152 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[May, 



which I thought indicated that the trouble was in 

 the boiler or pipes. The water was drawn off re- 

 peatedly, but still the trouble continued, if any- 

 thing, growing worse, for the nights were growing 

 colder and stronger fires were kept. 1 suspected 

 the black stuff on the pipes and asked the gar- 

 dener if he knew for certain what it was. He said 

 they told him, lamp-black and oil. I sought the 

 boss painter and journeyman painter and the 

 plumber, but got the same answer from all, sim- 

 ply lamp-black and oil. Feeling convinced they 

 were trying to deceive and shift the blame on my 

 shoulders, I finally examined the out-buildings, 

 when there I found the veritable tar pot that had 

 been used. The owner's wife was away from 

 home and he spared no expense to give her an 

 agreeable surprise on her return. I imagine her 

 surprise and tears when she looked in and saw 

 her once valuable plants utterly leafless, a grimy 

 workman swabbing off the vile stuff, bespattering 

 the handsome tiled floor, and all from the imper- 

 tinent interference of mechanics. 



I could give dozens of instances such as these 

 entailing the loss of hundreds of dollars and years 

 of time that cannot be recalled, but fear this is al- 

 ready too long. Ogdensburg, N. Y. 



[Our correspondent is too modest in his figures. 

 If he had said hundreds of thousands of dollars, 

 instead of hundreds, he would have been nearer 

 the mark.— Ed. G. M.] 



in meaning, but it may perhaps be a variant of 

 the Algonkin xoo\. pas-," dry," giving us the mean- 

 ing of a " fruit [to be] dried." Capt. Smith, in 

 fact, tells us that the Virginia Indians prepared 

 persimmons after the manner of prunes, by drying 

 them upon mats and hurdles. Cf. Cree (Algon- 

 kin) Pasiminan, "dried fruit." New York. 



THE NAME PERSIMMON. 

 BY W. R. GERARD. 



This word has been variously spelled. Botan- 

 ists of the early part of this century (Muhlenberg, 

 Barton, Eaton) spell it with one w. The following 

 are, in chronological order, some of the orthog- 

 raphies : Persimon (Kalm, 1748); Persimon, Put- 

 chimon, Pitchumon (Clayton, 1743) ; Parsimon 

 (Tailfer, 1741); Phishimon (Catesby, l7i2,-'26) ; 

 Persimmon (Lawson, 1709; Beverly, 1705); Pos- 

 simon (in a list ol Long Island plants, 1670) ; Per- 

 simmon (Shrigley, 1669) ; Persimena (in a descrip- 

 tion of New Albion, 1648). 



These various forms are derived from Virginia- 

 Indian (Algonkin) Pessemmin (as spelled by 

 Strachey about 1610). The syllable -min is an 

 inseparable Algonkin suffix, meaning "fruit" or 

 "grain," as in Homine (Hominy) "the grain par 

 excellence," Odeimin, "heart-berry" (Strawberry), 

 Mishimin, "big fruit "(apple), Assimin (whence 

 Assimina), etc., etc. The MgfiM«Nn»«fi4lw first 

 syllable (varied io pars-, pos, etc.) is not so clear 



A KNOWLEDGE OF HORTICULTURE. 



BY N. ROBERTSON. 



The fast strides that horticulture has been mak- 

 ing in cultural points, new introductions, and many 

 other things, render it impossible for any gar- 

 dener to keep pace with the times without access 

 to horticultural works. There was a time when 

 gardeners had some excuse for not subscribing 

 for such works, for there were only a few standard 

 ones published, at a very high price, and their 

 salaries were so small that it could not be afforded ; 

 but that time has now passed, and he must be in 

 very poor circumstances indeed who cannot af- 

 ford eighteen cents per month for one of them. 

 The magazines now published would give him 

 more practical information than the old works 

 did, because they are made up largely of the ex- 

 periences of our best practical men ; their pages 

 are always open to the inquirer, and ready to help 

 forward the profession in every way they can. It 

 is a strange period in a gardener's life when he ar- 

 rives at a stage where horticultural works become 

 of no value to him. From the lack of such works 

 he has no ambition to rise, and is left stuck fast 

 to old habits, from which he has no power to ex- 

 tricate himself, missing the most interesting por- 

 tion of a gardener's life. There is no calhng into 

 which a man can embark that can give more ex- 

 pansion to the mind than horticulture, but unless 

 he reads and studies it soon becomes to him a 

 mere routine, losing its attractions, and his work 

 becomes a drudgery to him. His work may pass 

 where he is isolated from public view, but when 

 he comes forth amongst modern men he must al- 

 most stand amazed when he sees how far he has 

 drifted behind them. If a man has any ambition 

 to rise in this profession, and be lifted up from 

 obscurity, he has to put forth every exertion to se- 

 cure all the knowledge in his power, not only by 

 making himself conversant with what is passing 

 in horticultural works, but by working and ob- 

 serving as he goes and throwing himself with all 

 his might into his work. Some of the horticul- 

 tural periodicals are expensive because of their 

 high class illustrations, which must always entail 



