THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
93 
FOREIGN REGULATION OF NURSERY-STOCK 
SALES 
L ITTLE if any foreign legislation apparently exists 
relative to guaranties of the genuineness of nur¬ 
sery stock. Reports received from consuls in 
England, Fance, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Nether¬ 
lands, Japan, Australia, and Canada are to the same 
effect as the following statement regarding the Nether¬ 
lands. 
With reference to the law in this country under which 
nurserymen are compelled to furnish buyers with trees 
and plants true to name and the penalty prescribed in the 
event of misrepresentation, the Netherlands has no 
special law on this subject, and the obligations of con¬ 
tractors in this particular business are goverened by the 
civil and criminal codes of the country. 
Only two countries, Hungary and British Columbia, 
are reported as having special legislation or regulations 
relating to sales of nursery stock, and that of British 
Columbia is directed only against the importation of 
diseased nursery stock. 
No Specific Law in Germany as to Guaranty of Variety. 
Consul General Robert P. Skinner reports that there is 
no special legislation in Germany which applies to care¬ 
less or intentional deliveries of nursery stock which 
proves untrue to name. If bad faith were involved in the 
transaction, the German Civil Code would cover the case, 
and action would lie for any damage actually sustained. 
Practically this legislation is of little value in protecting 
buyers of nursery stock. It requires years, very often, to 
determine whether or not the species delivered is true to 
name. In the United States reputable nurserymen sell 
under a contract to replace trees or purchase money 
when mistakes are made, and German practice has not 
gotten much beyond the same system. 
The principal German nurserymen are organized as 
the Union of German Nursery Owners, whose honorary 
president replies to an inquiry addressed to him on this 
matter as follows: 
There exists in Germany, or, so far as I know, in any 
European country, no provision of law or regulation ac¬ 
cording to which nursery owners are obliged to deliver 
trees or plants with true statements of their names—that 
is to say, under guaranty as to tlieir variety. 
The owners of nurseries of most of the provinces have 
engaged in a contract with their respective chambers of 
agriculture, according to which the nurseries give a 
guaranty for the correctness of the variety of delivered 
fruit trees. 
Specific Regulations in Hungary and British Columbia. 
Consul General William Coffin, at Budapest, reports 
that Hungary has no specific laws or ordinances govern¬ 
ing the sale by nurserymen of plants and trees true to 
name, although vine growers are quite effectively pro¬ 
tected by an ordinance issued in 1896 in which the dif¬ 
ferent varieties of grapes are minutely described. 
Consul General Robert E. Mansfield, Vancouver, re¬ 
ports that the British Columbia Agricultural Associa¬ 
tion’s act of 1914 provides that “The Lieutenant Gover¬ 
nor in Council may make regulations for the inspection 
and disinfection or destruction thereof of non-fruit-bear¬ 
ing trees or shrubs which may carry contagion. * * * 
All nursery stock, trees, or plants imported into this Prov¬ 
ince are subject to inspection at the provincial fumiga¬ 
tion station at Vancouver, except in case of palms, fibrous 
plants grown under glass, conifers, and evergreens.” 
English General Law of Contracts Applicable. 
According to information supplied by the Board of Ag¬ 
riculture and Fisheries, the sale of trees or plants is gov¬ 
erned in England by the general law of contracts for the 
sale of goods, in which connection the Sale of Goods Act, 
1893, may be noted. The secretary of the board in¬ 
stances an application of this act in the case of Wallace, 
Sons, and Wells v. Pratt and Haynes (Law Reports, 1911. 
Appeal Gases, 394), in which the buyer of a quantity of 
sanfoin seed was held to be entitled to damages as for a 
breach of warranty. There is no liability under the act 
to proceedings for a penalty as for a criminal offense. 
While the Sales ol Goods Act follows the general princi¬ 
ples ol the law of contract, the special provisions relating 
to warranty and sale by description or sample are es¬ 
pecially pertinent to this inquiry and may be summarized 
as follows: 
Sec. 11 ( a). Where a contract of sale is subject to any 
condition to be fulfilled by the seller, the buyer * * 
may elect to treat the breach of such condition as a 
breach of warranty. 
Sec. 13. Where there is a contract for the sale of 
goods by description there is an implied condition that 
the goods shall correspond with the description. 
Sec. 15. (1). A contract of sale is a contract for sale 
by sample, where there is a term in the contract, express 
or implied, to that effect. 
(2). In the case of a contract for sale by sample there 
is an implied condition that the bulk shall correspond 
with the sample in quality.— Commerce Reports. 
BULLETINS OF INTEREST TO NURSERYMEN 
Pecan Culture; With Special Reference to Propagation 
and Varieties. By G. A. Reed, Nut Gulturist, Office of 
Horticultural and Pomological Investigations. Pp. 32, 
figs. 17. Contribution from the Bureau of Plant In¬ 
dustry. January 18, 1916. (Farmers’ Bulletin 700.) 
The Bagworm, An Injurious Shade-Tree Insect. By L. 
0. Howard and F. II. Chittenden. Pp. 12. figs. 13. Con¬ 
tribution from the Bureau of Entomology. January 15, 
1916. (Farmers’ Bulletin 701.) 
Cottontail Rabbits in Relation to Trees and Farm 
Crops. By D. E. Lantz. Assistant Biologist. Pp. 12. tigs. 
5. Contribution from the Bureau of Biological Survey. 
January 17, 1916. (Farmers’ Bulletin 702.) 
Discusses the distribution and habits of cottontail rab¬ 
bits and methods of controlling their ravages on trees and 
cultivated crops by means of trapping, poisoning, and 
supplying safeguards. For general distribution. 
