Shiva, scientists communicate in Formal English. I do not feel that your
original statement is defendable in Formal English. ("It remains a fact that
we have seen no evidence at all--so far--that Rose Mosaic Virus can spread
from one plant to another in our gardens.").

I offered you the opportunity to revise your statement (with a suggested
revision): " I suggest that you modify your statement to say that there is
some evidence (or even some preliminary evidence) but it is not sufficient
to convince you.".

I also asked you to reference what part of the dictionary definition of
"evidence" you felt supports your use of the word (I referred you to
examples of how others were using "evidence").

I have presented the viewpoints of a number of respected scientists,
hybridizers and the Royal Botanical Garden, Sydney . Your attempt to
question (attack) my scientific judgment is disappointing; are you attacking
the scientific judgement of the above also?

Your statement: "For you to claim to be a scientist and yet pretend that
anything you find on the Internet is a study that provides valid evidence
for the topic at hand ..." deserves comment.

The above quote has a number of words but what do they collectively mean in
Formal English?

For example, you use the word "pretend":
http://www.realdictionary.com/p/dir/pretend.asp
then you use "anything"
http://www.realdictionary.com/a/dir/anything.asp

???????????????????????????????????????????

I was pleased to see that you placed the word "valid" in front of evidence -
"valid evidence" is a completely different statement than "no evidence at
all".
"Valid" is a subjective term: http://www.realdictionary.com/v/dir/valid.asp
(definition of subjective:
http://www.realdictionary.com/s/dir/subjective.asp i.e. what you consider
valid, someone else may not and vice versa.

If I am interpreting correctly what you are now stating, you are now
approaching my suggested revision to your original statement. To save
scrolling here it is again:

" I suggest that you modify your statement to say that there is some
evidence (or even some preliminary evidence) but it is not sufficient to
convince you..


Henry Kuska, retired

http://home.neo.rr.com/kuska/