16‘2 
November 11, 1898 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
said the digger, “ you see they be called Beauties 
because they be beauties, be’aint they ? And 
Abraham—well, of course you knows he.” Not a 
bad story in its way, but the fun of it was that this 
gentleman, who joked at the expense of the gardener, 
thought that the Hebron which the gardener had 
corrupted into Abraham was the Valley of Hebron 
in Palestine instead of Hebron in America, which 
gives the name to that excellent Potato. The name 
Potato comes probably from the native name of 
the Sweet Potato, Batata, as Tomato comes from 
Tamate, the Malay name of the plant, and Tobacco 
from the Island of Tobago, whence our first supplies 
came. In passing, it is curious that all these three, 
two of which, one more particularly, constitutes our 
daily food, should come from a notoriously poison¬ 
ous family—the Solanaceae ! Such is a fact, how¬ 
ever. These names have been given because of 
some real or fancied resemblance in the plant in 
some of its parts to the name given, such as that of 
our common weed and most excellent salad, the 
Dandelion. This name is not at all far-fetched, for 
it is but a rendering in the vernacular of the French 
words dents-de-Uon (tooth of the lion), referring to the 
tooth-edged leaves of the plant. It is curious that 
this common wayside weed bears the same nick¬ 
name (more truthful than polite) on the Continent 
of Europe that it bears in this country. It was the 
favourite flower of the American poet, James Russell 
Lowell, and in a lovely poem inscribed “To the 
Dandelion ” he sings— 
“ My childhood’s earliest thoughts are linked with 
thee. 
The sight of thee calls back the robin’s song 
Who, from the dark old tree 
Beside the door, sang clearly all day long. 
And I, secure in childish piety. 
Listened as if I heard an angel sing 
With news from Heaven, which he did bring 
Fresh every day to my untainted years. 
When birds and flowers and I were happy peers.” 
Another common and also useful herb is the 
Tansy, which word is a shortening and corruption 
of the French St. Athanasie, the St. Athanasius of 
the Athanasian creed of our English liturgy. The 
name Nettle comes from the Anglo-Saxon word netel, 
meaning a needle, and from the same source we get 
scrob, a shrub, and geardin, a garden or enclosure. 
Solomon's Seal was supposed to bear a seal on the 
root, which was visible on its being cut through, but 
the real reason is a different one. The plant is a 
rhizome, and its creeping underground stem sends up 
a new growth every year, leaving the scar of last year’s 
one like the remains of a miniature extinct volcano 
or a deeply indented seal. Foxglove (folk’s glove) 
or fairy fingers is suggestive of its name, and so is 
Wallflower, Snapdragon, or, as it is sometimes called 
in this country, “ Rabbitsmouth ” or “ Frogsmouth ; ” 
Kidney Beans, Scarlet Runners, and so on with 
many others. Horse Chestnut is so called because 
the Turks used to grind the nuts and give them to 
such of their horses as were broken winded. Sweet 
William is a bit of a puzzler. Some say it is a 
corruption of Saint William, and it has even been 
suggested that it refers to the divine William, the 
Bard of Avon. There are some plants named after 
towns, like Canterbury Bells; some after seasons, 
like Lent Lilies and Christmas Roses. Occasionally 
a plant bears more than one distinctive name, such 
as that lovely Saxifrage “London Pride,” often 
called “ None so Pretty,” and sometimes “ St. 
Patrick’s Cabbage” from the pretty little rosettes 
of foliage it bears. I might in passing say that the 
supreme loveliness of this dainty little flower as 
revealed through a magnifying glass causes one to 
pause and ponder. The old “ Creeping Jenny’’of 
the Cockney’s window-box is called “ Money-wort,” 
because it seems to hang out its golden flowers in 
tantalising temptation to the passer by. The old- 
fashioned “ Honesty ” of the English cottage gardens 
was also called “ Money in both Pockets,” the latter 
name referring to the seed capsules, which carry 
their seeds on both sides with a division between, 
and the former to the idea that money in both 
pockets was a motive for honesty. Our old-fashioned 
garden plants like “ Monk’s Hood,” “Blue Bells,” 
“ Parson in the Pulpit,” “ Bindweed,” “ Buttercups.” 
“Devil in a Bush,” “Love in a Mist.” and Sun¬ 
flowers, are fairly suggestive of their own names, 
and so, by their form, are many of the Worts, like 
Liver-wort, Navel-wort, Kidney-wort, and so on. 
