a hand- 
somely dressed woman who was looking 
approvingly at a very inexpensive plant. 
“That might do well enough for some 
people, but it’s not the thing f’r your 
place!” And the good soul would think 
her elegance had so impressed Michael 
she would buy anything he said. 
“And so you’re the owner av the old 
Norris place on the Pike!” (This to a 
new comer who had just told him where 
his estate was). “Well I am glad,” said 
Michael cordially, “to larn that the foine 
old place has come at last into intelli- 
gent hands! I was always tellin’ Cap- 
tain Norris that the wan thing he needed, 
to make that the foinest place on the 
Turnpike, was to make a plantation of 
evergreen up the hill, to put a foine 
hedge in front, to plant shrubs an’ a few 
trees to cut off completely the sight av’ 
the factory. But he never had the sinse 
to do it. And to think that as soon as 
ye bought it ye should have come out 
to Rosebe’ry Gardens! Well, I am 
glad!” 
And of course the gentleman bought 
well. 
Aside from affording this kind of in- 
structive amusement Roberta found a 
staunch friend in Michael O’Connor. 
She made surprisingly few mistakes, 
owing to her intense interest in the busi- 
ness, but of course there w T ere some. 
