THE EDITOR'S OUTLOOK. 



235 



tion of five thousand copies of a pamphlet of forty- 

 eight pages on 'Potash and Paying Crops,' was 

 offered to me by the German Kali Works, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, for adoption and distribution as a bul- 

 letin of this station. After carefully reading a 

 specimen copy furnished me and finding nothuig in 

 its pages of an objectionable character ; but on the 

 contrary, that it was a well prepared monograph on 

 the subject of potash as a fertilizer, containing much 

 valuable information for the farmer, I accepted the 

 proposition. Whereupon the above firm supplied 

 me, free of all expense, with ten thousand copies of 

 the pamphlet, the title page printed as directed by 

 me, of which a large number were distributed in 

 the usual manner, and several thousand remain on 

 hand." 



This is a most remarkable confession. It is 

 probably wholly within the letter of the law to pub- 

 lish such a bulletin as this, for one mission of the 

 stations is "to aid in acquiring and diffusing among 

 the people of the United States useful and practical 

 information on subjects connected with agricul- 

 ture ;" but it is certainly contrary to legitimate ex- 

 periment station policy to publish wholly gratuitous 

 matter originating outside the experiment stations, 

 and the transaction implies that legitimate bulletin 

 material is scarce. Moreover, all the stations pub- 

 lished this bulletin as a "special." We are not 

 informed as to the particular mission of a special 

 bulletin, but it would appear to be one of immediate 

 or unusual importance ; such, no doubt, is the com- 

 mon interpretation of the term. And the Georgia 

 station distributed five thousand of these advertise- 

 ments, while only one thousand to two thousand 

 copies of ordinary bulletins are ordinarily published ; 

 "and several thousand remain on hand" for any 

 of our readers who may want a few. 



■X- 



QIXTEEN years ago a suit was 

 WARRANTY. brought against a New York seed 



firm to recover damages sustained 

 in using cabbage seeds which proved to have tur- 

 nip and other seeds mixed with them. The plain- 

 tiff obtained judgment, and it was so heavy that the 

 leading seed firms of the city called a meeting to 

 take action upon the matter. This meeting, in 

 which J. M. Thorburn & Co. were probably the 

 chief movers, adopted a statement to be printed 

 upon seed packets to disclaim any liability for the 

 failure of the seeds to grow, or for the failure of 

 the crop. This disclaimer was prepared by a law- 

 yer and was approved by William H. Evarts. It 

 read as follows : " Whilst we exercise the greatest 



care to have all seeds pure and reliable, it is hereby 

 mutually agreed between ourselves and the pur- 

 chaser of our seeds, that we do not warrant the 

 same and are not in any respect liable or respon- 

 sible for seeds sold by us, or for any loss or dam- 

 age arising from any failure thereof in any respect." 

 This has been variously modified by different seeds- 

 men, and the American Seed Trade Association 

 adopted it last summer in the following form : 

 " While we exercise the greatest care to have all 

 seeds pure and reliable, we do not give any war- 

 ranty, expressed or implied. If the purchaser does 

 not accept the seeds on these terms and conditions, 

 they must be returned at once, and the money that 

 has been paid for same will be refunded." 



The desire of the seedsmen was simply to protect 

 themselves. Seeds are a variable commodity and 

 their value depends upon many conditions, some of 

 which are beyond the seedsman's control, and others 

 are entirely unknown. It is impossible for one to 

 warrant that of which he cannot obtain positive 

 knowledge or the value of which may be determined 

 entirely by the purchaser after it leaves his hands. 

 The uncertainties under which the seedsman la- 

 bors fall under three categories : (i.) He cannot be 

 sure of the treatment which seeds are to receive in 

 the hands of the purchaser ; (2.) He cannot control 

 the conditions of growth when the seeds are being 

 raised, and yet it is known that the character of 

 the season exercises a great influence upon the vi- 

 tality of seeds ; (3.) Seeds do not give external evi- 

 dence of their quality, and many different species 

 are so near alike that mixture cannot be detected. 

 The uncertainties arising from conditions of plant- 

 ing are well illustrated by a suit brought by a Jer- 

 seyman against a New York firm some years ago 

 because of the failure of a half bushel of sweet corn 

 to germinate. Although the field was replanted, 

 none of the seed "came." The dealer contended 

 that the corn was planted too early, while the 

 trucker cited the case of an adjoining field which 

 was planted at the same time and which had a good 

 "stand." The dealer produced the weather re- 

 ports to show that the weather had been too cold, 

 and also showed that the neighbor's corn was a hard 

 or flint variety, which had grown, while the pofter 

 sweet corn had rotted ; and the trucker lost his 

 suit. This was before the days of the disclaimer. 



The buyers, on the other hand, demand some as- 

 surance that they buy what they pay for, although 

 they admit the full force of the seedsman's positions. 

 It all comes, finally, to a question of how much the 

 disclaimer covers. Is it possible for any merchant 



