SEED CONTROL. 77 



practices. Xo " non-warranty " clause of a seed catalogue will 

 enable the dealer to shirk the responsibility of selling bad seed. 



One of the most stupendous frauds in the seed trade relates to 

 the pseudo-new varieties which are sent out with extravagant 

 descriptions and under the most high-sounding names. Accom- 

 panying these there may be brilliant colored pictures, perhaps 

 shoAving a sachaline plant, by whose side a man looks like a dwarf, 

 or a melon too large to be gotten into a wheelbarrow. Generally 

 these " golden-wonder,"' '• mammoth early," sorts are old and well- 

 known varieties sailing under false colors. The experienced 

 gardener may not be deceived by such representations, but other 

 people are. Oftentimes it is largely the buyer's fault, to be sure, 

 since a large number of people seem to delight in being hood- 

 winked, and will eagerly purchase seed Avhen twenty or thirty 

 packages are offered for one dollar, or four for a quarter, regard- 

 less of the fact that they are likely to be cheated in the trans- 

 action. 



A few weeks ago a case was before the Supreme Court, at Long- 

 Island City, N. Y., in which some celery growers sued a seedsman 

 for six thousand dollars damages. They had purchased seed 

 under the name of " golden self-blanching celery," but it turned 

 out to be some kind of wild celery, resulting in an entire loss of 

 the crop. The seed had been sold under the so-called "non- 

 warranty " provision of the seed catalogues which T have already 

 given, hence the Court ruled that damages could not be allowed. 

 The trade journal reporting the case says that the result is hailed 

 with great rejoicing among seedsmen, as no doubt it is, for it 

 means, unless some just seed control laws are enacted in tiiis 

 country, that the gardener, horticulturist, and farmer will have 

 no protection whatever against the abuses of the seed trade. 



The dealer claims that he cannot be reasonably required to 

 warrant a variety of seed true to name, since cultivated plants 

 often revert to their native state. If this excuse be valid, the 

 seedsman ought to advertise such varieties as possible reversions 

 to the original stock. He cannot throw the blame upon the 

 grower, since it is the seedsman's business to know that the seeds 

 he sells are genuine, pure, and germinable, and it should be 

 the privilege of the planter to have reliable information upon 

 the same points and in all cases. This is the object of seed 

 control. 



