86 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
NEWS OF THE NURSERY TRADE 
The nursery and evergreen l)usiness of H. Ernest 
(iOinvell. Milton. Delawait'. \\as reeently incorporated 
for 100.000.00. TIu' otlicers of tlu' company are: 
President. II. Ernest (’oiuvell; Secretary. David M. Con- 
well; vice president and treasurer. Lydia J. Gonwell. 
The company has a number of very large Roxwood 
Specimens and Hedge to remove and j)lant this Spring. 
Andorr.a Nurseries Buy More L.ynd 
Andorra Nurseries. Incorporated. Chestnut Hill, Phil¬ 
adelphia. Pennsylvania, have purchased an additional 
twenty-seven acre farm adjoining the nurseries. They 
now own about one thousand two hundred acres in addi¬ 
tion to leasehold projierty. 
Several months ago the Andorra Nurseries, which 
were owned and developed by William Warner Harper, 
were incorporated. Mr. Frazier Harrison is now treas¬ 
urer, Mr. Harper, president of the company. 
In addition to the Andorra Nurseries they have a large 
nursery in Kentucky and one near Baltimore. Maryland. 
COMMON NAMES 
A little thought on the matter ought to convince any¬ 
body that it is impossible to make a common name for a 
plant. A species may have any number of vernacular 
names, that is, names in the common tongue, but unless 
one of these comes into common use it cannot properly be 
called a common name. A good many plants have no 
common names and are not likely to have any for they 
are so insigniticant that the general public has never 
heard of them. The name-tinker, however, is never sat¬ 
isfied to let well enough alone and oblivious to the fact 
that there is a reason for every common name, attempts 
without reason to supply names for such plants as lack 
them. It may be said without fear of contradiction, that 
common names in general are an unmitigated nuisance. 
They are never as accurate as the technical names and 
at times are actually misleading. Because the technical 
names are unfamiliar, it has become a fad to regard 
them as difficult to pronounce and hard to remember. 
Such technical names as chrysanthemum, rhododendron, 
pentstemon. delphinium and nicotiana in everyday use is 
sufficient evidence that there is no inherent difficulty in 
using the more accurate terms. When a plant has a real 
vernacular or common name, however, it may be worth 
studying for it actually contains some element of folk¬ 
lore, poetry, mythology, and the like, but the same can¬ 
not be said of the ‘‘English’’ names which are usually 
mere translations of the scientific names whose only 
point of interest, is in showing how matter-of-fact the 
translators are. The great majority of our really com¬ 
mon names originated in Europe and have been imported 
with our language. Since the genera on both sides of 
the Atlantic are pretty much alike, we have simply adopt¬ 
ed the vernacular generic name and have added a dis¬ 
tinguishing adjective to indicate the American sjiecies. 
Such common names as are wholly of American origin 
were not devised with the idea of giving the jilants com¬ 
mon names, but are the names by which hunters, explor- 
(M's and the early settlers called them for want of some¬ 
thing more definittv Occasionally, however, a manufac- 
tun'd mime has clung to a plant when such name was 
ajijiosite. as foam-flower foi' that plant otherwise known 
as false mitrewort. Among suggested names that have 
been extensively adopted may be instanced Christmas 
fern given to a common species of wood fern by John 
Robinson, half a century ago. and boulder fern, offered 
by the writer for that species “damned by faint praise” 
as the hay-scented fern. Jack-in-the-pulpit is said to 
have been invented by Clara Smith and first named in 
a poem published in 1874. which had the distinction of 
being revised by Whittier. In general, however, the use 
of common names, even in ordinary conversation, is to 
be deplored. They are really [ilant nicknames no more 
to be tolerated in good society than shorty, red. slim, fatty 
and similar outcasts.— The American Botanist. 
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DORMANT I 
FIELD-GROWN | 
ROSES I 
I Equal to the Best ^^Desert Climate Grown” | 
I Good Assortment—Night Letter at Once | 
I HOWARD ROSE CO., Hemet, Cal. | 
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I The Cultivated Evergreens I 
I Edited hy L. H, Bailey | 
I Tills NEAY BOOK is a compilation of articles | 
I written by exxierts, on a iirojected ])lan, brought | 
I together and edited in one office. | 
I CONTENTS: | 
I PART I I 
I The place and care of coniferous (gymnospermous) | 
I evergreens grown for ornament. | 
I PART II I 
I Kinds of cultivated conifers (gymnospermous) in | 
I North America. | 
I PART III I 
I Certain Broad-Leaved evergreen. | 
I PART IV I 
I Inventory of Woody evergreens grown in North | 
I America. | 
I Price, $7.50 | 
I THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN | 
I HATBORO : ; : : PENNA. | 
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