XI.] SYNONYIMS A MEASURE OF MERIT. 243 



all those strains which have been developed in certain 

 localities by selection or the effect of environment, 

 and in a third list all those duplicate names which have 

 been given outright to the very same type. These lat- 

 ter only — the re -names — are true synonyms. With 

 such lists as these before me, I should expect the best 

 results in selecting from those types which have the 

 longest list of duplicate or synonymous names. Some- 

 thing of this kind has occurred unconsciously in all 

 generations. The oldest and most prized fruits are 

 generally the ones which have the greatest number of 

 synonyms. Consider, if you will, the multitude of 

 forms of the Green Gage plum which are known in 

 England. This, like most very old and dominant types, 

 tends to repeat itself from seeds, and as the years pass 

 new strains are grouped about the parent stock, each 

 one an independent testimony to the value of the type. 



On the other hand, from a nurseryman's point of 

 view, one must look with suspicion upon seedlings of 

 old and variable types, for they are likely to be so 

 nearly like other forms of similar origin that customers 

 will not distinguish them, and the nurseryman may be 

 charged with re -naming old varieties ; and the nur- 

 seryman may have difficulty, too, in distinguishing the 

 best strains of these variable types. The German Prune 

 is an example. There are several types of this in culti- 

 vation, some good and some indifferent, and I should 

 never think of ordering German Prune from a nursery- 

 man unless I knew from what particular strain he has 

 propagated. 



In conclusion, therefore, it may be said that a 

 variety, in the horticultural sense, is a plant, and its 

 progeny, which is so distinct from other types that it 



