THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Starting with a rock covered with Briers this garden of real delight has been made where grow aquatics, herbaceous perennials, and in their season tender summer flowers in variety 
themselves above the surface. Where that oc- 
curs, more stones are added, earth is thrown in 
among'them and a rock garden made. An im- 
mense rocky shoulder on one side of the house 
is surrounded each season with Begonias, while 
more flowers of the same kind are grown on top 
of it. Another great rock is concealed by 
Geraniums andTrailing Vinca, growing in earth 
which is held in place by a circle of pudding- 
stones gathered about the place and rolled to 
that spot. Boston Ivy climbs over less con- 
spicuous rocks, and also rambles over the iron 
fence, keeping company with a well estab- 
lished and rampant Hall’s Honeysuckle. Even 
a magnificent Peony has been persuaded to 
make itself at home in this garden on a ledge. 
Back of the house and partly concealing 
the water garden from the street is a bed of 
Salvia each season, their fiery hues being 
softened by another bed some distance in 
advance, which is filled with Vinca rosea, var. 
alba. On the other side of the lot is a large 
Grape vine which covers a rock growing high 
out of the ground but which, being completely 
covered, seems to be merely a support for 
the vine. Near the back fence it has been 
found possible to coax a few beans and other 
vegetables into bearing. 
Practically all the work on this place has 
been done by the owner and his sons as a 
means of recreation and exercise. Nothing 
has been hurried, but everything has been 
done well. Even the iron fence posts have 
been made fast by setting them deep into 
solid rock or into concrete foundation posts 
where the rocks were not conveniently placed. 
And it would be difficult to find a suburban 
home anywhere which has been successfully 
developed under greater difficulties. 
An Onlooker’sThoughts About Plant Names FRE HAZP 0N 
A N ENGLISH novelist — was it Mr. 
Phillpotts? — once wrote of the terror 
inspired by some of our plant names. 
He asked if it seemed fair to call an 
innocent green flowered East Indian, with 
white berries, “Fluggea”; while “Rhyncosper- 
mum jasminoides” brings forth the assertion 
that the nomenclature of the world flora is an 
infamy crying to reason and to Heaven to be 
swept away! 
1 he whole subject of plant names is worth 
attention — for it has its phases of importance, 
of interest, and of mere curiosity. Plant lov- 
ers can get an added pleasure from knowing 
the meaning there is in the names of their 
treasures. Many a pretty story, bit of senti- 
ment or point of human interest may underlie 
what too often appears merely dull and dry 
terminology. 
I he present universally used “binomial” 
or “two-name” system of nomenclature 
started in 1753 with the publication by the 
great Linnaeus of his work “Species Plant- 
arum.” Then, for the first time, were plants 
named according to a uniform system based 
upon the principle that two names — generic 
and specific — each consisting of one word, 
should be sufficient. 
Prior to this time plant names were made 
according to whim or individual desire, and 
were chaotic in the extreme. It was a worse 
condition than with names of humans a couple 
of centuries earlier, for plant names might be 
long and descriptive — a half dozen or more 
words was not exceptional. Names of this 
kind may be found in the works of old writers 
— reaching back before the Christian era. 
Late in this period before Linnaeus brought 
order out of confusion, arose the custom of 
coining plant names from personal names. 
The two-name system naturally had its 
opponents, but its advantages, and the in- 
fluence of its great originator, led to its 
speedy and almost universal adoption. The 
various editions of Miller’s “Gardener’s Dic- 
tionary” show the old and the new — the later 
editions adopting the Linnaean system. 
There still remained an inclination to 
change, while seeking improvements, the two 
names of the binomial system. Most people 
were content to be guided by fhe leading sys- 
tematic botanists; and these obtained a large 
measure of uniformity by their willingness 
to accept priority in names. Sometimes con- 
tinuing research showed that an approved 
name was not the oldest, that more than one 
person had named a plant at the same time, 
or that the identity of species or genus had 
been misunderstood. Such an indefiniteness 
as occurred with our grand climber Wistaria 
was not unique. This vine was named after 
Dr. Wistar or W’ister of Philadelphia by 
Nuttall. It transpired more recently that 
not even the family descendants knew whether 
the last syllable should be spelled with an 
“a” or an “e.” It remained for an inter- 
national botanical congress to settle the spell- 
ing, arbitrarily, to get desirable uniformity. 
I hese are illustrations of the chances for 
variations in naming, so that it became need- 
ful to have definite and uniform rules for the 
best service of the increasing activities in 
