1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



187 



Literature, Travels and Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



BADLY SOLD. 



BY JAMES Y. MURKLAND. 



"What is it? " said Mr. Peter Henderson to the 

 writer, a short time ago, as he tossed down a faded, 

 yet still beautiful, rosy pink flower. 



"A Brunsvigia, I guess," was the answer; but 

 noticing a dangerous glimmer in the veteran's eye, 

 we hastened to make a closer examination. Throw- 

 ing back the petals, the anthers and stigma of a 

 lily were revealed. 



" A Lilium ; by Jove ! Longiflorum, too, at that. 

 Where on earth did you get it ?" 



"Yes, sir, a Lilium: Lilium Harrisii, raised in 

 Bermuda. What do you think such a lily would 

 be worth?" 



"Well, of course it never would be in great 

 demand for forcing, and you know that is what 

 uses up the immense number of Harrisii that are 

 sold. It would be valuable chiefly in private col- 

 lections and ought to bring at least ten dollars 

 each — as large a price as Auratum did when first 

 introduced." 



" I can sell them less than that. At what do 

 you sell Harrisii now ?" 



"Very low — almost as low as Longiflorum." 



"Well, I will sell you these at the same price." 



The latter answer was uttered with altogether 

 too much satisfaction, and we sadly turned to 

 where the flower had been severed from the stem, 

 remarking, as we began to be enlightened, "Ah ! 

 you have been doctoring this with chemicals." 



"No sir," replied Mr. Henderson, "we have not 

 been doctoring this with chemicals, but it has b»en 

 stuck in a bottle of red ink for the last three hours. " 



Moral: Don't take every child wearing a red 

 fez, to be a little Turk, for man is full of guile 

 even as the lily was full of red ink, though it may 

 not be as apparent. New York. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



History of Hybrid Gladiolus. — The Gard- 

 eners' Chronicle says: "The celebrated French 



cultivator of the Gladiolus, M. Souchet, late gard- 

 ener at the Imperial gardens at Fontainebleau, 

 began to hydridize or fertilize for raising new 

 varieties of the Gladiolus in the year 1834, and 

 with the varieties thus obtained Mr. Kelway, in 

 the year 1851, began fertilizing the Gladiolus gan- 

 davensis. a hybrid raised from an imported spe- 

 cies from Natal, called psittacinus. or Natalensis, 

 and the seedlings produced by this hybridization 

 formed the ground-work of the extensive stock, 

 now numbering upwards of 2000 varieties, grown 

 at Langport !" 



Liability of Seedsmen. — A case of unusual 

 interest between a seedsman and his customers has 

 been decided by the Supreme Court of Pennsyl- 

 vania ; an abstract from the Philadelphia Public 

 Ledger, we give: 



" In the case of Shisler against Baxter, which 

 came before the Supreme Court upon writ of error 

 to Common Pleas No. i, and in which Chief 

 Justice Mercur has filed an opinion, the question 

 to be determined was as to what constitutes a 

 warranty of quality in cases where goods are sold 

 after having been first inspected by the purchaser. 

 In the case at bar. the plaintiff went to the store 

 of the defendant to purchase seeds. He had 

 bought some the year before which had turned 

 out well, and he asked for some of the " last 

 year's" stock. The defendant showed him some 

 which he said had been left over. These the 

 plaintiff bought, but after using them, he contended 

 that they were worthless and not what he had 

 asked for, and he brought an action for damages. 

 The Court below entered a non suit, on the ground 

 that there was no warranty on the part of the 

 seller that the seeds were such as the purchaser 

 j wanted, and this decision is sustained by the 

 Supreme Court. There was no evidence that the 

 defendant had practiced any fraud. A mere 

 representation as to the character of an article 

 sold does not constitute a warranty, nor is it evi- 

 dence of a warranty. Where personal property 

 is sold on inspection and the vendee's means of 

 knowledge are equal to the vendor's, the law does 

 not presume an engagement by the latter that the 

 thing sold is of the kind or species contemplated 

 by the parties. In this case the seed sold was 

 shown to tlie plaintiff before he purchased. It 

 was in paper packages just as it had been bought 

 by the vendor himself, and as to its quality both 

 parties had an equal opportunity of judging. 

 Under such circumstances the exemption of the 

 vendor from liability is too well settled to need 



