75 



to the common people. Perhaps one cannot do better to sum 

 up this catalog of virtues than by quoting from Mr. H. Huftelen 

 of LeRoy, N. Y., in Vick's Magazine for 1879, P- io5 : " No flower- 

 ing plants capable of enduring our northern winters are more satis- 

 factory than the peonies. Massive without being coarse, fragrant 

 without being pungent, grand without being gaudy, various in form 

 and color, beyond the possibility of being successfully superseded, 

 they stand in the first rank of hardy flowers." 



"Slender and shy like Shakuyaku when she stands; 

 Beautiful and dignified like Botan when she sits ; 

 As stately and gentle as Yuri (lily) in her bearing when she walks: 

 These graces I hope for in her." — Garden & Forest, vol. 3, p. 499. 



Up to the middle of the 19th century, the only peony which was 

 known to any extent in America was the old double red of our 

 grandmothers' gardens. It was comparatively common through- 

 out the extent of the Atlantic seaboard, and its large vivid red 

 blossoms with their disagreeable soapy odor were familiar to every 

 one. Even at the present day such a flower perhaps comes into the 

 mind of the average American when the peony is mentioned. This 

 old double red peony is a variety of the species Pceonia officinalis, 

 common throughout Southern Europe, and so named because its 

 roots were in the early days frequently used for medicinal purposes. 

 The impressions received from this old peony were not always the 

 most pleasing in regard to odor, and it did not compare favorably 

 in other respects with some of the leading garden flowers, such as 

 ttie rose, violet, lily, carnation, and chrysanthemum. True, it 

 usually took care of itself and throve in the grass and weeds of 

 the average door-yard, but the chief objections to it were its 

 tendency to be beaten down to the ground by rains, its disagreeable 

 odor, and its large size combined with a very striking color, which 

 gave to many minds the idea that it was a vulgar and unrefined 

 flower. Though it was tolerated in the door-yards of the common 

 people, it was rarely if ever given a prominent place in the collec- 

 tions of wealthy an-^l discriminating flower-lovers. 



A great change of sentiment in regard to the peony has, however, 

 taken place, due to the introduction of new and far better species. 

 It is this great change in popular sentiment toward the peony, its 

 rapid strides into popularity, and the greatly increased interest in it, 

 that has led to the production of this paper. It is the intention of 



