56 Uniform Nomenclature of Fruits. 



Uniformity, if worth having, is worth seeking and worth 

 preserving. All corruptions and provinciahsms in the lan- 

 guage we speak and write, are abominable, and, ought to be 

 abated as nuisances. These are without the shadow of ex- 

 cuse. In conversation, the name of a fruit, in our own lan- 

 guage, should always be pronounced, and when written, it 

 should always be spelled in the way good use has established. 

 This is necessary, if Pomology ever rise into a science. That 

 it shall do so, in our day, depends upon how effectually what- 

 ever ground may be gained shall be secured in the advance- 

 ment it is now making. A difficulty of no little magnitude 

 is here encountered, and one, as seems most likely, which 

 can never be overcome, in the pronunciation of that class of 

 names introduced from foreign countries and in foreign lan- 

 guages. Some of these are not susceptible of literal, or, in- 

 deed, of any intelligible translation into English. Nothing 

 short of the direct and critical attainment, in their living and 

 oral use, of the several languages to Avhich they belong, can 

 suffice to the accurate pronunciation of them. He who, 

 without any, or with less than a complete knowledge of 

 the French, affects the correct pronunciation of French 

 names, only renders himself ridiculous. "Keys,"* and vo- 

 cabularies, may make such an one a laughing-stock, but they 

 can never impart to him "the true Parisian manner in the 

 accent." In all cases, however, where such names are writ- 

 ten, they may be spelled by any one with the exactest nicety, 

 and this is what is insisted upon by the rule. 



In conclusion : What is most of all now needed is agree- 

 ment, unity of purpose, and concert of action. Authority 

 will possess added weight, if it be known that its conclusions 

 have been arrived at under the operation of these principles. 

 If any one can propose an easier or safer method of attaining 

 the object sought by the foregoing rules, than they afford, he 

 cannot confer a greater service upon Pomology than by making 

 it public. They might, indeed, have been further enforced 

 and illustrated by examples of their violation. These are 

 not wanting, and could be furnished " in any quantity and 



* "Day-lece Dar-dahn-pone," (Downing, Appendix, 563,) will hardly pass muster 

 at Paris, any more than, eech cawn dich nicht faerch-taen, will at Heidelburg. 



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