163 



that those who are in a position to do something, looking to the accomplishment of 

 so desirable an end may take it into their consideration, and take such measures as 

 may insure its being accomplished. 



Hints on the Womenclatttre op Fruits by E. W. Starr, Cornwallis, K. S. 



Mr. Chairman.— I would like to call the attention of this convention to the 

 importance of the correct and proper nomenclature of our fruits, especially those 

 commercial sorts, which now have a favourable reputation in the markets of the 

 world. 



Incorrect nomenclature is productive of many evils ; it causes market reports, 

 in many instances, to be valueless to the grower ; and in others, injures the reputa- 

 tions of varieties ; while in still other cases the reputation of the packer suifers, 

 from ignorance, the imputation of intentional fraud, by representing his goods as 

 other than they are. 



Any variety of fruit that is known in the markets has a certain reputation for 

 certain qualities, and is largely bought and sold on that reputation, which should 

 not be imperilled by the carelessness, ignorance or dishonesty of the grower or 

 jfecker, from the use of incorrect names. 



The use of synonyms should be avoided as much, as possible, and where ob- 

 served, noted for correction. Local names given through ignorance of the real 

 name should be corrected as soon as discovered, so as, if possible, to prevent their 

 being established. Nurserymen are frequently to blame for sending out old sorts 

 under new names, thus adding to the existing complications. They should be more 

 careful and test everything new, or supposed to be new, before sending it out. As 

 to the work done by irresponsible tree brokers and pedlars, we cannot control them, 

 and those who deal with them must expect to be frequently sold or disappointed. 



Unfortunately, many of our fruits have received local names, and wrong names, 

 in years gone by. They are known by those names in the markets, and all attempts 

 to change them has only resulted in confusion and failure. For instance, "Yellow 

 Bellefleur"is known in the markets of the Maritime Provinces as "The Bishop's 

 Pippin " or '■' Bishop Pippin," and all attempts to correct the name have met with 

 decided . opposition from dealers and market men ; and " Flushing-Spitzenburg" is 

 univei-sally called in the market " Vandervere," with similiar objections to any 

 change. I find the same apple here as Pomme de Fer. Some of our well known 

 varieties have been burdened with absurdly long and inappropriate names, and 

 fruit-brokers market men and dealers, alike seem impatient of their use. The result 

 is that contractions and abbreviations of all sorts are in general use. " Esopus 

 Spitzenburg" is called "Spite," " Westfield— Seek-no-Further," "Seek," " Ehode 

 Island Greening," "Greening," and so on throughout the list. All we can do in 

 such cases is to accept these changes and abbreviations, as recognized synonyms of 

 the various sorts, and publish them as such in our reports and transactions. 



I have said that the use of synonyms should be avoided, but as all rules must 

 have excepUons I think we must except all those foreign fruits which are blessed 

 with unpronounceable, jaw-breaking names, and if any of them show signs of coming 

 BOTJularity in mercy to ordinary fruit-growers and market men, to prevent dislo- 

 cation of i'aws and distortion of facial muscles, we must select a short, appropriate 

 svnonvm and publish it as the name by which the variety shall be known. 



The American Pomological Society, at the suggestion of its late honoured pre- 

 sident the Hon Marshall P. Wilder, has for some years past been doing good work 

 irTrppommending the abbreviation of long names. I think we should by resolution 

 fldont their recommendations as far as they go, and also endeavour to supplement 

 their work by a close investigation of our own fruit lists, to see what improvement 

 we can suggest on the same lines. Their rule has been to discard all superfluous 

 words, affixes and prefixes, where it was possible to do so, and leave a distinctive 

 name. 



