August 28, 1909 



HORTICULTURE. 



809 



MEETING OF THE AMERICAN 

 ROSE SOCIETY IN CINCINNATI. 



At the Convention o£ the Society of 

 American Florists there was a meeting 

 of the American Rose Society on 

 Thursday afternoon, August 19, in 

 Music Hall. 



President Poehlmann called the meet- 

 ing to order at 3.45 and laid before 

 the meeting several matters of impor- 

 tance. This was the first meeting of 

 the Executive Committee since the 

 spring exhibition held in Buffalo. 

 Treasurer May advised that the rate 

 of inteiest had been cut down upon the 

 invested fund from 4 to 3 per cent and 

 in accordance with the by-laws of the 

 Society, Article three, section five, and 

 Article five, section three, requested 

 advisement as to what he should do 

 with the fund which amounted to $300 

 and the special Hubbard fund, $250. 

 The matter was discussed from various 

 sides and a letter from Spencer Trask 

 & Co., of New Yovk. City, recommend- 

 ing three bonds as investment was 

 read, but it was moved and seconded 

 that the treasurer be directed to in- 

 vest the permanent fund in his hands 

 In New Yoik Savings Banks drawing 

 4 per cent interest, and that the same 

 be deposited in the name of the Amer- 

 ican Rose Society, and in the case of 

 withdrawal the order should be signed 

 by the treasurer and countersigned by 

 both the president and secretary of the 

 Society. The recommendation of the 

 Committee of Judges at the last exhibi- 

 tion in regard to staging was adopted, 

 the same to be added to the permanent 

 rules. A letter was read from Peter 

 Bisset of Washington, in regard to two 

 gi-owths on cut roses lor exhibition. 

 This matter was discussed and it was 

 resolved that the sentence, "All cut 

 roses (excepting Killarney) in the com- 

 petitive classes must be fiom a single 

 growth of the current season." 



P. R. Pierson stated that for the 

 coming exhibition to be held in the 

 American Museum of Natural History 

 at 77th street and Central Park West, 

 there would be every accommodation 

 for the finest exhibition, and that the 

 exhibitors and all Interested could rely 

 upon a great crowd of visitors; that 

 there would be no charge for admis- 

 sion and that the Horticultural Soeiety 

 would do all in its power to make 

 everything interesting. The prelimi- 

 nary schedule as reported by the 

 Schedule Committee, which had been 

 appointed by President Poehlmann, 

 was circulated. 



The number of special prizes has 

 been taken up and efforts will be made 

 to swell them to a large extent. It 

 was reported that the Society had no 

 medals. A letter from the director of 

 the United States Mint at Philadelphia 

 was read and the statement made that 

 only three silver medals and three 

 bronze ones had been struck. Upon 

 the matter of medals, the secretary 

 reported a case where seventy-three 

 school children had joined a society 

 for making home gardens and that a 

 colored washerwoman, while not a 

 member of the "Home Garden Bri- 

 gade" had taken care of her front yard 

 so well that it was a marvel. Ou each 

 side of the fence was a row of roses 

 and also three or four bushes in the 

 grass plot and as a matter of encour- 

 agement to amateur growers of roses 



everywhere, the secretary asked that 

 the Society would gi-ant tbt& Mrs. b. 

 Lefevere a medal. Mr. Heacock of 

 Wyncote, Pa., inquired particularly 

 about the conditions and stated that 

 he believed that the Rose Society could 

 do no better work than to recognize 

 such cases; that the Rose Society was 

 a Society for amateurs and that we 

 wanted to encourage that kind of work 

 everywhere and moved that a silver 

 medal be given to Mrs. Lefevere; this 

 was unanimously seconded. Upon mo- 

 tion of Prof. Cowell it was ordered 

 that three silver medals and six bronze 

 medals be ordered from the Mint. 



The matter of annual bulletin was 

 taken up and the same will be pub- 

 lished at the end of the year and 550 

 were directed to be printed if the sec- 

 retary received support in the way of 

 advertisements for the publication, to 

 increase the number as conditions may 

 warrant. 



The sense of the Society is that 

 every effort should be made to interest 

 amateurs generally and to provide es- 

 pecially for out-of-door roses and as 

 far as possible keep in touch with 

 every member. Several of the mem- 

 bers present subscribed for one page 

 advertisement in the next edition of 

 the Bulletin. 



FRANK R. PIERSON, 



President-elect, Society of American 



Florists and Ornamental 



Horticulturists. 



We were pleased to be able to pre- 

 sent as a cover illustration for our 

 issue of last week, the portrait of this 

 ceaselessly busy man who, having 

 made a signal success of his own 

 business and having given brilliant 

 evidence of his cleverness in handling 

 and solving problems of national im- 

 portance for the benefit of the trade at 

 large, has now been selected as the 

 standard bearer of the great national 

 society for the coming year. Mr. Pier- 

 son has before him the grandest op- 

 portunity to make his administration 

 a record breaker for aggressive useful- 

 ness on broad lines, for the time is 

 ripe for a big movement that will mark 

 an era in American horticulture and it 

 is his duty and privilege to assume the 

 leadership. 



