22 



The Florists^ Review 



NOVEMBEB 25, 1920 



iii.'mIc 1'. o. b. tlK> sliijipint; jmiiit. lint 

 a coiitiiu-t sitocil'viiifi: ilclivcry 1'. o. b. 

 the sliipijiiifj jioiiit is to lie iiri'fcrreci to 

 one silent as to llie j)lacc of lioliverv, 

 lipcanse it fends to set at rest any chanee 

 (if (jiiil)blo on tlie part of the buyer that 

 lie was entitled to delivery at the des- 

 tination of tlic shipment. 



IJiit iu order to constitute delivery to 

 the l)uy(r by deliverin}; to the rail- 

 way or express company, certain reason- 

 able conditions must be observed by the 

 seller. The sliiiiiiient must be made in 

 such circumstances as to make it fair 

 that the buyer hIiouUI accept it, so far 

 as the seller is concerned. For example, 

 if A has sold H a thousand plants to be 

 sent by freijjlit or exjiress, a mere set - 

 tiiifj down ot' tliat many phints on the 

 railway or express company's jiremises. 

 without jiroperly niarkint; the shipment 

 or haviiif; it projxTly billed, would not 

 operate as a constructive delivery to the 

 buyer. Nor would shijtment of plants 

 unreasonably exposed to breakage or 

 freezintj by reason of failure to pack 

 them in tlie manner usual in making;- 

 sui'h shipments, resulting in their beinji 

 ■lamaKcd, he treated as a delivery to the 

 buyer. 



Buyer's Risk. 



I'"'iiim what h.'iH been said it follows 

 tiiat where goods are sold f. o. b. place 

 of shipment, or without any understand- 

 ing as to whether delivery is to be f. o. 

 b. there or the destination, the goods 

 are at the buyer's risk when they have 

 heen j)roperly put in transit by the 

 seller. That they may be lost or dam- 

 aged ill transit, without any fault of 

 tlie scdler, does not affect his right to 

 recover the agree<l ]iurchase jirice. If 

 the buyer h;is any remedy he must en- 

 force it against the railway or express 

 company. 



On the othci- han.l, if the seller has 

 .agreed to deliver f. o. b. destination, or 

 has reserved title to the shijuneut, h(^ 

 bears the risks of transjiortation so far 

 as the buyer is concerned. 



Ifeference to a few court decisions will 

 serve to give useful information con- 

 cerning the seller's rights and duties 

 to the buyer when he acts as the lat 

 ter's representative in arranging for 

 f ransjMirtation of goods. At the saiix- 

 time ue believe that the discussion will 

 -^erve to emphasize the jiractical value 

 of getting as explicit instructions as is 

 feasible from the buyer concerning rout- 

 ing, etc. 



Practice Upheld. 



In the case of Southern Nursery Co. 

 \ >. Winfield Nursery Co., 89 Kansas 

 Keports .'il'L', it appeared that plaintiff 

 shijified a carload ut' stock to dcfemlant. 

 Defendant refused to pay the full 

 agreed purchase jirice, because the stock 

 had been dam.'iged in tiansit, partly re- 

 lying on the fact that, in making the 

 -hipment, ]daintiff seller released the 

 \aluation of the shijimeiit to .". cents per 

 pound, thereby making .a dilTerence of 

 .'}il..304 betwei^n the actu.al value of the 

 shipment .'iiid thi> released lesser v.alua 

 fion. The Kansas 8ui>reine court (h 

 cided the ca.se in the seller's favor, mi 

 the ground that it acted reasonably and 

 in accordance with general custom in 

 agreeing to a reduced valuation to se- 

 cure a lower freight rate. The court, vr 

 marked that there was no doubt about 

 its being the law that "the seller is 

 authorized, in the absence of sjiecial in- 

 structions, to ship according to the usual 

 .and ordinarv method and that he dis 



charges his duty to the buyer when he 

 does so. " 



"III this case," added the court, 

 "there is no disjnite that nursery stock 

 is to be sliii>ped at a valuation of .'! 

 cents ])er pound in order to obtain a 

 lower freight rate, under a classification 

 jiermitfing it, unless jiositive instruc- 

 tions to the contrary are given. The 

 seller's authority, therefore, extemls no 

 further than to take a bill of lading of 

 the kind usual to such slii[iment, if con- 

 tracts of that character may lawfully be 

 made. ' ' 



Same as Initial Carrier. 



Both reason and law appear to j'ut a 

 -.lii[i])iiig seller on the same plane as an 

 initial carrier who receives a shipment 

 destined to a point on a foreign rail- 

 road. The law in the latter class of 

 cases is .as follows: 



"The general rule is that, when no 

 special instructions .are given and as- 

 sented to as to routes, the initial carrier 

 may select the route or use that com- 

 monly employed by it to the jioint of 

 destinatijin nanuMl, and liie absence of 

 Npecial instructions given and acceded 

 to amounts to an assent that the car- 

 I'ier 's usual course of business may be 

 followed, and that it may design.ate the 

 route as its convenience may suggest. 

