4888 ’ 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
485 
sive cue, grows all tlie seeds he sells, and thus 
no dealer can always know the genuineness of 
all his seeds. Then, there are hundreds of 
seedsmen who buy all the seeds they sell. 
The law perhaps takes no cognizance of ignor¬ 
ance in anything, and holds the seller respon¬ 
sible. As 1 take it, this inquiry is not as to 
the law, but a3 to the moral right that should 
govern the law, and when I come to tnat 
point I do not feel able to express an 
opinion on it. It seems that there should be 
some responsibility on the seller, but the 
whole burden seems too great. Of course, 
the seedsman should be responsible for putting 
out seeds known to be defective or untrue; 
but as to mistakes, mixtures or supposed lack 
of vitality, there sbould I think be at least a 
division of loss. 
by their own fault or circumstances that can¬ 
not be overcome. 
FROM W. ATLEK BURPEE & CO. 
The best answer we can give to these 
questions is to state our own method, which 
is that we warrant all seeds to be first-class, 
pure and true to name, in so far that should 
any prove otherwise, we will refill the order, 
or return the price paid, at the option of the 
purchaser. Of course, mistakes will occa¬ 
sionally’ occur; but the conscientious seedsman 
will surround the handling of seeds with all 
possible safeguards, so that the chance of 
errors is reduced to a minimum, and when 
an error does occur, he cannot of course as¬ 
sume the responsibility for the estimated 
possible results of a good crop in a good 
CHOICE CUTS FROM DEVON BEEF. Fig 70. 
In regard to the growth of seeds probably 
nine times out of ten the failures are due to 
oth^r reasons thau a want of vitality. Certain 
seeds are very susceptible to conditions—for 
instance, sweet corn and wrinkled peas. 
Theseplantel in heavy soil when old and 
wet are sure t> rot before sprouting. But 
even sorts that are hardy are uncertain. A 
siugle illustration will show this. A cus¬ 
tomer reported to me that he sowed part 
of a package of turnip seed in a bed, and they 
grew well. He sowed the remaiader of the 
package in another bed on the same day, and 
they failed to groyv. Supposing that there 
was both good and bad seed in the package, 
it was impossible that he could have separated 
them; but he never knew why one failed aui 
one grew. Had all been sown in the second 
bed the failure would have been charged to 
season—that is, he cannot be held responsible 
for possible consequential damages. 
FROM W. H. MAULE. 
I have always guaranteed my seeds to be 
just as represented, insomuch that should 
they prove otheryvise, I will refill the order 
free of charge. It must be understood by all 
my customers, however, that I never guar¬ 
antee a crop of anything further than that 
should the seeds prove unsatisfactory, I will 
refill the order, and I do not consider more 
should be asked. 
FROM STEPHEN HOYT'S SONS. 
We do not thiuk a seedsman or a nursery¬ 
man can give a positive guarantee that his 
seeds are all souad or that his trees will all 
prove true to name. Of course, any reputa¬ 
ble or responsible seedsman or nurseryman 
CHOICE CUTS FROM HEREFORD BEEF. Fig. 71. 
CHOICE CUTS FROM BEEF OF JERSEY. Fig 73. 
to name. No honest person will make such a 
guarantee. A responsible seedsman or nur¬ 
seryman should be required only to make such 
a guarantee as he can live up to, which is 
that every care and precaution shall be taken 
to have all seeds sound and all plants true to 
name. 
If by accident high-priced seeds or plants 
are sent out which prove uutrue to name, as 
soon as the fact is knowu others which are 
truo should be given free to replace them, but 
no damages should be required. “Bo unto 
others as you would that others should do unto 
you,” and none will be wronged ana all will be 
satisfied. 
believe parties so doing sbould pay heavy 
damages. Here is a field of action for our 
Nurserymen’s Association. 
FROM P. M. AUGUR. 
The characters of most of our seedsmen and 
nurserymen are so well '- nown that we should 
be slow to believe an intentional fraud would 
be perpetrated by them. In introducing nov¬ 
elties, of course, confidence his to be felt in 
the care and good faith of the disseminator, 
and here the “ golden rule ” should always 
have sway. 
In case of satisfactory evidence of a mis¬ 
take, few if any firms exist that will not do 
CHOiCE CUTS FROM HOLSTEIN BEEF. Fig 74. 
