XI.] THE USES OF SYNONYMS. 241 



usually have the strongest or most virile characters. 



Let us, for illustration, represent the original type 

 of the peach by the hub of a wheel, and each new and 

 distinct variety by the starting-point of a spoke. Now, 

 those spokes lengthen fastest where the greatest number 

 of forms appear. There will be the early white -fleshed 

 half-cling varieties, represented by the Hale, upon one 

 side ; on another side the great Crawford family starts 

 off ; on another the old Barnard tribe ; on another the 

 Hill's Chili type; and on still another the Chinese cling, 

 and so on. Presently, our wheel has lost its symmetry, 

 and instead of presenting a circular outline, it is con- 

 torted by numerous swelling prominences, of which the 

 greatest, perhaps, in eastern America, is the Crawford 

 protuberance; and this is the elevation, also, which is 

 most conspicuous in the constitution of our orchards. 



I have already said before this association (Essay 

 XVI.) that I believe that the best result of the in- 

 creasing competition in horticultural pursuits will be 

 the habit of giving much closer attention to the adapta- 

 bility of varieties to particular conditions and uses. 

 The synonyms, as I have now explained them, will aid 

 us in selecting from particular varieties those strains 

 which may be better suited to given conditions than 

 the pure or original type of the variety itself is. I 

 once attempted to refer the many catalogued varieties 

 of tomatoes to a few well-marked types, and I was 

 sure that I had simplified the matter greatly because 

 I had reduced the varieties more than one -half. But 

 when I asked an experienced gardener for his opinion 

 of the reduction, he remarked: "Excellent! You 

 have put similar kinds together where I can find 

 them, and I have ordered all the kinds which you refer 



16 SUR. 



