121 



to year." That this statement is too broad is shown by the fact 

 that the editor appends a note at the bottom of this page, stating 

 that slugs and the larvse of cockchafers have been known to work 

 much mischief. 



There are a very few scattering references in the hterature to 

 minor troubles from various insects. In The Garden, Vol. 6i, 

 p. 292, Mr. Wilks reports slight injury by the larvae of the cock- 

 chafer, and G. G. Ley in the same place states that he has had 

 serious trouble with the hop grub (Hepialus humuli). Another 

 writer reports some injury from the Swift Moth (Hepialus sp.). 

 The Gardening World, Vol. 18, p. 415, 1902. 



The only depredations by insects I have heard of in America 

 seem to me to bid fair to be more serious than any yet described. 

 In the summer of 1905, a lady living on Long Island wrote me 

 that her peonies had been entirely defoliated by the " voracious " 

 and well-known pest, the rose bug {Macrodactylus subspinosus). 

 In locations near sandy knolls, where this insect breeds freely, it 

 may indeed prove a serious pest, for it seems to devour the peony 

 leaves with the same voracity as any other vegetation which falls 

 its way. 



We conclude therefore that the fact that the peony is so remark- 

 ably free from fungous and insect troubles is one of the strongest 

 arguments in favor of its general adoption for ornamental planting. 



VL THE METHOD OF DESCRIBING VARIETIES. 



It is a well-known fact that peonies seldom produce blooms 

 which are typical of the variety until the young plants have become 

 established. This usually takes from two to five years, depending 

 on the variety. Even after the plant is well established, its con- 

 dition as to vigor may cause variation in the type of flowers it 

 produces. It is therefore a very difficult matter to describe any 

 given variety with very great accuracy, and allowance must always 

 be made for varietal variations. In describing varieties it is very 

 important to know which characters are comparatively stable and 

 which variable, in order that more prominence may be given to 

 the stable characters. Definitions of the six horticultural types, 

 which have been taken as standards, may be found elsewhere in 

 this bulletin. 



After a careful study of the peony bloom, the following char- 

 acters have been selected as suitable for use in the descriptions : 



