112 SYSTEMATIC POMOLOGY 



ling, hybrid, pippin, buerre, damson, etc., is 

 not admissible," but their inadmissibility rests 

 solely on the ground of their inconvenience. 

 They add nothing to the distinctiveness of a 

 name, though they add materially to its 

 length. 



The use of nouns in the possessive form is 

 also bothersome. The possessive sign means 

 nothing, or, if it does, the meaning is mis- 

 leading. Mr. Mclntosh does not own the 

 variety named in his honor. He may not 

 have a single tree of it on his farm, though 

 other men own thousands. He may not even 

 control the propagation and distribution of 

 the trees. The name is only commemorative. 

 It is given in his honor, because the variety 

 originated on his farm. He is commemorated 

 quite as well, or even better, with his name in 

 the nominative case as with it in the posses- 

 sive. Even were he not, we must not forget 

 that names are not for historical records nor 

 for descriptive uses, but solely for conve- 

 nience. 



The use of tautological descriptive adjec- 

 tives as a part of variety names is also in dis- 

 repute, and is objectionable for the same reason 

 because they are inconvenient. Mclntosh's 



