AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY RULES 125 



be arbitrary nor imposed by authority. They 

 must be founded on considerations clear and 

 forcible enough for every one to comprehend 

 and be disposed to accept." * 



If these principles should be accepted as 

 the foundation for pomological nomenclature 

 we should feel that the American Pomolog- 

 ical Society or any other organization or insti- 

 tution could not do more than to formulate a 

 code and recommend its adoption. No one 

 would be bound to follow that recommenda- 

 tion nor to use the code, unless the majority 

 of pomologists chose to use it. Then it 

 would be the force of custom, acting in recog- 

 nition of general principle, and not the force 

 of any society's dictum, which would prevail. 



The rules given above are of great interest, 

 however, under any view, as showing the 

 ideas of nomenclature current, or recently 

 current, among American pomologists. 



With respect to Rule i, it may be said that 



* From the laws of botanical nomenclature adopted by the 

 Congress of Botanists at Paris, August, 1867. For a full and 

 instructive resume of nomenclatural rules, including botan- 

 ical, zoological, and ornithological codes, the student may 

 consult Sudworth's " Nomenclature of the Arborescent Flora 

 of the United States," Appendix, United States Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, 1897. 



