AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



only just, however, for the dealer to do for his 

 customers what he doubtless does for himself, 

 that is, mark the date of growth upon the pack- 

 age. This is easily done, and the buyer would 

 then know just what he was getting as far as 

 freshness was concerned. Another serious diffi- 

 culty in the matter of seeds refers to the question 

 of quantity. When one buys seeds by weight, 

 he knows how much he will get for the price 

 asked, but when he buys a " package " the 

 amount he will get is entirely unknown. I once 

 paid fifty cents for a package of carnation seeds, 

 and found upon opening it that I had received 

 just exactly six seeds. On remonstrating with 

 the dealer I was told that I had received one seed 

 more than I was entitled to, five being the limit 

 for that special variety. Perhaps it was just as 

 well that I did n't get any more of these seeds, 

 for none of the six germinated ; but why did not 

 the dealer tell his customers that there were but 

 five seeds in such a package ? Was it because he 

 believed that if he did so people would not buy 

 these packages? I can conceive of no other 

 reason for the concealment. Some dealers do 

 state the number of seeds in a package when the 

 seeds are large, and others, besides offering seeds by 



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