Mr. Pierson had his training in a 

 good school, the house of Peter Hen- 

 derson & Co.. and Peter Henderson, 

 always observant and shrewd, was 

 often heard to predict that the 

 young man would make his mark in 

 the profession. His start at Tarry- 

 town, where his business is still lo- 

 cated, was a modest one, some thirty 

 years ago. But it grew rapidly, and in 

 a few years the additional establish- 

 ment at Scarboro, N. Y., was inaugu- 

 rated and now ranks among the great 

 show places of the counti-y with over 

 a quarter million square feet of ground 

 covered with glass houses of the most 

 modern type. The chrysanthemum, 

 carnation and fern literature of the 

 past ten years is punctuated with the 

 name of Pierson. as every reader of 

 these lines knows, and among the in- 

 troductions which have been dissemi- 

 nated under his name we do not recall 

 one which has not "made good." The 

 S. A. F. has again shown excellent 

 judgment in the man it has honored 

 with the highest gift in its power. 



A PEONY INQUIRY FROM NEW 

 ZEALAND. 



Our Philadelphia correspondent, G. 

 C. Watson, is in receipt of the follow- 

 ing letter from Ivar C. Asplund, Can.- 

 ley Park, Rahotee, Taranaki, New Zea- 

 land: 



I liave the honor to beg the favor of 

 cojnes of the Anuual Reports or Year 

 Uouks of the Ameiicau I'eony Sodety for 

 the years from 1902 to 1909 inclusive; and 

 lollies of the yearly proceedings of the 

 Couventions of the Society of American 

 Florists from 1902 to 1909 inclusive. 



Kindly note me as to amount of postage, 

 etc., etc. 



May I also ask, if it is possible, that 

 you will also favor me with catalogs of 

 noted breeders of the Peony, for which I 

 shall be extremely thankful. 



The above submitted to Bertrand H. 

 Farr of Reading, Pa., the president of 

 the Peony Society, he replies as fol- 

 lows: 



I beg to acknowledge the receipt of 

 your favor of August 16th with enclosed 

 letter from Ivar C. Asplund, Taranaki, New 

 Zealand. 



The publications of the American Peony 

 SoL-iety to date are as follows; A Check 

 List containing the names of every var. 

 of Peonies so far as known, that is to be 

 found in catalogues at the present time, 

 giving the name of introducer and date, 

 where possible, with references to all the 

 literature bearing on each variety so far 

 as known. This list contains about 2700 

 names at the present time and forms the 

 basis upon which the Society has begun 

 its work, in connection with the Test Plot 

 at Cornell University, where nearly 1000 

 of these varieties are growing side by side 

 tor the purpose of comparison, having been 

 donated hy all the prominent growers of 

 thi.s country and Europe. 



The second publication was the begin- 

 ning of the official catalogue of the society, 

 containing a history of the Peony by J. 

 Eliot Colt, Ph. D.. Professor of Horticul- 

 ture at Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Tucson, Arizona, with articles on cultiva- 

 tion, diseases, etc., and its classification, 

 with a descfiptive list of about 100 varie- 

 ties, following up the work done this 

 season. Another bulletin will be gotten 

 out this fall, giving detailed descriptions of 

 about 275 additional varieties. In ad- 

 dition there was published last spring the 

 otHoial record of the doings of the So- 

 ciety from its beginning until the present 

 time, a period of about 6 years. 



All of these publications are free to 

 each member of the Society, the member- 

 ship to which is $5.00 with annual dues 

 of S3 per year. The price of the Check 

 List was originally fixed at $5 to non- 

 members. This price was reduced at the 

 last meeting to $2.50. The Peony bulletin, 

 issued by Cornell University can be ob- 

 tained free by any resident of the State 

 of ,\'ew York.' or by any member of the 

 Peonv Society, as thus bulletin was pub- 

 lished by the New Y'ork State Experiment 

 Station " of the College of Agriculture. 

 Non-residents of New Y'ork can obtain it 

 hy appl.ving to Prof. John Craig of Cornell 

 University." but am unable to say what the 

 charge will be. 



The following are the names and ad- 

 dresses of those who are at the present 

 time growing seedling Peonies, so far as 

 I know: T. C. Thurlow & Son, West 

 Newbnrv. Mass.; George H. Hollis. South 

 Weymouth. Mass.: E. .T. Shaylor. Wellesley 

 Fnrms. Mass.: J. F. Rosenfleld, West 

 Point. Neb.: C. S. Harrison. York, Neb.; 

 nnil O. F. P.rand & Son. Faribault, Minn. 



Would it not be advisable for nil those 

 interested in Peonies to .loin the American 

 Peony Society, and help this work along, 

 as T feel sure we are established on a 

 sound basis and will accomplish results. 



The above information bejng of In- 

 terest to many of our readers besides 

 our New Zealand friend, we take pleas- 

 ure in publishing same, and would ask 

 the gentlemen mentioned by Mr. Farr 

 and also other peony growers who may 

 have peony catalogues that are free, to 

 send same to the addresses given. The 

 secretary of the S. A. P. will no doubt 

 inform the inquirer if there be any 

 wav of getting the reports of that so- 

 ciety from 1902 to 1909. 



