as active as it was in earlier days. And for similar reasons our 

 Division of Pomology in the United States Department of Agriculture 

 cannot exercise an arbitrary final authority. Thus our only reliance 

 now must be placed in such a thorough, yet simple, system of naming 

 as shall make it easy to determine by rule what the correct name of a 

 variety is. 



In this respect, the horticulturists have much to learn from the 

 botanists. The latter name the species of plants which they study 

 according to rules upon which they are fairly well agreed, and though 

 there are some inconsistencies, occasionally ridiculous ones, still on 

 the whole the science of botany is immeasurably in advance of horti- 

 culture in this respect. We have, indeed, a code of rules for naming 

 fruits, and another for naming vegetables ; and though these rules are 

 not above criticism, they are much in advance of the general practice 

 in nomenclature. It is safe to say that not one fruit-grower in a hun- 

 dred has ever seen these rules. It is also perfectly obvious that the 

 rules are openly and flagrantly disregarded by a great many nursery- 

 men, seedsmen and writers on horticultural topics. A separate chap- 

 ter will be devoted to a presentation and discussion of these rules. 



