514 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 19, 1890. 
cart, and King of the Earlies do well here, but Noble has surpassed 
them all for size, quality, and early maturity in the open air. 
We root our runners in thumb pots, we never dig between Straw¬ 
berries, and we mulch heavily with decayed manure in February, three 
golden rules for the Strawberry grower.—D. A. Milwaed, Lavcstown, 
Xinicnny. 
THE WILD FKUITS OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND 
LABRADOR. 
The following list by the Rev. Arthur C. Waghorne of New Harbor, 
Newfoundland, has been sent to us for publication, and will probably 
interest some of our readers :— 
The Buttercup or Ranunculus family (Rancunculaceie).—The only 
one of this order yielding us berries is the Red Baneberry or Cohosh 
{^Actrea spicata). It is known in England as the Herb Christopher. 
■Our form is no doubt the variety rubra. It is a plant about 2 feet high, 
with a cluster of white flowers and red berries. 
The Berberry or Barberry family (Berberidacete) gives us the 
Common Berberry (Berberis vulgaris). It is not a true native, but 
introduced from the Old Country. It has scarlet, acid berries, and 
yellow drooping flowers. It is far more frequent in England than here. 
The Rose (Rosa) family (Rosacea;) is a large and important one. 
'Taking first the genus Rubus we have the Raspberries and the Black¬ 
berries. Among the former is found our well-known Bakeapple (Rubus 
chamoemorus), common in the high elevations of Great Britain, and 
there called the Mountain Bramble or Cloudberry ; and of the true 
Raspberries we have in great abundance the wild Red Raspberry of 
America (R. strigosus), which much resembles the common English 
Raspberry (R. Idfeus) ; this is also said to he found here, but the 
American Raspberry has been mistaken for it, and the Black Raspberry 
or Tbimbleberry (R. occidentalis), which is rare. Then there are two 
species of dwarf Raspberries, the Arctic Bramble (R. arcticus), with a 
variety called grandiflorus, found on the Labrador, and our common 
Dewberry, Plumboy, or Swampberry (R. triflorus) ; this is also called 
R. saxatilis, and hence has been confused with another plant of the same 
name—the Stone Bramble—which does not appear to 'be found on this 
side of the Atlantic. Then amongst the Blackberries we have the High 
Bramble (R. villosus), and some say there is also its English kinsman, 
the wild Bramble (R. fruticosus) ; but here again the American plant has 
been taken for the English. These are not found in any quantity, and but 
seldom mature their fruit. I hear, however, that about Burin and further 
west the ripened fruit is sometimes fairly abundant. This Bramble 
has also two varieties in this country, viz, the Frondosus and the 
Humifusus. Our Low or Dwarf Blackberries are the Bristly or Running 
Blackberry (R. hispidus or sempervirens), and the Low Blackberry, or 
Northern Dewberry (R. canadensis). The Fragaria or Strawberry 
genus gives us our two species of Strawberries, which are found plenti- 
fullyin some places—the English Wood or Alpine Strawberry (F. vesca) 
and the Scarlet or Wild Strawberry (F. virginiana) ; the former is very 
common in England. The Prunus or Cherry and Plum genus.— To this 
family we are indebted for four species of Cherries—the wild red 
Cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica), the wild black Cherry (P. serotina), the 
dwarf or Sand Cherry (P. pumila), and the Choke Cherry (P. 
virginiana). The first two are of larger growth; the last two are 
shrubs or small trees. The Crataegus or White Thorn genus, as far as 
we know at present, is only represented by the scarlet fruited Thorn 
■(C. coccinea). The Amelanchier or Juneberry genus gives us, I believe, 
our winter or wild Pear, the Shadberry or Juneberry of America (A. 
canadensis). The variety oligocarpa is also found here. 
The Pyrus or Pear and Apple genus includes our low wild Pear or 
Chokeberry (P. arbutifolia, with variety melanocarpa) and the 
American Mountain Ash (P. americana). The latter is commonly 
called here the Dogberry or Dogwoodberry ; but this is properly quite 
another tree, viz., the wild Cornel of England (Cornus sanguinea). A 
variety of the American Mountain Ash is also found in Newfoundland, 
which has smaller berries ; this is the P. microcarpa, and may be our 
Catberry ; more than one of our berries, however, bears this name. The 
English Mountain Ash (P. Aucuparia) has been said to exist here, but 
the American Mountain Ash has been mistaken for it. The Rosa or 
Rose genus gives us in Newfoundland, it would seem, at least four 
species and two varieties. They are the Swamp or Carolina Rose (Rosa 
Carolina), the shining or dwarf wild Rose (R lucida), with its variety 
parviflora, the early, bland, or Hudson’s Bay Rose (R. blanda) with the 
variety setigera, and the Shining or Low wild Rose (R. nitida). The last 
named is apparently placed by Dr. Gray as a variety merely of Rosa lucida. 
On the authority of Professor Macoun it it raised into a distinct species. 
The Saxifrage (Saxifraga) family (Saxifragacem).—The only division 
of this family with which we are concerned is the Ribes or Currant 
Gooseberry. It seems that we can only speak with certainty of there 
being three kinds of Gooseberries and two of Currants here; others 
have been mentioned, but these require examination. The three 
Oooseberries are the prickly Gooseberry or Thornberry (Ribes Cynos- 
bati), the small Smooth Gooseberry (R. oxycanthoides or hirtellum), 
and the small Swamp Gooseberry (11. lacustre). The Currants are the 
Red Currant (R. rubrum), and the Mountain or Fcetid Currant (R. 
prostratum). A 'W'^hite Currant is also reported as existing here ; but 
Mr. Howley, of our Geological Survey office, assures me he never met 
with it. Of all these the Red Currant is the only one found wild in 
England. Professor Macoun thinks we have probably the Black 
Currant (R. floridum), and it has just been reported as found in 
Bona vista Bay. 