St. John s-wort is so called ^from its flowering near 
St. John the Baptist’s day. 
I suspect that we owe much to the pious monks of 
the middle-ages, and not a little to the herbalists, 
who did much the same for gardening as astrologists 
did for astronomy—called attention to its study and 
in that way increased the store of knowledge. Some of 
those old-world names which may be considered j ust 
a little bit rude in our day are well calculated to re¬ 
fresh the memory if you have any notion of why 
such a name is given to such and such a plant. As an 
instance, passing over Stoke Hill one evening I 
noticed the Navel-wort by the wayside. For the 
moment I had forgotten its botanical name but as 
soon as I again looked at its leaf, I remembered its 
name. Cotyledon umbilicus. Another of its names 
is “Pancakes.” The inventive genius of our fore¬ 
fathers in the way of christening their floral 
favourites or enemies must have been considerable. 
There is a Scabious called “ Devil’s Bit.” The story 
about it is that when the Devil found the plant was a 
cure for all manner of diseases he was very angry, and 
in a fit of spleen, bit a piece off the roof of it. The 
roots of Convolvulus arvensis, the wild Convolvulus, 
from their entangling every plant that comes within 
their reach, was named “ Devil’s Guts.” Indeed, 
his Satanic Majesty is a frequent sponsor for plant 
names, so much so that over fifty wild plants bear 
his name. Some of them are comical, such as 
“ Devil’s Currycomb,” “Devil’s Darning Needles,” 
" Devil’s Garters,” and others less or more polite. 
On the other hand there are some very pretty names 
among flowers, as, forinstance, “ Maiden’s Blushes,” 
"Lady’s Tresses,” “Maiden’s Hair, “Love Lies 
Bleeding,” “ Innocence,” " Fairy Thimbles,” “Kiss 
me quick,” “ Kiss me love at the garden gate,” and 
others. The botanical names of some are a little 
doubtful and the solution more of the nature of a 
guess, having little evidence to support it. 
When we come to 
Local Plant Names 
we come across some racy descriptions. The 
Fuchsia is called “Lady’s Ear Drops.” Burdocks 
are “ Cuckle^Buttons ” and “Sticky Buttons ” and 
“ Billy Buttons.” Fo.xgloves on Dartmoor are 
called “Cowflops” and “ Flabbydocks,” the Red 
Valerian is “ Drunken Sailors” from their rubicund 
appearance rocking to and fro on the hill side. The 
Guelder Rose is a “May Tosty,” while the Haw¬ 
thorn is simply “May.” Lilacs are “Prince’s 
Feathers,” and dark Wallflowers “Bloody War¬ 
riors.” Stocks are “ Gillyflowers,” Daffodils “ Bell 
Roses,” and Periwinkles are “ Blue Buttons.” The 
pretty little Germander Speedwell is “ Bird’s Eye,” 
and Artemisia is variously known as “ Southern¬ 
wood,” “Boy’s Love,” “Old Man,” and “ Maiden’s 
Ruin.” Why ? The Primrose goes by the name of 
“ Butter Rose,” and the Wood^Sorrel is “ Cuckoo’s 
Bread and Cheese.” The local name of London 
Pride is “ Meet me, love, behind the garden door.” 
The Creeping Linaria is called “ Mother o’ Mil¬ 
lions,” but, indeed, the list is almost endless. 
Botanical Names. 
Taking first those which have a local interest, we 
come to the mammoth tree of California, the 
Sequoia. A wordy war was waged as to what name 
this monarch of the forest was to bear in this coun¬ 
try. The Americans wanted it to be called Washing- 
tonia; the English, Wellingtonia ; but the latter 
name carried the day. It was introduced by the late 
James Veitch exactly forty years ago, and was 
obtained by their famous collector, William Lobb. 
