OF KOOT CULTIVATION. 41 



will let us have it, as it is a matter they are rather chary respecting, 

 and although perfectly well known and understood in the trade, they do 

 not care to have it known beyond, and our asking for a small quantity 

 will be sure to lead to the question, " What do we want it for?" Wo 

 could obtain a large quantity without hesitation. 



We remain, &c, 



The sentence we have placed in italics will be quite 

 sufficient to show how well the matter of 000 seeds 

 is understood in the trade, and how easy it is to get 

 bushels of it, no questions being asked, while a small 

 quantity, required only for investigation, may be 

 refused. 



It appears, then, that the machinery exists by 

 which any one in the seed trade may quietly and 

 easily commit enormous frauds. And it is plain that 

 the very notoriety of this machinery, together with 

 the condition of many of the samples of seed which 

 we have examined (see Chap. VII.) prove that this 

 machinery actually is employed by many seedsmen 

 to the great injury of their customers. 



We cannot, then, be doing wrong in urging any one 

 to make trial of the seeds he is about to buy before 

 he sows them, or even before he purchases them. 

 "Where the experience of a number of years already 

 exists, the character of the seedsman is a guarantee 

 for the good quality of his goods, and experience of 

 this kind is indeed a more perfect carrying out of the 

 system of preliminary trial or experiment, which wc 

 recommend especially to all new customers. 



