498 " MY FATHER'S GARDEN." 



redolent of odours, joyous with song. Our young writers 

 on gardening, whose style is not yet fixed, could not do 

 better than take this as their model. 



The book is plentifully adorned with pleasing illustra- 

 tions, and is a marvel of cheapness even in this age of 

 cheap literature. 



HOETTCULTUKAL NOMENCLATUEE, 



[From " The Florist," Dec. i868,/. 274.] 



" T ^17 HAT'S in a name?" is a question that has often 

 V V been raised, and doubtless as often settled 

 at least to the satisfaction of the questioner. Now, 

 whether taken from the political, literary, social, or com- 

 mercial point of view, there is, we apprehend, much 

 in a name ; and if we descend from the general to the 

 particular, we fancy that from a horticultural point of 

 view it is not a matter of indifference. True it is that our 

 greatest poet has said, " A Rose by any other name would 

 smell as sweet," but we take leave to doubt whether it 

 would always seem as fair. We have observed that cer- 

 tain names at once take hold of the public, are in every 

 one's mouth, and make the novelty popular from the 

 beginning, whereas in other instances the reverse of this is 

 the case the high qualities of the novelty require know- 

 ing to make the name popular. 



If we look back on the past, or take the existing 

 nomenclature of plants, we find much that is incongruous, 

 and in bad taste. Botanists and horticulturists have alike 

 erred here. The former have transgressed by adopting a 

 frightful terminology, by compounding words of different 

 languages, and by applying words which do not correctly 

 interpret facts. As an instance of the latter, the word 

 coccinea (scarlet) is often applied to things crimson, 

 caerulea (blue), to things purple, and alba (white), to things 