The original Wellingtonias brought home by Lobb 
died three or four years after they were planted. It 
was called Sequoia, after a Cherokee Indian of 
English extraction, and Wellingtonia after the hero 
of that time—Wellington—who had died only a year 
before its introduction to this country. The 
Magnolia was cradled in Exeter, having been in¬ 
troduced by Sir John Colliton in 1730. The original 
tree in Exeter was cut down by mistake over a 
hundred years ago, but several gardeners in succes¬ 
sion made a fortune out of the sale of young 
Magnolia trees, which they sold for five guineas 
apiece. Magnolia grandiflora Exoniensis is supposed 
to be the original variety introduced by Sir John 
Colliton. The history of the Lucombe Oak is too 
well known to need repetition, but it is a singular 
circumstance that the original tree died in the year 
in which the old business of Lucombe Pince & Co. 
passed into new hands. Picton has given the name 
to more than one valuable shrub, while the names of 
Veitch and Dominy show, by the frequency with 
which they occur in plant catalogues, how much the 
city of Exeter has done for horticulture. Lobelia, 
Fuchsia, Dahlia. Lonicera, Nicotiana, Robinia, and 
other trees and plants, are named after great botanists 
and pioneers in the world of gardening. Some 
plants have received their names by mistake, as for 
instance, the Currant-Ribes, it being the name of 
another plant originally. 
(To be Continued.) 
-- 
ISCELLANY. 
PRUNING PEACHES, NECTARINES. AND 
APRICOTS. 
This I always prefer doing now rather than leaving 
it till spring, as is very frequently done. Among the 
advocates of spring pruning, some urge that the 
blossom buds are more easily distinguished then, and 
I sometimes think that these have not very observant 
eyes, as anyone can readily see them in August, and 
so this excuse does not really hold good. Another 
reason given is that if pruned back now the young 
shoots will die. Well, in my own practice, after a 
tree has got fairly established, I seldom shorten a 
young shoot, and hold that if properly disbudded, 
and no more wood is laid in than can be properly 
exposed to sun and air, shortening back will not be 
requisite, and really very little winter pruning is 
wanted if the summer management of these trees 
has been what it should be.— W. B. G. 
PEAR LAWSON. 
A BEAUTIFULLY Coloured illustration of this Pear 
is given in the Bulletin d 'Arboriculture for August, 
but the description did not appear till September. 
The former gives the impression that the repre¬ 
sentation is too highly-coloured, but the description 
substantiates it, and such being the case the variety 
is a most handsome one. The fruit is roundly 
turbinate with a long, stout, curved stalk ; and the 
skin is yellow warmly coloured over the greater 
portion with brilliant vermilion. It is the largest 
of the early Pears and ripens about the middle of 
July, and it is said to be of very good quality, which 
is more than can be said of the bulk of the early 
Pears in cultivation. Jargonelle and Williams’Bon 
Chretien are the best of the early Pears, but they 
are not the first to mature. The Lawson Pear has 
the qualities of Belle d’ Aout and Bellisime d’ ete, 
but it may be considered an improvement on account 
of its precocity, great fertility, vigorous growth and 
regular habit. The recommendations then are that 
the fruits are early, of good quality, and of beautiful 
appearance, and always advantageous to the 
amateur, but above all for sale. The variety has 
been cultivated in the nursery of M. Burvenich sen., 
for the la-st 12 years and has fruited well this year 
in the collections of the School of Horticulture of 
the State of Ghent. 
PLANTING TREES AND SHRUBS- 
This should be done now while the soil is warm. It 
ought to be done as early in the autumn as possible, 
and every nerve should be strained to prevent any 
work of this kind being deferred till spring, which in 
most places brings plenty to do in the general routine 
of work. Besides, when planting is done before 
really cold weather comes upon us, the plants re¬ 
moved will generally emit fresh roots before winter. 
Every tree and shrub transplanted should be well 
secured against the action of wind, for if allowed to 
sway about these young rootlets are destroyed, and 
the plant suffers considerably from the loss of them. 
—IF. B. G. 
ELEPHANT’S TRUNK CAPSICUM. 
Messrs. Haage and Schmidt, of Erfurt are sending 
out a new variety of Capsicum under the above 
name. By way of a botanical name it has been 
called Capsicum annuum proboscideum. The 
leading feature of it is the great size of the pendent 
fruits, which are of a reddish scarlet and attain a 
length of 8 in. to 10 in. and a width or thickness of 
2j in. to 3J in. The flesh is thick and said to possess 
a sweet flavour. Judging from the illustration of a 
fruiting plant in the Bulletin d' Arboriculture de 
Floriculture &c., the plant in that stage is bcth 
curious and ornamental. The plant itself is dwarf 
so that the fruits almost reach the ground as they 
hang upon the plant. They are curved and taper 
somewhat towards the lower or free end, while they 
are traversed by three ridges alternating with as 
many furrows. The culture of Capsicums is carried 
