242 LUTHER BURBANK 



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, we should follow the names of the genus 

 and species with the name of that variety, as 

 Prunus Avium May duke. 



Or, if we were to prepare a technical article 

 about this species, we should write Prunus 

 Avium at the first mention of it, and contract 

 it to P. Avium when mentioning it thereafter. 



