THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
65 
NOMENCLATURE OF AN APPLE. 
Professor II. E. Van Deman has thrown considerable 
light upon the disputed question as to the nomenclature 
of the valuable new apple which has gone under the 
names, Mammoth Black Twig, Black Twig, Paragon and 
Arkansaw. He is inclined to accept the last name. In 
a communication to American Gardening -, Professor Van 
Deman says: 
“ Dr. Moores has clearly stated how the Tennessee 
apple, which he named Paragon, came as a chance nursery 
seedling in a lot of Winesap trees bought and planted by 
Major Rankin Toole, near Fayetteville, Tennessee, about 
1870, and that P. L. Twitty, a nurseryman, cut cions from 
this tree, and Winesap trees in the same row, and propa¬ 
gated and sent out trees of this mixed stock to planters 
and to other nurseries. When he found that he had a 
new variety among the Winesap trees, he called it ‘ Black 
Twig’ (not knowing this was a synonym of Winesap), and 
from this source it is likely that the specimen was sent to 
Charles Downing, and which he describes under that name 
in his third appendix. Dr. Moores also tells us of another 
nurseryman, William Henry Smith, of Leiper’s F"ork, 
Tenn., who found the apple in an orchard, and thinking 
it was unknown, named it ‘ Eclipse,’ but this Dr. Moores 
quickly noticed and suppressed. 
“ How extensively this variety has been propagated 
and spread is not known, but it is quite certain that it has 
been, planted in many states, and perhaps in foreign 
countries. It is an improvement on Winesap in size, and 
the tree is better in shape, but the fruit is said to be 
easily affected with rot in the fall, and drops badly. 
“ The history of the apple that originated in Arkansas 
is that Mr. John Crawford brought seeds of Winesap and 
Limbertwig from Tennessee in 1831, and planted them 
on his place near Rhea’s Mill, Washington county, Arkan¬ 
sas. From these seedlings he planted an orchard, and 
one of the trees bore such nice fruit that cions were cut 
and young trees propagated by grafting, which were set 
in orchards in that locality. 
“ In the fall of 1884 Mr. E. F. Babcock, who was making 
a collection of the fruits of Arkansas, for display at the 
New Orleans Exposition, found it on the young trees, 
and got specimens from those on the farm of William P. 
Crawford, a brother of John, and exhibited the variety as 
a local seedling. If Mr. Backcock knew of the existence 
and exact locality of the old tree, I do not remember him 
saying so, and we had many conversations about the 
variety, in the exhibition hall, where I first saw the apple. 
Mr. Babcock named the variety ‘ Arkansaw,’ to agree with 
the local pronunciation, and labeled it so on the table, 
but he and others said it had been called 1 Mammoth 
Black Twig,’ by those who grew it, to distinguish it from 
Black Twig, which is the common name of Winesap, in 
the South. 
“ According to the rules of the American Pomological 
Society, the originator has the first right to give the 
name, and the introducer the next right. Now, if Mr. 
John Crawford named it ‘ Mammoth Black Twig,’ then 
that would stand, although the name is too long, and not 
according to another rule of the A. P. S. If Mr. Babcock’s 
name, ‘ Arkansaw,’ was the first given, then it should 
stand as the approved name. Which name will be 
accepted by the A. P. S., and the nurserymen and pomo- 
logists, is to be decided by them. I favor * Arkansaw,’ 
although there are objections besides possible lack of 
priority, etc.; for we have Arkansas Black, Arkansas Red, 
Arkansas Beauty, Arkansas Traveler, and perhaps other 
namesakes of that state. The synonym. Paragon, should 
be dropped at once, and I regret as much as anyone that 
it was ever mentioned as the name of the apple of Arkan¬ 
sas, but, along with other pomologists, was led to believe 
the Tennessee apple had been taken to Arkansas and 
there renamed by mistake, as is very often done in like 
cases. There are many hundreds of such cases, and in 
the absence of information, such, at least, as was publicly 
and generally known, as to the old Crawford tree; and 
from the similar characteristics of both fruit and tree, 
what was more reasonable than to decide as we did ? 
The evidence was circumstantial, but that is good enough 
to hang people until they are dead, and why not to name 
an apple ? 
“ One thing is certain, the ‘Arkansaw,’ (if you will 
agree to the name), is an apple of good qualities, both in 
tree and fruit, and is an honor to its native state, and she 
and the originator and introducer should have the full 
benefit of all that belongs to them.” 
AMERICA’S BROAD LATITUDE. 
In looking over the seed and plant lists of the large 
American growers for the first time, the casual observer 
cannot fail to be struck by the many obvious differences 
which distinguish them from the excellent publications of 
the old country, says Dr. F H. Mead, San Diego, Cal., in 
Gardener s Magazine. The American grower has to cater 
for patrons living in very different latitudes to British 
horticulturists, and, apart from the advantages which the 
gulf stream gives our western shores, for a very different 
“condition of climate” to what obtains in these islands. 
Where in England, for example, can peaches and apricots 
be grown successfully on standard trees? Perhaps in 
southern Cornwall; but we must go as far as Brittany, 
below 49 degrees north latitude, for really successful 
growth. The United States, it must be remembered, lies 
between 48 and 32 degrees north latitude ; or, including 
the extremity of Florida, below 30 degrees, even to 25 
degrees ; or in the tropics for this small section of one 
state. The difference in the plants raised is therefore 
readily explained. The peaches of Maine, the apples of 
Washington Territory, the oranges of Florida, Louisiana, 
California, the deciduous fruits in general of California 
and Arizona, and the lemons of the extreme south of 
California, are well known as instances of climates well 
adapted for each variety of fruit mentioned. 
