HOW TO LEARN PLANT NAMES 



5 



without works is useless, so you must be willing and able 

 to spend some time in intensive study, for the technical 

 knowledge, etc., required in the nursery business is akin 

 to that required by the druggist. It would seem to the 

 writer that the very first requirement of the successful 

 nurseryman is a thorough and growing understanding of 

 horticultural nomenclature.* 



HOW TO LEARN" PLANT NAMES 



This matter of correct names is not as hard as it seems. 

 If you learn to identify a plant or two every day you will 

 soon acquire a good store of knowledge. Do not try to 

 learn a lot of names at once, for ''it can't be done," and 

 plants cannot be identified by mere ''book learning." 

 Any nurseryman will tell you that. Unless you are able 

 to go to some school, it is conceded by some of the best 

 nurserymen that the following is the best method of 

 learning plant names: 



Take the catalog of any reliable wholesale nurs- 

 ery and copy the technical and common names 

 as given, regardless of whether you know them or 

 not. Repeat this process for several weeks, mean- 

 while identifying as many of the plants as pos- 

 sible. If it is practicable, after this you should 

 visit some nursery and go over all the plants with 

 someone who can tell you their names. You will 

 find that with the name of the plant already in 

 mind, you need but this one introduction in order 

 to remember forever that plant and its names. 



The introduction alone is not enough. For in- 

 stance, you may never have heard the name 

 "Retinispora pisifera aurea" and in walking about 

 with some friend nurseryman, when he points to 



*The growing appreciation of the importance of this subject is indicated by 

 the organization, a few years ago, of tlie Joint Committee on Horticultural Nomen- 

 clature, for the purpose of preparing an official, standardized catalog of plant 

 names. This volume, the result of an immense amount of magnificent work, 

 s now available for the use of horticulturists and others. — Editor. 



