18 BULLETIN 977, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



It is mutually agreed upon and understood that delivery is to be made and 

 title pass when hay is placed on board the cars or in the buyer's warehouse, and 

 in case of damage by fire or water prior to that time, it shall be the loss of the 

 seller. Seller agrees to deliver the hay into the car or buyer's warehouse en- 

 tirely dry and in good condition. • It is understood and agreed between 



, seller, and John Smith, the buyer, that this crop of is 



insured for the full value, or will be insured by the seller in event any money is 

 advanced on crop, so that John Smith will not be held in any way responsible 

 in case of loss or damage by fire, water, or other damage before delivery at car 

 or warehouse. 



Seller 



Buyer 



Per 



Subject to delay in delivery on account of embargoes, car shortage, strikes, 

 or other causes beyond the seller's control. 



Producers do not like contracts. — It is a rather difficult, under- 

 taking to induce the average farmer, in some sections at least, to 

 sign a contract. The longer the contract is, the less likely he is to 

 put his name to it, because he does not like to sign one that is full 

 of conditions. According to the contract here shown, the hay must 

 be of the grade showing on the top of the mow. It has already been 

 explained that there may be a considerable variation in the mow or 

 stack run of hay. If the producer knows that there is inferior 

 hay in the mow, out of sight of the buyer at the time the sale is made, 

 he may refuse to sign the contract or he may sign it and afterwards 

 claim that the hay all runs even. 



Some shippers claim that when one has the opportunity of buy- 

 ing a farmer's crop it is necessary to make one price and take all 

 of the hay, no matter how poorly it turns out. After the contract 

 is signed and inferior hay begins to show up the buyer has a very 

 difficult task to convince some producers at least that there is a 

 decided variation in quality. 



Farmers break contracts. — Buyers sometimes expect that farmers 

 will break their contracts. Once in a while, a farmer who has 

 signed a contract gets a better offer from another shipper, and 

 refuses to bring in the hay to the man with whom he signed the con- 

 tract. Sometimes the better price is only a small advance of 25 

 cents per ton. The farmer knows that he is tied up by legal con- 

 tract that would be binding if taken into court, but the shipper very 

 seldom if ever takes the matter into the courts. The only thing 

 the shipper would gain would be to teach producers of hay a costly 

 lesson, for the lawyer's fees would probably amount to more than 

 the shipper's profit on the hay. 



Buyers also frequently fail to fulfill verbal contracts, and some- 

 times when the market has declined they either refuse to take the 

 hay or delay moving it until the producer must sell it to someone 

 else to get it out of the way for a new crop. 



