EDITORIAL 



N- 



This number has been delayed by the absence of the edi- 

 tor on another trip to tiie Painted Desert. Since a large num- 

 1)er of our readers have also been away on vacation we trust 

 that they will appreciate the situation and overlook our failure 

 to appear on time. 



The students of [)ure botany are not the only ones who 

 are having trouble with questions of nomenclature. The 

 Chairman of the Nomenclature Committee of the American 

 Gladiolus Society said at a recent meeting that it was once 

 supposed that there were 1600 different varieties of peonies, 

 but when the different sorts were assembled at Cornell it was 

 found that there are less than 500. All the others are ap- 

 l)arciillv mere names. One variety was found listed under 

 eleven distinct titles. The lists of vari.eties of peonies, irises, 

 gladioluses, dahlias — in fact of almost any flower that has been 

 "taken iij)" bv the florist — are much Lo.o long. To distinguish 

 the desirable forms, it has been suggested that trial ground> 

 be established in which new forms may be tested and, it 

 worthv. named by competent authorities. Something of this 

 kind is badlv needed to protect the general public from im- 

 po>ition. also. When one has paid a good price for a specimen 

 he already has, under another name, he is likely to lose con- 

 fidence in nurserymen generally, to the great disadvantage of 



both parties. 



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It is likely that most, if not all. of our readers believe in 

 some f<»rm of evolution and they probably imagine that all 