The Aralia or Ginseng family (Araliaceae) has only the Aralla or 
Ginseng or 'Wild Sarsaparilla which gives us the black or dark-purple 
berries of three kinds of Aralia—the Spikenard or Pettymorrel (A. 
racemosa), the dwarf or wild Elder or bristly Sarsaparilla (A. hispidus), 
and the wild Sarsaparilla (4. nudicaulis). 
The Cornus or Cornel or Dogwood family (Cornacere).—This genus 
appears to have eight representatives in Newfoundland, the best known 
of which is the Crackerberry—the Bunchberry or scarlet Stoneberry of 
America (Cornus canadensis). The other herbaceous member of this 
family is the dwarf or Lapland Cornel (C. suecica) ; this is frequent in 
England, and is much like the former. All our other Cornels are 
unknown there I believe. These are the round-leaved Cornel (C. 
circinata), the silky Cornel or Kinnikinnik (C. cericeas), the panicled 
Cornel (C. paniculata), the alternate-leaved Cornel (C. alternifolia), 
the stiff Cornel (C. stricta), and the red osier Dogwood (C. stolonifera). 
Our White-rod and Red-rod are, I believe, among these, the latter being 
probably the Red osier Dogwood. 
(To be continued.) 
THE NAMES OF PLANTS. 
A WETTER in one of the metropolitan daily papers discourses in the 
following terms upon a subject introduced in this journal in a paragraph 
of Notes and Gleanings ;— 
“ Protests are constantly being raised against the pedantry of 
specialists. When the rather overrated volume of discussions on theolo¬ 
gical problems called ‘ Essays and Reviews ’ was published, its authors 
deliberately stated their opinion that religion suffered from being over¬ 
laid with a number of technical terms to denote certain doctrines. Dr. 
Whewell of Cambridge ridiculed these objections, and humorously 
observed that science would be no gainer if the ‘ impenetrability of 
matter ’ were to be rechristened as the ‘ unthroughableness of stuff.’ 
Yet the world sympathises to a very great extent with the plea for 
greater simplicity of nomenclature, especially in the sciences. Could 
not the learned interpreters of Nature’s mysteries make their learning a 
little more palatable to the popular taste without sacrificing the objects 
with which their curious terms have been created? Nature being a 
beautiful thing, it is altogether appropriate that we should not be dis¬ 
gusted at the threshold of the natural sciences by any unnecessary 
obstacles placed in our paths. The high priests of science ought, in fact, 
to understand that their subjects must be approached in the spirit of the 
poet as well as in that of the discoverer. As a matter of fact, we leave 
the naming of some of the most lovely flowers and plants in botany, and 
the most marvellous organic mechanism in anatomy, to any chance 
pedant who has about as much idea of the artistic charm of Nature as a 
lawyer’s clerk possesses of the grandeur of the principles of English 
law. It is satisfactory to find an echo of the protests against scientific 
pedantry often made in this country wafted back to us from India. The 
superintendent of the Victoria Gardens at Bombay, Mr. Carstensen, is 
convinced that the reason why English people take so much less interest 
in the study of botany than do Germans or Scandinavians is to be found 
in the extraordinary compound classical names of plants and their 
varieties which are inserted in British text books of the science. _ He 
points out that in Germany and Denmark writers on botanical subjects 
employ the names of the mother tongue, or other names which can 
easily be translated into it. He sees no reason why ‘ flower-plants ’ 
should be called ‘ phanerogams,’ or why ‘ cryptogams ’ should not 
be known in future as, what they are, ‘spore-plants.’ This view 
of a science obscured by Dryasdust Professors is certainly refreshing. 
Mr. Carstensen is a bold man, for he proposes that the Botanical Com¬ 
mittee of the Bombay Natural History Society should revise the exist¬ 
ing terminology, and substitute English names for barbarous Greek and 
Latin compounds which are unnecessary and unintelligible. 
“ There are, of course, arguments in favour of the ‘ Latinising ’ plan 
which has been accepted in the botanical world. A single Latin word 
frequently puts in a compact shape a meaning which it would require 
several English words to express. What Mr. Lewis Carroll called ‘ port¬ 
manteau words,’ because they hold so much, abound in botany. Then 
scientific enthusiasts are advocates of a new kind of ‘ International,’ 
and argue that the language of science should be one not confined to 
any particular country, but capable of being understood by the learned 
in every land. To use a modern language, even French, might excite 
jealousies ; so a dead language is chosen, and one which has the 
indubitable advantages of Latin in respect of lucidity and compactness. 
These arguments would have much more force if the text books were 
really consistent; but they are not. We find a mixed jargon of Latin, 
Greek, and English, as the recognised language of botanical experts in 
this country. For instance, we read in botanical manuals of a branch 
of a Lime tree, ‘ with four leaves arranged in a distichous manner ; ’ 
and ‘ the segments of the leaf of Aconite ’ are described as ‘ cuneate, and 
each of them is cleft and toothed at the apex.’ Put into ordinary 
English, ‘cuneate’ simply means ‘wedge-shaped,’ and ‘apex’ means 
‘ top ; ’ but, if we use the Latinised words ‘ cuneate ’ and ‘ apex,’ why 
should we relapse into English in ‘ cleft ’ and ‘ toothed ? ” The leaf of 
the Aconite plant has, as botanists know, a curious resemblance to the 
claw of a bird. It has, therefore, been christened ‘ pedate; ’ but 
hundreds of students may have learnt that word by heart without 
understanding in the least the peculiar characteristic to which it is 
meant to call attention. These words, however, are comparatively simple. 
But what are we to think of the barbarians who have disguised the 
