PARK AND CEMETERY. 
698 
and often this pedestal is overgrown 
with vines and half concealed by 
low shrubs. One hardly needs to add 
that it should always be placed where 
the sun can strike it. 
The pedestal should be placed at a 
height suited to the average person, 
not too high nor too low. 
Another extremely interesting one 
is of the armillary sphere design, and 
is set in a greensward, in front of the 
great white steps which lead to the 
stately home of Mrs. Mahlon D. 
Spaulding, Pride’s Crossing, Mass. 
Kneeling figures are occasionally 
■seen among pretentious surroundings. 
One such, which is very unusual, is 
that of the figure of a negro and 
known as “The Moor.” It stands now 
on the Thames Embankment, London, 
in the gardens of the Inner Temple. 
Of the two kinds of dials — the hor- 
izontal and the perpendicular — the 
latter is not so often seen. 
A dial ’must be absolutely level, and 
■It is best to set it by a spirit level. 
Although not now depended upon 
for a timekeeper, it jnust be given all 
the opportunities to fulfill its mis- 
sion. 
Some of the elaborate pedestals one 
finds on the Continent and which are 
sometimes copied by Americans arc 
supported by carved lions or dolphins. 
The Japanese temple pillars, when fit- 
ted with an appropriate dial, make 
good standards, but they must cor- 
respond. 
A sun-dial should always stand in 
such a position as to focus attention 
upon it; it is for the time being the 
only object in view, and from that is 
derived much of its impressiveness. 
An instance of this is a dial on an 
estate in Connecticut. The simple 
lines of standard and pedestal stand 
out in bold relief on a green lawn in 
front of the arched entrance. 
Along the North Shore of Massa- 
chusetts are beautiful gardens with 
all manner of accessories, including 
many fine e.xamples of sun-dials. One 
notably fine one is on the estate of 
Mr. Thomas M. McKee, of Beverly 
Farms. This pedestal, which is most 
elaborately carved, stands at the right 
of the house in a plot of lawn be- 
tween four flower beds. At the left is 
the great terrace with great pots filled 
with shrubs, and over the beautiful 
stone railing one gets an extensive 
view of the fine grounds. 
The sun-dial at the famous estate 
of Mr. T. Jefferson Coolidge at Mag- 
nolia, is set in a circle of grass, while 
directly in front is the walk between 
the garden beds leading up to some 
steps and a marble seat. From this 
a beautiful view is had of the garden 
of which this dial is a striking feat- 
ure, or turning around, from the porch 
one looks out into a wilderness of 
trees and shrubs and brilliant flowers. 
The Rogers garden in Danvers, 
Mass., has a simple and delicately 
conceived dial encircled by borders of 
flowers, inside of which are flowering 
shrubs and beyond the trees which 
are the glory of this fine estate. 
Many of the dials on these beauti- 
ful estates rely for a setting on the 
many old and new fashioned flowers 
which from early spring to late au- 
tumn, produce a succession of blooms. 
One of these has its flat round base 
apparently set into a low flowerbed, 
while a bordering of box edges the 
circle, and outside that again are more 
flowers, growing almost up to the 
sides of the house. 
Roses give a beautiful setting to a 
dial, and sometimes glimpses of a sim- 
ple pillar are caught sight of through 
the shrubbery which surrounds it, not 
too closely however to shut out the 
charming effect of light and shade. 
COMMON VS. SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF FLOWERS 
There is an unmistakable inclina- 
tion on the part of the flower loving 
public to drop the old fashioned 
■names of flowers and use the names 
given them by botanists and profes- 
sional florists. The old idea that Eng- 
lish names, however meaningless, 
were more poetic and, so to speak, 
more affectionate than Latin ones, 
may be to a certain extent true but 
it is a truth which rests mainly upon 
habit. Edelweiss, for example, has a 
foreign sound in English mouths. If 
these had begun by calling it Leon- 
topodium, that name would be as 
pleasant to hear as the German for 
noble white. Everybody nowadays 
speaks familiarly of Gladiolus, Lan- 
tana. Begonia and scores of other 
common plants, as one does of Rose, 
Lily and Violet. To the real lover of 
plants, as well as to the systematic 
Totanist, the Latin names sound as 
sweetly as the English. There has 
been no little superficial gush writ- 
ten about the old names which have 
come down to us through the chang- 
ing speech of the old English people, 
names which had no meaning to them 
Teyond the mere sound. In some 
cases they have, unquestionably, a 
certain prettiness. “But I am ^villing 
says Prof. C. S. Sargent, to saj' that 
the Latin names are, in most in- 
stances, as euphonious, as, and in 
many cases more so, than the English 
ones. The meaning of the English 
names, in very many instances, origi- 
nates in their reputed medicinal prop- 
erties, not from any poetic associa- 
tions among the English peasantry. 
I give a few examples of the com- 
mon and scientific names: 
Marigold: from. Mary Cowles, Ang. 
Sax., meaning marsh, horse, gowl — 
Calendula. 
Mullein: French, moleine, scab in 
cattle — Verbascum. 
Columbine: Latin, columba, a pig- 
eon — Aquilegia. 
Cowslip: Flemish, kousloppe, hose 
flap — Primula. 
Motherwort: from supposed me- 
dicinal qualities — Leonurus. 
Maiden: a prefix to several plants; 
not love meanings, but they were 
supposed to have medicinal effects. 
Pink: Dutch, old word for Whits- 
untide — Dianthus. 
Rose: like the Latin — Rosa. 
L,ily: like the Latin — Lilium. 
Violet: like the Latin — Viola. 
Pansy: from the French, pensee — 
Vi 'a. 
Daisy: Day’s-eye — Beilis. 
Flower de luce, F'leur de lis, 
French, fleur de Louis — Iris. 
Lay-lock, Lilac — Syringa. 
Candytuft — Iberis. 
FI oney suckle — Lonicera. 
Primrose: a vulgarization of the 
French primerole, prime-rolles-- 
Primula. 
Lady’s Smock: in England, from 
the white flowers in spring — Carda- 
mine. 
Cuckoo-buds: which blossomed 
when the cuckoo came — Ranunculus. 
All of these Latin names are as 
pleasant to say as the English ones. A 
study of the derivation of the old 
English names deprives most of them 
of all the sentiment with which time 
and association have clothed them. 
The truth is, that what we are famil- 
iar with we become fond of, and our 
children and grand-children will asso- 
ciate with the Latin names, now 
used familiarly, all of the poetry and 
sentimentality which we and our pro- 
genitors have associated with the old 
English ones, embalmed in poetry 
and romance. Emerson’s lines to 
the Rhodora have more tenderness 
and beauty than if he had called it a 
Swamp Pink.” 
