INTRODUCTION 3 



terms as carburetor, accelerator, clutch, spark-plug 

 or magneto, unknown a few years ago, are now 

 understood by nearly everyone, and those who do 

 not as yet understand these terms are by no means 

 deterred thereby from buying (or wishing for) an 

 automobile. Spikelet, glume, and lemma are words 

 no more difficult to learn than are hames, crupper, 

 or whippletree, carburetor, clutch, or magneto. The 

 reason for using these botanical terms is the same as 

 that for using the names of the different parts of a 

 harness; they are simpler and more exact than 

 would be a descriptive phrase. It is simpler to say 

 "tenets" than to say "the rings that stick up in the 

 middle of the harness on the horse's back that you 

 pass the reins through" and it is simpler to say 



fusion caused by want of technical terms: "The man stands 

 up the horses on each side of the thing that projects from the 

 front end of the wagon, throws the gear on top of the horses, and 

 passes the thing that goes forward through a ring, and hauls 

 it aft, and passes the other thing through the other ring and 

 hauls it aft on the other side of the other horse, opposite to the 

 first one, after crossing them and bringing the loose end back, 

 and then buckles the other thing underneath the horse, and 

 takes another thing and wraps it around the thing I spoke of 

 before, and puts another thing over each horse's head, and puts 

 the iron thing in his mouth, and brings the ends of these things 

 aft over his back, after buckling another one around under his 

 neck, and hitching another thing on a thing that goes over his 

 shoulders, and then takes the slack of the thing which I men- 

 tioned a while ago and fetches it aft and makes it fast to the 

 thing that pulls the wagon, and hands the other things up to 

 the driver." 



