July 20, 1907 



HORTICULTURE 



77 



Dny Farms 



Han Keang. In 65G A. D.. Soo King, 

 anoth&r writer, announces Hang Chung 

 as the native home of the tree peony. 

 thus corroborating the account of 

 Hung King in 536. I go into this matter 

 thus fully because It has been re- 

 peatedly stated in print that the fei-al 

 home of the tree peony is not known. 

 Robert Fortune himself states in ISSO 

 that the tree peony may be found on 

 the mountains of the central prov- 

 inc-3s of China. 



An old Chinese book on the "Origin 

 of Matter and Objects" states that by 

 7];; the number of kinds had so great- 

 ly increased that the plant was com- 

 mon about the huts of the poor as 

 well as about the mansions of the 

 rich. Soon after tbis, about 720, eleven 

 hundred and eighty-seven years ago, 

 the number of kinds had so greatly 

 increased that Gow Yang Sew estab- 

 lished a genealogical register in which 

 to record the characters, qualities, and 

 parentage of the kinds which came 

 from seed. So we lind that our ef- 

 forts to establish, a register for our 

 varieties of peonies are by no means 

 original, but we must take off our 

 hats to our friend, Mr. Gow Yang 

 Sew, whose efforts along this line 

 antedate ours by 1187 years! 



In 1656 the Dutch East India Com- 

 pany sent an embassy to China which 

 secured free access to that country, 

 and in the published accounts of this 

 embassy the peonies were described 

 in glowing colors. To make a long 

 story short. Sir Joseph Banks of Eng- 

 land became interested in these ac- 

 counts and after various unsuccessful 

 attempts succeeded in 1704 in intro- 

 ducing into England two living tree 

 peonies. Progeny of these plants were 

 later introduced into France, and 

 Mons. Noisette, a nurseryman of Paris, 

 distributed them thrcughcut the coun- 

 try. 



Albiflora History. 



The early history of albiflora is very 

 similar to that of the moutan except 

 that it was Indigenous to a very wide 



range of territory in Northern China 

 and Siberia. As far as I have been 

 able to fina. the variety Fragrans was 

 the first albiflora to find its way into 

 Europe, and it was brought from 

 China bj- Sir Joseph Banks in 1S05. 



Peonies of various kinds were intro- 

 duced trom China into Japan in 721 

 A. 1).. and were subsequently greatly 

 improved by the Japanese. Peonies 

 were first introduced into America by 

 Wiliam Prince of Flushing. Long Is- 

 land, soon after they reached England. 

 McMabon speaks of them in 1S06, and 

 in 1824 Mr Prince had a collection of 

 over forty varieties. Some twenty 

 other species have been introduced at 

 various times during the past century, 

 but they are of minor importance. 

 Only one species (P. Browni) is native 

 to America, and that we find in Cali- 

 fornia. It is of value solely as a bo- 

 tanical curiosity. 



I have not attempted to work out 

 the botany of the peony for two rea- 

 sons. In the first place, three or four 

 m.onographs of the genus have already 

 been published; and in the second 

 place, the type specimens of the spe- 

 cies are all in European herbaria and 

 it would be useless for me to attempt 

 a botanical monograph without mak- 

 ing an extended trip to Europe. 



Evolution. 



Certain it is that the magnificent, 

 large, fragrant blooms which appear 

 upon our tables today are very unlike 

 their wild prototypes which were in- 

 troduced from Siberia. How has this 

 vast improvement come about? What 

 agencies have been at work. How are 

 we to proceed to still further develop 

 this wonderful flower? These are all 

 pertinent questions, but their answers 

 are not difficult to find. 



There are three chief causes of va- 

 riation in plants. They are: change 

 in environment, change in food supply, 

 and inter-crot-'sing. Now the genus 

 Paeonia, together with its relatives, is 

 naturally variable in a wild state. In 



addition to this, all three of these 

 causes of variation came into activo 

 play when the peonj was removed to 

 Europe, where a totally different cli- 

 mate prevailed, and they were heavily 

 manured by the French growers, and 

 all of the species obtainable were 

 planted together in botanical .gardens 

 and amateur collections, 'where they 

 had every opportunity for inter-pollin- 

 ation. Many of the early growers 

 cross-pollinated by hand to insure the 

 production of hybrids. Even hybrids 

 between the tree peony and the herba- 

 ceous sorts were secured. Small won- 

 der, then, that the new generations 

 presented striking and valuable varia- 

 tions, which were selected as parents 

 for succeeding generations. Not only 

 did the peony vary in color, size and 

 odor, but. most important of all. it va- 

 ried greatly in foi-m; and, as a result, 

 we have seedlings represerting all 

 stages of transformation from the sim- 

 ple single to the fully double. I find, 

 after a careful study of the literature, 

 that a great deal of confusion exists 

 in regard to the names given to these 

 horticultural types. Especially is this 

 true in regard to the terms anemone 

 and artichoke. For the sake of uni- 

 formity and a better understanding of 

 each other's descriptions, I am there- 

 fore prepared to propose and define six 

 horticultural types. I think these six 

 types will fully cover the field and will 

 be found to apply to all blooms exist- 

 ing at this time. These types are not 

 ill-advlsedly put forward. They have 

 gradually grown and crystalized in my 

 mind during a two years' study of the 

 subject. For the terms employed, I am 

 chiefly indebted to our worthy presi- 

 dent, Mr. C. W. Ward. 



Type I, the Single. 

 This tj-pe includes all peonies with 

 a single row of petals, enclosing a mass 

 of pollen-bearing stamens, and normal 

 follicles. For the sake of an example, 

 I mention La Fiance. 



( To be Contintied ). 



