442 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the other hand, a right to rely upon them, except as opinions. 



As between the customer and the agent, the customer has a. 

 right to rely upon any warranty, statement or material representa- 

 tion made by the agent, within the scope of his business as seller 

 of nursery stock, as to its kind and quality and the ability of his 

 principal to carry out his contracts and deliver the goods sold. If 

 the customer wants to hold the principal to an express agreement 

 as to what he can expect from the plants in the future, he should 

 require a warranty, biit the right to give such a warranty by the 

 agent will depend upon the authority actually conferred upon the 

 agent or existing in him by reason of his position with the princi- 

 pal. If a notice of lack of authority to warrant is brought home 

 to the customer, he cannot hold the principal responsible for such 

 warranty. This is often done by a printed notice in the sale 

 blank or order blank or in the catalogues supplied to the agent for 

 soliciting business, to the effect that no statement or represencation 

 not included in the written contract or differing from the catalogue 

 shall bind the principal. And here it is to be noted that if a writ- 

 ten contract is entered into for the sale of plants or any other arti- 

 cle, no statement or representation varying or tending to vary the 

 terms of the written contract is in general admissable in evidence. 

 An oral warranty in such cases is not valid, as a rule. 



It is important that the customer guard his rights by in- 

 sisting that every warranty or representation or promise made 

 shall be embodied in the written contract. The principal on the 

 other hand has a right to rely upon such contract as a complete 

 contract, subject to the right of recision or cancellation for fraud 

 or misrepresentation. 



A purchaser buying by catalogue or sample is entitled to ex- 

 pect good marketable stock, of the kind contracted for or accord- 

 ing to the sample, but must inspect the plants delivered promptly 

 upon the receipt of the shipment and either reject the whole ship- 

 ment if not up to the standard or, if the orders are severable, re- 

 ject the part not according to contract, or keep the shipment and 

 deduct the damage suffered by reason of the difference in value 

 between those delivered and the value of the plants as it would 

 have been if according lo contract. 



There is a great difference between making a contract for fu- 

 ture delivery of plants that you have not seen or that you have 

 bought by sample or catalogue and the buying of plants that you 

 yourself selected from stock on hand. In the first case in the 



