PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 29' 



the very laudable effort to improve our plants and fruits by the origination of 

 new and superior varieties ; while too many of these, apparently impelled by 

 the pecuniary instinct of more modern times, and, perchance imbued with 

 exaggerated ideas of the value of their own originations, devote themselves to 

 the effort to bring them to the notice of a credulous and confiding public, with 

 the hope of securiug some pecuniary return for the labor and expense of origi- 

 nation. In far too many of these cases fanciful, pretentious or sensational 

 names are imposed, with the apparent purpose to induce the expectation of 

 values not susceptible of realization. 



With the purpose to provide at least a partial remedy for evils of this char- 

 acter, the American Pomological Society, some four or five years since, 

 appointed a committee charged with the framing of a code of rules bearing 

 upon this subject. 



So far as nomenclature is concerned the rules framed by this committee and 

 adopted by the society, embody the following particulars : 



1st. A new fruit, to be worthy of a name, and of the commendation of the 

 society, must embody some important quality, or combination of qualities, in a 

 higher degree than any known variety of its class and season. 



2d. The originator or introducer (in the order named) has the prior right 

 to bestow a name upon a new or newly introduced, unnamed fruit. 



3d. Such name (to insure recognition by the society) should be appropriate, 

 short, and free from pretentious or unmeaning expletives. By preference it 

 should consist*of a single word only. 



Europeans, and especially the French, manifest a special fondness for the 

 use of very long names : as, for instance, Van Mons Leon le clerk, Beurre Gris 

 d' Hiver Nouveau, and Duchesse d' Angouleme pears ; and, among flowers, 

 President Leon de St. Jean, Princess Charlotte de la Tre'mouille, Princess 

 Marie Dolgorouky roses, together with a host of others. 



It has not heretofore been considered good practice to translate these foreign 

 unpronounceable names. Hence, to a native, the attempt to discourse in 

 public about European Pomology and especially to speak European names, has 

 heretofore proved so embarrassing that few modest persons could be iuduced 

 to make the attempt. 



Since the "ice has been broken," by the adoption of the rules already spoken 

 of, however, occasion seems to have been taken to inaugurate the practice of 

 translating these, to us, objectionable names; and, at the same time, to lop off 

 such excrescences as Belle, Beurre, and various others that can be spared with- 

 out endangering the identity of varieties. 



We assume that the desirability of the proposed simplification of horticultural 

 nomenclature will be freely admitted by all ; and we therefore, in closing, may 

 remark that no person or society can arrogate to himself the right and power 

 to determine what shall and shall not be law in such matters. The standard 

 in such case is, and must necessarily be, the practice of the people, as a whole. 



If, therefore, we would promote, and, so far as we may, insure the prevalence 

 of the desired reform, we should each adopt it in his own practice. Recollect- 

 ing that a pippin has long since ceased to be more or less than an apple, and 

 that " prolifics " are not, as the rule, more productive than others, not so desig- 

 nated; and that our "beauties" are not more beautiful than hosts of those 

 that lack this pretentious suffix ; and, furthermore, that in modern parlance, 

 these characterizing words but too frequently are merely intended to entrap 



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