The following from Vick's Magazine deserves wide spread consideration. It is not only in connection with flowers; the whole range of gardening suffers from these exaggerations:

"When the writer in the Mail and Exprese says that an Orchid wedding bunch is not made up for less than $50, and drawing-rooms are decorated from $500 up, she simply doubles prices at which New York florists are glad to furnish flowers, and damages business. The cheaper flowers are, within a certain limit, the more people buy them, and buy them at a profit to the grower. What merchant would thank a reporter for mentioning his goods at double their selling prices? The interesting French story, widely copied in our papers, of a poultry farm kept by a lady, near Paris, which yielded fabulous returns, and was kept on the most ambitious scale, was lately inquired into by admiring English readers, and the author confessed the whole thing a fabrication. There never was such a farm or lady, although illustrations of her wire nettings and beautiful poultry houses accompanied the sketch. The whole thing was drawn from fancy. I saw, lately, an elaborate poultry establishment, with incubator, steam boiler, etc., which had been fitted up several years, and but just began to pay a profit".

In a Philadelphia paper of very high character, referring to some very fine strawberries raised by Mr. Wm. M. Singerly, proprietor of the Public Record, in his forcing houses during the past winter, the statement was made that the cost of raising them was about a dollar per berry. So far as Mr. Singerly is concerned, who loves to raise these in order to give to sick friends or add to the joy of festive occasions, he would not probably care if they did cost as represented; but it is a great injury to the cause of fruit forcing to present the matter in these extraordinary shapes.