Nomenclature of Our Russian Fruit: 



By lesolution of yoiii Society nt (iihihI 

 RapitlH, in IWr,, ] was "jjjivcn the six'cial 

 work of f(.vis'ij<r hikI arraiifriuf,' tlie 

 JioiDenelaturo of Aua-rican itnportations 

 of Itussian fnuts," hut it seeniod hest not 

 to undertake tlie work at once. Tliere 

 were too many (jueries; too many things 

 sa|)pos()(l, but not known. My Hnj,'j,'es- 

 tions are now tlie better for tfio delay. 

 Since then I hav(3 seen Dr. Edward Hcf^'el 

 at St. Peterisburg, also his son, Mr. Albert 

 Kej:el, who had lately returned from 

 Turkefttau, and who was Jiis father's cor- 

 respondent when making' that general 

 collection of the ap])les of Hussia, from 

 which he selected those sent to the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 in 1H7(). The result is that I can now 

 offer you a ('orrect Russian original of 

 that importation, except two or three 

 names, which can only be vaguely 

 guessed at. 



It may be rememberetl that the list sent 

 by J)r. Kegel to Mr. Wm. Saunders, of 

 the Agricultural Department at Wash- 

 ington, was lost at the Russian embassy 

 there, and Mr. Saunders was thus forced 

 to issue it in the form in which it was le- 

 turned to him. 



1 also had, last winter, several intev- 



views with Count Alexeeff, of Moscow, a 



Russian piiysician and scientist, who lias 



aided me very much in this work. 



Owing to the confusion existing among 



the names of these Russian fruits, Prof. 

 Budd and 1 talked matters over, and I 

 |)repared lists of these differejit importa- 

 tions, and they aiipeared in a Imlletin of 

 the Iowa Agricultural College in IHH'j, mI- 

 tliough a large number of St. I'etersburg 

 varieties interwoven at the last moment, 

 by Prof. Budd, I nnist not be ludd ac- 

 countable for. 



I have aimed at: 



1. A euphonic rendering of tlu Russian 

 name, leaving no doubt as to the Russian 

 letters composing that name. 



•2. For use in this country, a Russian 

 name, or a translation, as short and fit as 

 I can suggest, retaining that given in the 

 Department list whenever practicable. I 

 have, however, retained several short 

 Russian naujes. viz.; Anis instead of 

 Anisette, Arcad instead of Arcadian, 

 Borovinka instead of Mushroou), Re|)ka 

 instead of Turnip; also Reinette rather 

 than Queen. I have also retained the word 

 Naliv. which is applied to the Skvosnoi, 

 (rlasapfel or Klarapfel, or Pomnie Trans- 

 parente, and technically does not mean 

 •'juicy." Unmusical names like ''Cut 

 Ai)ple " and "Smelling Apple" J have 

 thought best to change. 



Names in the Russian ''column in 

 brackets, are names which do not appear 

 in Regel's Russkaya Pomologaya pub- 

 lished in 18(58. 