 This provision, b(>ing thus inserted in thi? 

 contract by law, is as unassailable by 

 parol I proof of veibal understandings 

 tending to v.aiy or contradict a. written 

 contract] as any of the express terms of 

 the contract. However, the carrier's 

 right in this regard is not an absolute 

 or inalienable one, and it may be waived 

 or surrendered by .an agreement sub- 

 sequently entered into. 



"Furthermore, the rule stated in the 

 preceding section is subject to the im- 

 jxirfant limitation that the carrier in 

 selecting the route must have due re- 



gard to the rights and inturests of the 

 shipper and must exercise its option of 

 selecting a route so that it will not work 

 to the disadvantage of the shipper, un 

 less under circumstances which require 

 it." (10 Corpus Juris, 83, 84. ^ 



Care Recttiired. 



Another decision as to an initial car- 

 rier's liability, which seems to be sub- 

 ject to fair application to a shipping 

 seller, is one by the United States Su- 

 preme court, holding that if it is known 

 to a carrier that a shipment will be 

 more liable to loss or injury on one 

 route than on another, he must select the 

 safer route. The same is true of the 

 holding by one of the Texas Courts of 

 Civil Appeals, that although a carrier 

 was entitled to choose the route, it could 

 not choose a route known to be so 

 obstructed that delivery could not be 

 made over it, where another practicable 

 route was open. And it is also true of 

 the court holdings that if the carrier 

 knows that sending the shipment over 

 .'I certain route will cause unusual de- 

 lay, when there is a more direct and 

 (|uicker route, the carrier must obtain 

 authority from the shipper before send- 

 ing over the slower route; and that if 

 the carrier adopts a mode of transporta- 

 tion which involves the payment of a 

 higher rate of freight than another, it 

 may show that it asked for and obtained 

 direction from the shipper or consignee 

 to employ the more expensive mode, or 

 that becau.se of its inability to procure 

 the means of shipment by the cheaper 

 method it was reasonably necessary in 

 view of the exigencies of the case. 



Waco, Tex. — Berhard Riers celebrat- 

 ed Armistice day by opening a flower 

 and seed store at 221 South Eighth 



street. 



MOTT-LY MUSINGS 



ay.r^ir7s?i;^t^t?syiry8<ir«vitrsviri^r?8\ir?8\irir^ 



"The iin])ctus given the business by 

 iMir show, held at the opening of the 

 season, has been keejiing up right 

 along," obser\ed Manager Thomas 

 Tracey, of the Albany <'ut Flower Ex- 

 change, Albany, N. Y., "and with 

 Thanksgiving here, a good cleanup a' 

 lair jirices is expected." 



• • • • 



The .■innual meeting of the Albanv 

 Klnri-ts' Club will be held in the Ex- 

 change building December !<. There will 

 tic an election of oflicers at that time, 

 l(dlii\ved by a banquet, .at which venison, 

 pni\ided by Fred llenkes, will be 

 -eixeil. A corilial invitation to attend 

 is extendeil to any member of the craft 

 who in.ay br' in the city at the time. 



• • • • 



."-^.'inibrook Bros., Troy, N. Y., are cut- 

 ling some fine (Jhadwick chrvsanthe- 

 iniinis in \\liife ;ind yellow from the 

 I'ciliii place, (iperated by John Sam- 

 liidok. 'riii> raujie is usually closed 

 ddwii (luiiii;^ the winter to sa\c coal, 

 liiit the cjowntnwn range, run by George 

 S;iinbro(pk, continues to do business all 

 t lie year. 



« • • a 



.lames C. Barrett, Troy, N. Y., says 

 that he has not detected a diminuticm 

 in funeral work, although ten notices to 

 omit flowers were seen in one ilav in 



tlie oliitiiary ctduuiu of Ti !o'-al news- 

 paper. 



• • • • 



llelikes Bros., Watcrvliet, N. Y., 

 booked many orders for Chadwicks and 

 pom}ioiis for Thanksgiving, practically 

 cleaning up everything. Cyclamens are 

 also selling well. One large house is 

 U'-ed for the storage of plants for local 

 people who have left the city and wi>^li 

 their jilants taken care of by someone 

 wild understands their culture. 



• • • • 



"I'lineial work has been the main 

 fi'afuie cif our business for some time 

 jiast," said Henry Eberhardt, of the 

 Koseudale Flower Slioj), Schenectady, 

 .\. Y. Especial mention was made of 

 I Ihiral blanket of \iolets and roses with 

 .1 cluster of white chrysanthemums in 

 the centei-. Walter Dunning, who was 

 dressing u[i a cyclamen plant for local 

 d(di\ery in resiKinse to a wire received 

 I'loni St. Louis, commented ujioii the 

 ciioiihoiis lioost the liusiness has re 

 ciixed through publi<ity channels. 



• • • • 



\V. W. llanntU ^- Son, Watervliet, N. 

 \ .. >(dd out befondi.and everything in 

 Idooni i"or the Thanksgiving demand. 

 They aic now giving their attention to 

 the ^tock they will hav^ y-ady for 

 ' hi l-uiias. \V. M. 