FROM PUTNEY & WOODyVARD. 
We answer the first quesdon by quoting 
the following from our price list. 
“We warrant our st)ck true to label to the 
extent that if found otherwise, we will replace 
the stock or refund the money paid.” 
We would guarantee to a greater extent 
were it not that a number of parties wou'd bs 
apt to take advantage of it. To the second 
question we would say that the seller should 
be responsible for any accident or carelessness 
of the grower, digger, packer or book-keeper. 
It is a costly matter to the seller to replac 3 
the fair thi ig Lin ’regard to the error. The 
public would not oe benefited by a severe or 
cast-iron law in this matter. 
We once sold a lot of beautiful ornamen’al 
trees for a new street in a neighboring city. 
We were pressed to warrant those trees, and 
knowing the probabilities we cheerfuly did so. 
The next spring we were mortified on finding 
that nearly half of them had failed. We sus¬ 
pected that something was wrong, but sup¬ 
posed that the mishap was due simply to care¬ 
lessness in setting them out. We replaced 
them, boyvever. Some time afterward we 
CHOICE CUTS FROM SHORT-HORN BEEF. Fig. 75. 
the seed. These represent same of the diffi¬ 
culties in warranting seeds. The seedsman 
may, however, as policy, warrant seeds to a 
limited extent, taking the risk of ignorance, 
neglect and bad conditions to the extent of 
replacing the seeds or even refunding the 
money. Counting that the outlay for doing 
this one time in‘20 or 50 or 1,000 cases, might be 
made up by increased sales. This question of 
expediency every seedsman can settle for him¬ 
self. The question of right is so difficult that 
no iron-clad rule should be made. I thiuk 
that in most cas s the p-e-umptiou should be 
on the side of the seedsman—that is, that the 
fault of failure is not his. It is right on the 
other hand that he should use great care, and 
1 think that nouesty is so recognized to be the 
best policy in this trade that care is generally 
exerted, and if so, then few will suffer except 
will do all in his power to have everything 
correct and houest; but when the work has to 
be largely entrusted to others, as it is at the 
present day, or when one’s sales are larger 
than his own resources for growing seeds or 
plants, and he is therefore obliged to buy from 
other growers to a greater or less extent, he 
cannot guarantee yvhat he does not know, 
although he may buy of parties whose reputa¬ 
tion is as good as his own. Mistakes will 
occur sometimes with the closest and most 
careful attention to every detail of the busi¬ 
ness. When errors occur where every pre¬ 
caution is taken to avoid them, we cannot see 
why the proprietor should be held responsible 
or blamed for theui. No man where assistance 
is required can honestly give an absolute, 
positive guarantee that his seeds are all sound 
or that his seeds or plants will all prove true 
the objectionable seed; so that the buyer, al¬ 
though he may have lost heavily, can hardly 
expect more. When a buyer of seeds expends 
a large amount of money in preparing the soil, 
and sows seeds that should germinate but 
which fail, or prove spurious, he certainly 
feels like demanding damages in full, and we 
cannot blame him; neither can we reimburse 
him. 
Trees aud plants untrue to label need not be 
sent out if the nurseryman sells only what he 
himself raises. We believe it is a mistake for 
the nurseryman to catalogue what he has not 
of his own growing. True, he will lose much 
trade that naturally gravitates to the grower 
who is supposed to have the largest stock and 
greatest variety. Sending out old varieties 
under new names we heartily coudemn and 
lear ied that the man who planted them out, 
put each tree in a saw-horse and systematical 
ly sawed off the roots so that the trees would 
go into very small holes. Thus we were vic¬ 
timized. If the “ golden rule ” were applied 
in all cases, there would be little trouble. 
Be honorable and deal with honorable men, 
aud there will be little cause of complaint. 
FROM JONATHAN TALCOTT. 
A seedsman’s good reputation for honesty, 
and his endeavors to send out only such seeds 
and plants as are true to name should be his 
guarantee, especially when seedsmen have had 
a reputation for such dealings for a series of 
years. If a seedsman or nurseryman by acci¬ 
dent sends high-prieed seeds, or plants untrue 
to name, thus entailing loss and disappoint- 
CHOICE CUTS FROM GALLOWAY BEEF. Fig. 72. 
