76 



the writer to chronicle as accurately as possible not only the history 

 of the peony from its very beginning, but to present in permanent 

 form an account of the various steps in the evolution, development 

 and distribution of this interesting plant, and its relation to 

 mankind. 



The great epoch in American peony growing just referred to 

 was coincident with the introduction, probably about 1850, of 

 improved varieties of the species Pcconia albiHora. This new peony 

 originally came from Siberia. It was perfectly hardy, and very 

 variable as to color and type of flowers, and had the additional 

 advantage of being fragrant. It was a more vigorous grower, and 

 in fact in nearly every way far superior to the old kind. At once 

 a demand sprang up for this new Chinese peony, as it was called ; 

 and as reproduction by division of the roots was slow, many seeds 

 were sown, thus giving rise to additional forms. 



This rapid increase in popularity continuerl, till at the end of 

 the century the number of different varieties developed both from 

 seeds and from direct importation had grown so large as to cause 

 great confusion in nomenclature. By 1900, the confusion of names 

 became so great that it acted as a serious hindrance to trade. Ad- 

 vantage was taken of this unsettled condition by unscrupulous 

 growers to put upon the market hundreds of worthless seedlings 

 which would produce good marketable roots, regardless of the type 

 of bloom they bore. Landscape architects were now waking up 

 to the fact that the herbaceous peony had great value for general 

 landscape planting, and especially for mass effects ; yet they were 

 deterred from making free use of it on account of the confusion in 

 nomenclature and the consequent uncertainty as to what colors they 

 would get. Finally, in June and July. 1902, a few peony specialists 

 and nurserymen started the movement which resulted in the incor- 

 poration in 1903 of the American Peony Societv. The first 

 president was C. W. Ward of Queens, Long Island, and 

 the first secretary A. H. Fewkes of Newton Highlands, Massa- 

 chusetts. The American Peony Society held large and successful 

 exhibitions at New York in 1904, at Chicago in 1905, at P)Oston in 

 1906, and at Ithaca, New York, in 1907-8; and the magnificent 

 display of flowers staged at these exhibitions attracted widespread 

 interest. 



In August, 1902, the Society of American Florists, at its conven- 

 tion at Asheville, North Carolina, appointed a peony committee to 

 promote the interests of this now extremely popular flower. On 



