(3c ^^ 



Nomenclature of Our Russian Fruits. 



By resolution of youi Society at Grand 

 Eapids, in 1885, 1 was "given the specia 

 work of revising and arranging the 

 nomenclature of American importations 

 of Eussian fruits," but it seemed best not 

 to undertake the work at once. There 

 were too many queries; too many things 

 supposed, but not known. My sugges- 

 tions are now the better for the delay. 

 Since then I have seen Dr. Edward Eegel 

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

 Eegel, who had lately returned from 

 Turkestan, and who was his father's cor- 

 respondent when making that general 

 collection of the apples of Eussia, from 

 which he selected those sent to the 

 United States Department of Agriculture 

 in 1870. The result is that I can now 

 offer you a correct Eussian original of 

 that importation, except two or three 

 names, which can only be vaguely 

 guessed at. 



It may be remembered that the list sent 

 by Dr. Eegel to Mr. Wm. Saunders, of 

 tlie Agricultural Department at Wash- 

 ington, was lost at the Eussian embassy 

 there, and Mr. Saunders was thus forced 

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

 turned to him. 



1 also had, last winter, several inter- 

 views with Count Alexeeff, of Moscow, a 

 Eussian physician and scientist, who has 

 aided me very much in this work. 



Owing to the confusion existing among 



the names of these Eussian fruits, Prof. 

 Budd and I talked matters over, and I 

 prepared lists of these different importa- 

 tions, and they appeared in a bulletin of 

 the Iowa Agricultural College in 1885, al- 

 though a large number of St. Petersburg 

 varieties interwoven at the last moment,, 

 by Prof. Budd, I must not be held ac- 

 countable for. 



I have aimed at: 



1. A euphonic rendering of the Eussian 

 name, leaving no doubt as to the Eussian 

 letters composing that name. 



2. For use in this country, a Eussian 

 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 

 Eussian names, viz. : Anis instead of 

 Anisette, Arcad instead of Arcadian, 

 Borovinka instead of Mushroom, Eepka 

 instead of Turnip; also Eeinette rather 

 than Queen. I have also retained the word 

 Naliv, which is applied to the Skvosnoi, 

 Grlasapfel or Klarapfel, or Pomme Trans- 

 parente, and technically does not mean 

 "juicy." Unmusical names like ''Cut 

 Apple" and "Smelling Apple" I have 

 thought best to change. 



Names in the Eussian column in 

 brackets, are names which do not appear 

 in Eegel's Eusskaya Pomologaya pub- 

 hshed in 1868. 



