Evening star., 1932-08-12

The desire to be an expert on some
thing or other turks in almost every
human being.
A little study, little consideration, a
little contemplation beyond the average,
and another expert" is born.
Of all these modern wise men, the
easiest to be is garden expert"
This precious creature often is forced
into the role by admiring friends, who
insist on regarding him as the last word
in such matters, whether he admits to
it or not.
Thus almost insensibly he finds him.
self adopting the airs of full profess
sor, prodded into it by the horticultural
necessities of those who know less than
he does.
In relation to them, of course, he
really is an expert, much to his own
amusement at all times. sometimes
chagrin, and occasionally horror.
There are several basic reasons why
the average garden expert" is safer
from being found out than most ex-
perts in other lines.
In the first place, the ignorance Of
the average man or woman in these
matters Is amazing, seeing that plants,
1O"CIS anu lilC OSCAA a
to mankind for centuries and most
people take an interest in them.
Yet nothing is surer than that hun
dreds of men and women who love
beauty nevertheless shy away from
plants and other things horticultural
because they are absolutely unfamiliar
with them.
Many are in the position of the city
child who had never seen, or even heard
of COW, and thought that milk natu-
rally came in bottles.
Ordinarily one does not care to talk
much about things concerning which
he is ignorant. This may account for
the apparent indifference to flowers
which many display, although down be-
meath the surface of their minds they
harbor a genuine liking for them.
Another basic reason why gar
den expert" is comparatively safe from
| being branded a faker lies in the real
lack of one specialized sort of knowl-
| edge on the part Of the general public
This ignorance is that Of the Latin
| language.
The ability to pronounce Latin words
even halfway decently often alone suf-
ices to turn an ordinary home gar
dener into an expert in the eyes OF
| those who somehow cannot begin to
master such words.
Every one knows how critical most
human beings are of wrong pronuncia-
tions-especially of those words they
know how to pronounce themselves.
Let a speaker over the radio make
one slip, no matter how unimportant
| he will receive several letters pointing
| it out to him.
Since this disposition to criticize is
| ryirlncYNraad ond cinPn almost
one has had some experience with it, in
q purely personal way. those who are
drawn to gardening and the things OF
/ the garden soon find themselves be-
| tween a new sort of devil and new
sort of deep blue sea.
They either must learn to make
stab" at pronouncing the scientific
names Of plants or else they must stick
| to the so-called popular names.
Right here they find themselves in a
dilemma, because there are many plants
which have no popular names. Ex-
amples of these are nasturtium, gera-
mum, hydrangea, rhododendron. Such
| common names as these may possess
are seldom used, even by those who
| have difficulty with the scientific names
Such things as geraniums and mas
| turtiums have become so popular that
! practically every one knows how to
| speak their names correctly.
"Hydrangea," however, often becomes
too difficult, and is turned into
''hygeranium."
! "Rhododendron" becomes "rhododen-
drom," for no apparent reason.
1t is therefore more or less true that
the amateur gardener who will make
a real attempt to learn to pronounce
flower names properly, according to the
Latin, will tend to assume place ot
some little Importance among his less