HO SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY 



word in preference to three or four is that 

 the single word is more convenient. The 

 fundamental importance of this point has 

 generally been insufficiently recognized. Yet 

 a name is essentially nothing but a matter of 

 convenience. There is no other reason par- 

 ticularly why men and women should not be 

 numbered as the motormen and conductors 

 are instead of being named Richard Croker, 

 Susan B. Anthony, or Jan Panderewski. The 

 easiest way to deal with men and objects is 

 to give them names. Whenever numbers 

 are more convenient they supplant the names; 

 witness the call numbers in the telephone ex- 

 change list, the numbers given to workmen 

 on large contractors' jobs, or the motormen 

 and conductors already mentioned. The law 

 of convenience is a fundamental law of lan- 

 guage, and so properly a primary considera- 

 tion in the settlement of any system of no- 

 menclature. 



Aside from the inconvenience of speaking 

 and writing such long names as Louise Bonne 

 de Jersey, their application to horticultural 

 varieties is very apt to result finally in confu- 

 sion. No nurseryman is going to write a 

 hundred labels for his pear trees with this 



