ON FACT VS. THEORY 
Thus, commonly, we call all forms of plant 
life by their nicknames—and by their nicknames 
only do most of us know them. 
One reason, likely enough, is that the scientific 
names of plants are in Latin—for the good reason 
that the Russian, or Swedish, or Spanish, or 
American scientist is able to describe his work, 
thus, in a common language. 
In giving a plant its Latin name, no attention 
is paid to its class, order or family. 
The name of the genus becomes its first name. 
The name of the species follows. 
And the name of the variety, when given, comes 
last. 
Thus, in writing the scientific name for an 
apricot, or a plum, or a cherry, we should give 
first the name of the genus, which, for all of these, 
is Prunus. 
If we are to describe, for instance, a cherry of 
the species Avium, we should write, following the 
name of the genus, the name of the species, as 
Prunus Avium. 
And then, if we were to write the name of some 
particular improvement in that species of cherry 
which Mr..Burbank had wrought, say the famous 
Burbank cherry, we should follow the names of 
the genus and the species with the name of that 
variety, as Prunus Avium Burbank. 
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