664 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [lo Oct., 191 i. 



of fruits with his naiTu^ as an addition to the fruit name; and thus we. 

 have Smith's Red apple, Smith's Superb plum. Smith's Superior plum. 

 Madam, Smith, Bergamot Smith, Smith's Scarlet, and so on — Smith, of 

 course, being here used impersonally. We actually have an " Early 

 Rivers" apple, peach, cherry, nectarine, plum, and damson; a "Thomas 

 Rivers" apple and peach; a "Dr. Hogg" peach, pear, strawberry, and 

 grape; and a " Coe's Golden Drop " apple and plum. 



It is onlv fair to a man to credit him with a desire to hand down his 

 name to posterity in one or two good fruits ; but it becomes tiresome and 

 confusing when he wishes to prefix or suffix his name to e\'ery fruit he pro- 

 duces, no matter how good it may lie. There is the useless and unneces- 

 sary multiplication of words ; and, in the American Pomological Associa- 

 tion, such names are not allowed, only in very exceptional circumstances. 



\\'e mast not credit everybody with the desire to err in multiplicity of 

 naming fruits. It is just possible, in fact, it has happened, that growers 

 in different parts of the world, and at different times, obtain equally similar 

 results. A case m point is that of the Plumcot. a hybrid fruit rai.sed 

 recently in America by Luther Burbank. Burbank raised this as a cross 

 between the plum and the apricot. The fruit is as large as an apricot, wkh 

 a deep purple velvety skin. It possesses an apricot-plum flavour, and has 

 attributes of both fruits. Yet it is known that, in two places in Victoria 

 at least, trees almost exactly similar to the plumcot have existed for manv 

 years. 



Another instance is just as remarkable. Bakehouse's Bergamot is a pear 

 introduced from Tasmania many years ago by the late Mr. Wm. Elliott. 

 It is a remarkably fine flavoured fruit of excellent quality, and has been 

 much admired as an exceedingly superior pear. This year, an amateur 

 grower of Oakleigh submitted to me som.e pears for an expression of 

 opinion. The pears were grown on a seedling tree which was raised from 

 seeds of a late culinary pear. My report on the pear was to the effect 

 that, as the fruits were exactlv identical in appearance, quality, and flavour 

 with Bakehou.se's Bergamot, it was not advisat)le to retain the pear as a 

 .separate variety. 



It is thus seen that Nature, ui different parts of the world, repeats her 

 .successful efforts. 



Confusion. 



Two instances might be quoted as to how confusion will frequently 

 arise. For many years orchardists have been growing the well-known 

 apple, Stone Pippin, which is deservedly considered one of our finest 

 winter fruits. The origin of its name, Stone Pippin, is obscure, as it is- 

 certainly not the true Stone Pippin — this apple is of Scotch origin, and is 

 correctly known as Gogar Pippin, which is most unlike our Stone Pippin, 

 being a true des.sert apple of sweet flavour. The colonial Stone Pippin is 

 really an apple of German descent, known as Griiner Fiirstein. Possibly, 

 some early German colonist brought the apple from the Fatherland, and, 

 from its hardiness, it received the sobriquet of " Stone Pippin." There 

 are three old English apples, known respectively as Birmingham Stone 

 Pippin, Norfolk Stone Pippin, and Somerset Stone Pippin. The colonial 

 Stone Pippin, or. more correctly, Griiner Fiirstein, while it does not 

 accurately answer to the description of any one of these apples given by- 

 English pomologists, yet in certain features it bears a resemblance to the 



