The references in the cartoon to “Esoterics” may simply imply that the campaigns of Hill and Flower are difficult to understand, or it may (also) be a reference to a mystical philosophy that held to the possibility of creating new plant life by thinking it into existence. The box of seed in the lower-right corner is labeled “Peanut Politics,” a common American slang term meaning cheap, petty, small-time, or mediocre politics. The September 1, 1888 issue of Harper's Weekly editorialized about Hill’s “‘peanut politics’ and his general lack of the qualities which befit the great office that he now holds…” The inverted alcohol glasses used as miniature greenhouses are likely a way to undermine the character of the two Democrats in the estimation of temperance-minded voters.