STANDARD CYCLOPEDIA OF HOKTICULTrEE 199 



much to be congratulated on its completion. In the Supplement he 

 makes a characteristic statement : — " To spend five years in a review 

 of the vegetable kingdom, with all its marvels and its unsolved 

 problems, is in itself a great privilege. If in addition one may see 

 the applications to the desire of man, may hold associations with 

 several hundred enthusiastic and competent correspondents, may have 

 relations with the commercial and financial questions involved, and 

 may at the same time catch some glimpse of the reaches of evolution 

 and feel a new contact with the earth, the making of a Cyclopedia of 

 of this kind becomes not a task, but an experience in life .... The 

 Editor is well aware of the shortcomings of the volumes and he would 

 like to do the work all over again for the delight of it." With such 

 a spirit as driving-force, the rapidity with which the volumes have 

 followed one another ma}^ be understood. 



The articles in the present volume and the general and specific 

 descriptions are of the same high quality which has throughout 

 characterized the work. Besides being of a more scientifically exact 

 type than is common in horticultural books, they abound in points 

 which, though referring principally to American horticulture, are 

 ver^'^ suggestive to British growers. In the six volumes over 3000 

 genera and 12,000 species have been fully described : more than 

 four hundred collaborators have been employed on the work. There 

 is a " Cultivators' Guide " to the articles, and a very complete index 

 to synonyms, vernacular names and miscellaneous references not in 

 alphabetical order in the body of the work. In the Supplement is a 

 section with the American-sounding title of " Finding List " ; this 

 contains the names in common use in North America with their 

 equivalent in the Cyclopedia. Herein is to be found a statement of 

 the American Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomenclature, 



whose aim has been " so far as is practicable to secure the 



standardizing of a single botanical name, together with a single ver- 

 nacular or common name for every tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant 

 in the American Horticultural trade." Such a committee is much 

 needed in this country, where we suffer from the confusion and 

 inconvenience resulting from the abuse of different names for the 

 same plant or the same name for different plants. We gather from 

 the article on Welwitschia that Dr. Bailey is in favour of long- 

 accepted usage rather than priority as making for stability. 



A page is devoted to new combinations made during the progress 

 of the work. These refer principally to varietal names, but the 

 following specific combinations occur : — Cissus oligocarpa (Lev. & 

 Van) Bailey; Selenium aromaticum (Hook.) Bailey; Hosta 

 Fortunei (Baker) Bailey; H. longipes (Franch. & Sav.) Bailey; 

 Lactuca Bourgcei (Boiss.) N. Taylor ; LWiocarpus densiflora 

 (Hook. & Arn.) Rehder ; L. cornea (Lour.) Eehder ; L. glabra 

 (Thunb.) Rehder ; L. thalassica (Hance) Eehder; Maurandia 

 Lojihospermiim Bailey; Hhododendron candidum (Small) Rehder; 

 R. IcBtevirens 'RehCiQY ; R. aiisfrinum (Small) Rehder. Many new 

 combinations in Ryrus, Friintis, Statice were published in JRhodora, 



