422 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 5 , 1898. 
were in many cases translations of the Latin 
ones,which in Miller’s great dictionary often 
assumed cumbrous proportions. More re¬ 
cently we get translations of the botanical 
names in the Botanical Magazine, Botanical 
Register, and other high class works of that 
stamp. Compared with the translations 
given by Miller, the names are vastly 
simpler, and almost follow a binominal 
system of nomenclature as in the case of 
botanical names themselves ; nevertheless 
their adoption by the British public has 
been exceptional; nay, in the majority of 
cases the names have been entirely ignored. 
For this reason the Botanical Magazine gave 
up the practice of furnishing English names 
in 1871. 
Efforts more or less strong have recently 
been made by various parties to introduce 
a system of the wholesale naming of plants 
in English, dropping those of Latin and 
Greek derivation. This quickly fell through, 
and we are not in the least surprised at the 
result ; for instead of simplification, con¬ 
fusion became more confounded by the 
pinning of old names to newer plants, or 
even two old names were attached to a plant 
entirely different both in appearance and 
affinity. More than this, the conflict of 
rival systems or name-makers soon gives 
the flower-loving public a greater list of 
synonyms than the botanists of past ages 
have done ; and they are by no means few. 
Popular names for common plants are 
possible ; and those already well known 
under any common name have been familiar 
objects for centuries. Exotic plants, partic¬ 
ularly those that are rare, or botanical 
curiosities, and thousands that are hardly 
likely to become familiar garden plants in 
this country, cannot possibly become popu¬ 
lar. How then are the British public to 
know them by any name, much more a 
popular one, when they lack the opportunity 
of getting familiar with the plants ? In 
certain cases they may have the privilege 
of seeing certain plants once a year, but by 
the end of another twelvemonth they have, 
in all probability, forgotten what the plants 
themselves were like. Recogn ition is abso¬ 
lutely necessary before plants can have popu¬ 
lar names ; therefore, it is superfluous to give 
English renderings of the botanical ones, or 
to create new appellations to be immedi¬ 
ately forgotten. 
To make any system of naming popular it 
would require sustained effort on the part of 
the promoters, and a general and generous 
acceptance on the part of the public of the 
system advocated; but any attempt that 
may be made to get a general agreement 
on the part of the public is foredoomed to 
failure. Furthermore, if anything like order 
is to be maintained amongst a host of Eng¬ 
lish names, it seems that nothing short of a 
binominal system of nomenclature, and rigid 
adherence to it, would prevent the most be¬ 
wildering confusion. The whole thing 
seems to us an attempt to know plants by 
means of a system of nomenclature involv¬ 
ing the smallest amount of trouble in its 
acquirement. There is no royal road to 
learning, however, and those who imagine 
it otherwise will sooner or later, mostly 
sooner, be undeceived. There is yet another 
class of travellers and would be naturalists 
who despise all names whether scientific or 
trival. To such people a “ Primrose by a 
river’s brim ” is not even a Primrose, 
merely a bit of yellow in a setting of green. 
When the enthusiasm of such travellers 
induces them to write an account of their 
travels, they give word pictures of what 
they may describe as pretty or grand, but 
being couched in indefinite terms that may 
mean anything or nothing, no reader can 
follow them with any degree of intelligence, 
so that their descriptions, being meaning¬ 
less, and of no practical value, soon fall flat 
and rapidly pass into oblivion. As with 
people, so with plants, animals and inani¬ 
mate objects, their names must be learnt 
and properly applied, otherwise they cannot 
be individualised, nor distinguished from 
others with which they may be surrounded. 
It is quite useless for such travellers to pre¬ 
face their books, as an excuse for the bald¬ 
ness of their descriptions, with the plea that 
they “ make no pretence to any scientific 
knowledge of any part of natural history.” 
They disclose no secrets and impart no 
information by so doing. True delight in 
plants is largely bound up with a knowledge 
of them and their names. 
-- 
Sir Joseph Hooker, the veteran botanist, is to be 
made the recipient of a special Gold Medal, by the 
Council of the Linnean Society, on the occasion of 
the completion of his magnum opus, the " Flora of 
India.” 
A Spring Flower Show, organised entirely in aid of 
the Royal Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, is to held by 
the Ealing and District Gardeners' Society on the 
15th instant. The show will be opened to the public 
at 2 p m. by Mrs. E. M. Nelson, Hanger Hill House, 
Ealing, and remain open till 9 p.m. 
Honourable Distinction.—At the last meeting of 
the Royal Horticultural Society of France it was 
announced that a despatch had been received from 
Prince Anatole Gargarine to the effect that the 
Russian Government had conferred the order of 
Saint-Anne on M. Charles Baltet of Troyes, France, 
for his important works on arboriculture and 
pomology appreciated in Russia during the last 
thirty years. 
The Kew Guild.—The annual general meeting of 
the members of this Guild met to the number of 
seventy in the Lecture Room, Kew Gardens, on the 
24th instant, under the presidency of the curator, 
Mr. Geo. Nicholson. The report was a very satis¬ 
factory one, showing no indebtedness to anyone 
except to life members, of whom there had been 
a phenomenal increase during the past year. Rule 
II. was altered so as to include as members of the 
Guild all who are or have been gardeners at Kew, or 
in positions of responsibility. These would com¬ 
prise the botanists at the herbarium, the museum 
keepers, &c. 
Loss to French Horticulture—In view of a great 
horticultural exhibition which was to be held at 
Lyons, France, during the present year, it was 
proposed that the Rhone Horticultural Society and 
the Lyons Horticultural Association should amal¬ 
gamate, but the two rival societies failed to agree 
upon the point. The municipal council of Lyons 
considered that there ought to be only one society, 
and thinking that dissension should not be encour¬ 
aged, resolved to withhold the subsidy of 500 francs, 
which had been asked for each of the two societies. 
