Although the Flemish are the most particular people in the world as to the choice of their seeds, they are sometimes deceived. An instance of this happened a few years ago, which was followed by very injurious consequences. A person brought some flax-seed from Riga, which he sold for sound seed. It was, however, superanuated, but he had contrived to give it a fresh and healthy appearance, and thus imposed on the best judges. The farmers, deceived by the false mark, bought and sowed the seed, none of which ever appeared above the ground. "The desolation of the country was universal; the loss was estimated at several millions of florins; and the offender escaped the punishment he merited, only through the intercessions of several powerful friends, who found means to stifle the affair, notwithstanding the cries of its numerous victims." I recollect a case somewhat similar to this, which happened a few years ago in Edinburgh. A respectable seed merchant there purchased a quantity of flax-seed from a foreigner, which he sold again in small parcels to the farmers, who, on sowing it, found that it was unsound, as no part of it was productive. The seed merchant was sued, and although he distinctly proved, that he made the purchase himself under the impression that the seed was fresh, and paid a fair price for it, he was found liable in damages to the amount of the loss sustained by the farmer who sued, upon the ground that he was bound to guarantee every article which he sold at the regular market price, whether he was imposed upon himself or not. These lessons were not thrown away. In Flanders, as well as in Scotland, no foreign seed is purchased, until the purchasers be fully satisfied as to the quality of the article, and the character of the seller. The Flemish practice, with regard to a change of seeds, has long prevailed in Scotland, not only as to potatoes, but as to wheat, barley, oats, and all other grain. The Scotch potatoes have always appeared to me superior to those raised in England, where the same attention is not shown to the choice of seed. It is a fact, also, well known in these countries, that the barley raised in Scotland, though greatly inferior in _appearance_ to English barley, and raised in a colder climate, contains more saccharine matter, or nourishment. This has been tested by experiments at the distilleries, under the immediate inspection of officers appointed by the government, who reported a greater quantity of spirit obtained from barley, the growth of Scotland, than from that produced in England. The beef sold in the London markets, which had been reared in the Scotch distilleries upon the refuse grains, uniformly sells at from three to four cents a pound more than that fed at any of the English distilleries.