SOMETHING NEW. 149 



have been better if it had been called Japanese 

 Raspberry, or some other simple appropriate name, 

 instead of the misleading name, " wine berry." 

 There is no evidence in this case of a deliberate 

 intention to defraud, and the somewhat exaggerated 

 claims set forth in behalf of this fruit may be 

 reasonably attributed to well meaning enthusiasm, 

 but any who are disappointed in growing the 

 plant will not be slow to attribute both the over- 

 praise and the misleading name to a desire to 

 obscure its real character. The interests of horti- 

 culture certainly demand that occasion for such 

 suspicion, whether justly founded or not, should 

 always be avoided. For the individual buyer it is 

 sufficient to say: endeavor to find out approxi- 

 mately, at least, the nature of the novelty before 

 you buy. If one is dealing personally with an 

 agent, and he declines to give this information so 

 far as in his power it is safest not to purchase. 



Another habit which, unfortunately, is still preva- 

 lent among American nurserymen and seedsmen is 

 that of deliberately enlarging the illustrations of 

 new fruits, etc., which are offered for sale. Not- 

 withstanding the frequent denunciation of this 

 practice by the horticultural press in late years, it 

 is a custom still followed by many of our well 

 known firms. For those who adopt such methods 

 this is of course a moral question, and no other 