That means the loss of 1,000 francs annually to 
horticulture at Lyons. 
Scientific and Sporting Tour.—A select and fully 
equipped party under the command of an 
experienced traveller will start from London in April 
next, visiting the best sporting districts in British 
East Africa. The party will travel via the Mediter¬ 
ranean and East Coast of Africa to Mombasa, thence 
by the Uganda Railway, and up country in easy 
stages. The expedition will occupy twelve months, 
and the entire route will be in British territory. The 
present is a favourable opportunity to visit the 
country while it remains in its natural state before it 
is further intersected by the railway now in progress. 
The locality to be visited is the hill districts around 
Mount Kenia, the climate of which is extremely ex 
hilarating and invigorating. The country is interest¬ 
ing to sportmen and students of zoology, as it 
abounds with lions, elephants, rhinoceros, quagga, 
koodoo, gazelle, springbuck, and numerous species of 
antelopes. The camp will be conducted on semi¬ 
military lines, as far as possible, but each will have 
ample opportunity to engage in zoological and 
botanical studies, &c. All information may be 
obtained from Messrs. J. & H, Lindsay, World 
Travel Bureau, 7, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh. 
Mr. Malcolmson, a Scotch tea planter in Ceylon, 
is about to start plantations in Mexico, and at present 
is negociating for the transport cf 500 Japanese 
coolies to Vera Cruz. 
Knowledge Unnecessary.—First Cabbage: "Pro¬ 
fessor Gooseberry is going to lecture on ' Gardening 
at Klondike ' at the village of Mudcheap.” Second 
Cabbage : " What does he know about it ? He has 
never been there.” F. C.: " Neither have the 
villagers. 11 — Snaggs. 
A Giant Chrysanthemum.—M. Foukouba, gardener 
to the Mikado, Tokio, Japan, is an enthusiastic and 
celebrated Chrysanthemum grower. There is a 
photographic illustration of a colossal specimen in the 
Nord HorUcole for February, and which was grown by 
the Mikado’s gardener in the open air under a very 
slight shade from bamboo hurdles, which at the 
same time furnished shelter from the violence of 
wind. The specimen was trained in the form of a 
broad-based, though unequal-sided cone, the dia¬ 
meter of which measured 16^ ft. in one direction, 
and 9 ft. 10 in. in the other. This gigantic specimen 
was raised from a cutting struck in 1897 ; and when 
the photograph was taken in November last, the 
plant carried over 800 blooms, the greater number 
of which had a diameter of 7 in. to 7% in. 
Tonbridge Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Society.— The 
24th annual dinner of this old aDd influential society 
was celebrated at the Bull Hotel, Tonbridge, on the 
8th ult. Major C. E. Warner presided. In propos¬ 
ing the toast of the evening—“ Success to the 
society ”—the chairman said that the society had 
never been in a more prosperous condition than now. 
He coupled with the toast the names of Messrs. F. 
Webber and C. Baldock. Both of these gentlemen 
replied, Mr. C. Baldock, as hon. secretary, giving 
some figures showing the financial position of the 
society. After paying all expenses they had, he said, 
a balance in hand of over /30. The toast list was 
interpersed with soDgs by Messrs. J. Smith, Orrom, 
L. Breeze, J. S. Charlton, and Huntly, whilst the 
recitations given by Dr. Pollen were much en¬ 
joyed. 
Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Associa¬ 
tion.—At the meeting of this association on the 17th 
ult., a paper on “ Carnations,” was read by Mr. J. 
F. McLeod, The Gardens, Dover House, Roe- 
hampton. He dealt with the subject entirely from a 
practical point of view, dealing with all the more im¬ 
portant sections of the Carnation, including propa¬ 
gation, pot culture under glass, the various suitable 
composts and the various shifts necessary to secure 
certain results. Commencing with Malmaison Car¬ 
nations he recorded many failures on account of fun¬ 
goid diseases, the destruction of the old plants, the 
procuring of fresh stock and final triumph. The 
secret of conquering rust and allied diseases in 
winter was to keep the plants dust dry at the roots, 
and the atmosphere of the house as well. Tree, bor¬ 
der and florists' Carnations were dealt with in turn, 
and lists of the best varieties of each given. There 
was a good attendance of gardeners, and many of 
them took part in a well sustained discussion. 
Shirley Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association. 
—The monthly meeting was held at the Parish 
Room, Shirley, Southampton, on the 21st ult., the 
President, Mr. W. F. G. Spranger, presiding over a 
fair attendance of the members. Mr. E. T. Mellor, 
B.Sc. London, lecturer to the Hartley College, 
Southampton, gave his concluding lecture cn " Fungi 
Injurious and Beneficial.” He said the number of 
injurious parasitic fungi, according to a recent 
authority is about 1,600, showing what a vast army 
of enemies the cultivator of the soil has to contend 
with. Taking the Peronspora infestans as a typical 
example of the class of injurious fungi, the lecturer, 
by means of a large number of lantern slides traced 
its life history, showing how by the aid of resting 
spores it tided over the winter and started into life 
again in the favourable weather. Beneficial fungi 
were represented by the tubercles found on all 
leguminous plants. These were said to be able to take 
up nitrogen from the air, which passed from them to 
the plant, thus enabling the plant to grow well on 
very poor soil. A brief discussion followed, and 
hearty votes of thanks to the lecturer and to the 
president terminated a most instructive series of 
lectures on the subject. 
