AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY RULES 127 



or by any author making formal publication 

 with reference to the variety in question. 



Rule 2, though less definite and explicit 

 than might be wished, is reasonable and 

 necessary. Practically the same ground is 

 covered, though more positively and arbitra- 

 rily, in the first rule of the Lazy Club code. 



Rule 3, in the terms here given, is less a 

 rule than a suggestion. Suggestions with re- 

 gard to what is suitable and what unsuitable 

 in naming fruits, however pertinent, are 

 hardly to be called rules of nomenclature. 



Rule 4 is introduced in a hesitating tone, 

 as though a conflict of names on the ground 

 of priority were a very unusual or delicate 

 matter, yet this is the rule of most impor- 

 tance in the whole code. We know that an 

 old variety which has not two or three names 

 is an exception, but in deciding among a 

 number of names for a given fruit, choice will 

 rest oftener upon priority than upon any 

 other ground ; in fact, priority is almost an 

 absolute test in such cases. Any other con- 

 sideration must be of the most obvious sort 

 to justify the substitution of one name for 

 another ; but the first correct name correctly 

 given to a variety must stand. 



