People laugh at the one who buys "a pig in a bag." and yet they do just the same thing themselves in a variety of ways, and love to do it. If they are sick and require a few cents worth of ipecac or sarsaparilla they prefer to get it in the form of some celebrated "pectoral" or "universal remedy" at $2 a bottle.

Horticulturists, much as they may be supposed to be protected by close contact with the simplicities of honest nature, are no better than other folks, and plank down their dollars for the few cents worth when a mystery is made of it, with a vim and an energy truly delightful. For years - for a quarter of a century - the Gardeners' Monthly has shown that the best lawn grass is one kind of grass, pure and simple, that any one may buy for a few dollars a bushel instead of the most celebrated "mixtures" that may be offered at double the price; yet we find by a recent statement of Prof. Beal, that one firm of seedsmen sold last year "mixtures" to no less than 70,000 orders. It seems almost incredible; as the profits on " mixtures" are enormous, and one might soon beat Jay Gould or Vanderbilt on a trade like this. A quarter dollar net profit on each order would make $16,500 - a nice "penny" on one item alone in these hard times. Now Prof. Beal shows that there is more profit in it than this. By getting the "mixture" and analyzing it he found that it was made up chiefly of Kentucky Blue and Red top or Bent grass, with a trifle of white clover.

The Blue grass is offered by the same firm for $2.25 per bush.; the Bent grass for $4 00 per bush.; but when the two are put together and it becomes the "celebrated mixture," it is priced at $5 per bush.; so that what you pay $3.12 for separately, together you pay $1.88 more for. The 70,000 packages were not of course bushels, but when we see the enormous profit on a mere mixture, by the wholesale, we may judge of the enhanced sum on a package.

Our seedsmen friends will, we are sure, be very thankful to Professor Beal for making plain these facts to the people, for if our efforts in twenty-five years to get people to buy the one simple article have resulted in getting 70,000 orders for mixtures to one single firm, Prof. Beal's experiments will probably result in doubling the number. Each firm dealing in "lawn grass mixtures" should send Prof. Beal a handsome fee for the service he has done them.