NAMINC OF NEW FRUITS. 467 



ABOUT THE NAMING OF NEW FRUITS. 



1H)X. ir. E. VAN DEMAN, rAK'KSLEV, VA. 



Oue thinp I notice is needed in Minnesota as well as in other parts 

 of our country, that the originators and introducers of new fruits 

 use more judgment in naming them. 



The list of cultivated varieties has long since become so large 

 and cumbersome that a reformation has been and now is a neces- 

 sity. The matter has been forcibly presented over and over by some 

 of the best pomologiats of the couutr3-, and yet the addition of new 

 names of unwise and confusing character goes on. The originators 

 or introducers of new fruits often do not know of the improprietj- of 

 the names they adopt, and I sometimes fear that they do not care. 

 It might be well for the editor to publish the rules of nomenclature 

 of the American Pomological Society for the guidance of the readers. 

 The names should be as simple, short and smooth sounding as 

 possible. The name of a river, mountain, count}', town or of a 

 person is often all right, but there is a great danger of duplicating 

 those already in use. Do not use Prolific, Beaut}-. Red, White, Green- 

 ing, Pearmain, Pippin, Seedlingor any other name that is so common. 

 Denote seedlings by numbers at home or while under trial in the 

 hands of experimenters, but never send them out to the public un- 

 der such titles. 



There are two national authorities on pomological nomenclature, 

 the American Pomological Society and the Division of Pomologj- 

 at Washington; or perhaps I should say one. for they now act in 

 unison, as I had originallj' hoped and planned when I conceived of 

 and organized that division in 1880. If those who have new fruits to 

 name will address the latter, they will be greatly helped in finding 

 out from the only list in existence — and made for that purpose in 

 part — whether the name conflicts with any other in use and also in 

 other ways. 



RULES KOK .\.\MIXG AND DESCRIBING FRUITS. 

 Adopted In- the Anierirnn Pomolofcical Societj'. 

 Kitle ?.— The originator or introducer (in the order named) has the prior right 

 to bestow a name upon a new or unnamed fruit. 



Ktile 1'.— Tiie society reserves the right, in case of a long, iiiapproi>riate or 

 otherwise objectionable name, to shorten, modify or wholly change the same 

 when tliev shall occur iti its discussions or reports; and also recommend such 

 changes for general adoption. 



Rule .7.— The name of a fruit should preferably express, as far as practicable, 

 by a single w»)rd, a characteristic of the variety, the name of the originator or 

 the place of its origin. I'nder no ordinary circumstances should more than a 

 single word be employed. 



Rule ^.—Should the question of priority arise between different names for the 

 same variety of fruit, r>ther circumstances being equal, the name first publicly 

 l>estowed will be given precedence. 



Rule .(.—To entitle a new fruit to the award or commendation of tlie society, it 

 must possess ' at least for the locality for wliich it is recommen<le<l i some valua- 

 ble or desirable quality or combination of qualities in a higher degree than any 

 previouslv known variety of its cI.tss ami season. 



Rule 0.'—\ variety of fruit having been once exhibite<l. examined, and reported 

 upon as a new fruit by a committee of the society, will not thereafter be recog- 

 nized as such so far as Bul)se<|uent reports are coticerned. 



A rule governing the revision of names, as authorizeil by the society at the 

 meeting in Wiishington in .'September, ly'l, is as follows: 



Prefixes, suffixes. apo>trophic terminations and secondary wor»ls, together with 

 words whose significations are e.xpres^.ed in the descriptive columnu of the cata- 

 logue, are eliminated fmm the names of fruits, save in a few ca-^es in which they 

 may be needful to insure the identity of a variety and in a few time-honored 

 names. 



The anglicising of foreign names is resorted to only in the interest of brevity or 

 pronounceability. 

 In questionable cases, subsidiary words are retained in parentheses. 



