104 Rules for ^^ American" Pomology 



So far, therefore, as it was necessary to choose any author- 

 ity, none could be better than the London Horticultural Soci- 

 ety's Catalogue ; because the means which have been used to 

 arrive at the results have been the only ones which can claim 

 any respect or consideration, viz., actual inspection and com- 

 parison of the fruits. Yet it should not be obligatory to strictly 

 follow it. On the other hand, however, this rule adopts, for 

 a standard American authority, a work which cannot be 

 looked upon in any such light ; for, probably, not one quarter 

 of the fruits have been subjected to careful inspection and 

 comparison. Hence, the impropriety of adopting such, espe- 

 cially when it is well known that no American author has 

 ever done half so much towards creating confusion in our 

 nomenclature,by attempting to re-name our well-known fruits : 

 all the conventional rules of science have been entirely 

 disregarded ; and, to say nothing of the great confusion of 

 synonymes, we have upwards of a dozen well-known fruits, 

 which have been re-christened. If every pomological author 

 were to take the same liberty, there would be no hope of 

 arriving at a correct nomenclature. To make it imperative 

 to follow any such authority, is only to increase instead of les- 

 sening the confusion already existing. 



We have thus, in as brief a manner as possible, presented 

 our objections to the Rules which have been adopted. We have 

 stated that we believe there is no necessity of but a very few 

 plain and concise rules, not adopting any thing new, but 

 merely reasserting those which have always obtained, and 

 something of this kind, in conclusion, we shall attempt. 



We are inclined to believe that some of our horticultural 

 societies, in the zeal which animates some of their members, 

 have erroneous views of the objects of such associations. We 

 had always supposed they were to encourage skill in cultiva- 

 tion, and to make known new varieties of fruits, flowers, and 

 vegetables, by the award of liberal premiums for superior 

 specimens; — not to say what fruit shall have a name, and what 

 shall not ; — not to say that all descriptions of fruits shall be 

 made by pomologists, or fruit committees of the respective 

 societies ; — not that no fruit shall be considered as named un- 

 less the name be published in some journal having the largest 

 circulation ; — these are all subjects quite beyond their prov- 

 ince and control. 



