344 Man's Work on the Farm 



But before we consider, in their proper order, a few 

 of the more important changes which have taken place 

 in the vegetation of different lands, a word or two must 

 be said about names. 



It is necessary to be cautious about accepting 

 popular names, for these are often given without much 

 reason. 



The Indian fig, or prickly pear, is neither fig nor 

 pear, but an American cactus. The Jerusalem arti- 

 choke is an American sunflower, in Italian Girasole 

 (Turnesol), which was corrupted into ' Jerusalem,' and 

 it was called an ' artichoke ' because the tubers some- 

 what resembled in taste the heads of the real artichoke. 



As for the names ' apple ' and ' pear,' they have been 

 used in the most reckless manner both in ancient and 

 modern times. The Persian ' apple ' of the Greeks and 

 Romans was the Chinese peach, and their Punic 

 ' apple ' was the Persian pomegranate. The ' golden 

 apple ' of the Italian is not, as one might suppose, a 

 pippin, ' but the tomato. The ' alligator pear ' of 

 Mexico is not a pear, nor has it any connection with 

 alligators. Its native name is ahuaca, corrupted by the 

 French into avocat and avocatier, suggestive of some 

 equally mysterious connection with lawyers, with 

 whom, however, it has as little to do as the pomme 

 d'acajou has with mahogany. As to the red and white 

 ' currants ' of our gardens, what right had they to steal 

 the names of the small grapes of Corinth, which we 

 now call grocer's currants for distinction ? 



The potato is too curious an instance of this kind 

 of thing to be passed over. By French and Germans 

 it has been called the ' earth-apple,' and by the 

 Hungarians the ' earth-pear ' ; but the English naro^ 



