"Kate R." writes: "You did not tell us which of the two forms of pronunciation of Veronica we should use, presuming there is but one correct way".

[Our original correspondent who inquired about Veronica has raised a storm around us - and yet it shows how large is the number of people who take an interest in the intellectual matters incidental to horticulture. It so happens that for a hundred years or more the same question has been asked that "Kate" asks now. We can only say that the correct pronunciation will depend on the question of derivation. Those who believe that the name is in any way connected with the legend of the handkerchief will say Ve-ron-i'-ca; those who regard it as derived from Betonica will say Ve-ron'-i-ca. Horticulturists and botanists always use the latter pronunciation, and we note that Professor Gray, in his "Manual of Botany," adopts this pronunciation, though evidently leaning, as Dr. Darlington did, to the ecclesiastical theory of the name.

To our mind the fact that this plant has been named, and the pronunciation the same as Betonica, in all probability ages before the legend of the handkerchief became connected with it, is an additional reason for the origin of the name as we have suggested - merely a corruption of Betonica, a family with which it was originally classed. - Ed. G. M].