Manual of Gardening

I should further explain the reason for omitting ligatures and using such words as peony, spirea, dracena, cobea. As technical Latin formularies, the compounds must of course be retained, as in Pæonia officinalis, Spiræa Thunbergi, Dracæna fragrans, Coboea scandens; but as Anglicized words of common speech it is time to follow the custom of general literature, in which the combinations æ and oe have disappeared. This simplification was begun in the "Cyclopedia of American Horticulture" and has been continued in other writings. L. H. BAILEY. ITHACA, NEW YORK, January 20, 1910.