30 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[January, 



permanent value as this. There is no doubt 

 that the work will lose very much of its value 

 in this country where the local English names, 

 or the new ones coined, will not be understood. 

 Not half the readers here will have any idea 

 what plants are referred to. If one meets with 

 a botanical name, and does not know what the 

 plant is, a reference to some botanical work will 

 explain it; but there is no work that will tell 

 him anything about plants with these funny 

 names. We venture to say that if a list of them 

 were given even to a first class English nursery, 

 the order would be returned with the remark 

 that they could not be supplied, simply because 

 they are not known by those names. Though 

 we have endeavored to keep the track of Mr. 

 Robinson's new names as they appeared in the 

 Garden, we find a large number here that we 

 know nothing about, and in consequence all 

 that he says about the plants might as well have 

 been written in Chinese. We suppose "Ched- 

 dar pink" is some sort of a Dianthus, and have 

 something of an idea what a " wind gentian," 

 " Bavarian gentian," or " Caucasian comfrey" 

 may be; among the many of these species there 

 is some sort of chance to understand how they 

 look ; but when it comes to " Barren wort," 

 " Mug wort," '■ Handsome evergreen alkanet," 

 "Pretty little Rosy Bindweed," and so on, even 

 " can imagination paint" becomes a question. 



Moreover, it does not seem to us that the ob- 

 ject sought — the introduction of easy names 

 over hard Latin ones, is really accomplished. 

 "Geneva Bugle dwarf Boragewort" does not 

 seem easier to say than if we use its full botani- 

 cal name — whatever that may be. " Goat's beard 

 spirsea" is surely no better than Aruncus; and as 

 for "Bears-breeches," we fancy Acanthup, clas- 

 sical though it be, will be preferred to the plain 

 English, 



It is some sign, however, of a faltering in this 

 confusing work to find Mr. Robinson himself 

 evidently disgusted with it before he gets 

 through. When he comes to give lists of flow- 

 ers adapted to his wild garden, he uses nothing 

 but botanical names. That he may go on under 

 this conviction of wrong-doing will be the wish 

 of the many admirers of his useful labors. 



The New Botany. — A lecture on the best 

 methods of teaching. By Dr. W. J. Beal, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany in the Agricultural College, 

 Lansing, Mich. 



Neither botany nor horticulture is what it was 



a half century ago. True gardening in these 

 days embraces a knowledge of flowers to an ex- 

 tent that makes the gardener really a botanist, 

 while botany is a great deal more than a mere 

 classification of a lot of dried sticks. In the 

 new order of things botany deals with plant-life, 

 ! just as gardening does. Few have done so much, 

 j probably no one has done more to make botany 

 ' popular than Professor Beal. In this lecture he 

 j tells how he does it. No better service could be 

 j rendered to botanists and gardeners than to 

 ! have this lecture in the hands of every teacher. 

 We hope it will have a wide circulation. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Various Questions. — " G. McC," Boulder, 

 Colorado, sends us various questions, written on 

 both sides of a sheet of paper, which prevents us 

 from classifying them, as it is generally best to 

 do; so we have to find a place for all of them 

 under the '' literary " head. It is never wise to 

 write on more than one side of a sheet when 

 sending matter to the press. He says : 



" Will you please give me information upon 

 the following points in the Gardener's 

 Monthly : 1. What work on landscape garden- 

 ing is best adapted to small rural places ? Can 

 you recommend Scott's? 



" 2. Give the names and addresses of the secre- 

 taries of the State Horticultural Societies of Cal- 

 ifornia and Kansas, also Utah, if there are such. 



" 3. It is said that fruit of first-class flavor can- 

 not be gi'owa on land on which water is allowed 

 to stand, and hence such fruit cannot be grown 

 in localities which require irrigating. Further- 

 more, it is said that California Oranges and other 

 fruits, though often of monstrous size, are defi- 

 I cient in flavor, and cannot compete in the eas- 

 I tern markets with those grown in Florida or 

 Louisiana. Is this true? 



'' 4. An esteemed horticultural friend of mine 

 takes strong ground against horticultural socie- 

 ties and journals. He says, ' When an inventor 

 discovers any thing of general value he at once 

 secures to himself the advantages by letters pa- 

 j tent, instead of turning it out to public use. 

 Why, then, should a pomologist be expected to 

 be so generous as to give away the results of 

 long and costly experiments 1 As to horticultu- 

 ral papers, it is generally the novice that writes 

 for them. The experienced and successful man 



