44 



H ORTI CULTU RE 



July 9, 1910 



AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY. 



President Farr's Address at the Open- 

 ing of the Boston Meeting. 

 I was initiated into membership to 

 the American Peony Society in this 

 very hall at its exhibition held here 

 tour years ago. I have ever since had 

 the most vivid and pleasant recollec- 

 tions of my visit here and the cordial 

 reception given us by the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society and by 

 many friends of the peony, whom [ 

 met during that visit and who have 

 many of them since become personal 

 friends. 



I well remember the splendid exhi- 

 bition made at that time by Mr. Shay- 

 lor and the Thurlows, Mr. Hollis and 

 others, and my visits to their estab- 

 lishments. 



It gives me the greatest of pleasure 

 to be here again with you to meet the 

 same lovers of the peony, and to note 

 that their enthusiasm has not in any 

 way diminished as the years have 

 passed, as evidenced by the splendid 

 exhibition of flowers which they have 

 again shown us. 



While I have for many years grown 

 and admired the peony, I may say that 

 it was enthusiasm which I took home 

 from my first visit to Boston that has 

 been responsible in a large degree for 

 the serious study which I have given 

 the peony ever since. 



Eight years have passed since the 

 American Peony Society was organized 

 for the purpose of trying to straighten 

 out the confusion existing in the no- 

 menclature of the peony and publish- 

 ing accurate descriptions by means of 

 which all authentic varieties may be 

 identified. It was known that the task 

 would be a difficult one, but it is only 

 on looking back over the ground cov- 

 ered that one begins to realize how 

 almost hopeless was the task and how 

 futile would have been the effort were 

 it not for the singularly fortunate com- 

 bination of men and circumstances 

 with which it has been the Society's 

 great good fortune to be favored, the 

 result of which enables me to have 

 the. satisfaction of announcing to my 

 fellow members of the American 

 Peony Society here assembled, that 

 there is now the most encouraging 

 prospect of a speedy and successful 

 conclusion of the nomenclature work 

 which the Society set out eight years 

 ago to accomplish. 



The main factors which have carried 

 out the work so far toward ultimate 

 success are each so dependent on the 

 other that had but one been lacking 

 the work would undoubtedly Ivave end- 

 ed in failure before this. 



Most of the members of the Society 

 are more or less familiar with the first 

 steps which led to the organization of 

 the Society. We are indebted first to 

 Mr. C. W. Ward, who conceived the 

 idea and issued the first call and 

 through whose efforts the co-operation 

 of Cornell University was secured and 

 the test plot was established. We must 

 acknowledge too, the ready response of 

 our home growers whose generous con- 

 tribution of plants running into thous- 

 ands made the test plot an established 

 fact. To these were added through 

 the efforts of Mr. Ward and Professor 

 John Craig, of Cornell University, the 

 splendid foreign collections of A. Des- 

 sei-t, Croux & Son, L. Paillet of Prance, 



Goos & Koenemann of Germany, De 

 Graaff Bros., Van Leeuwen & Son of 

 flolland, and Peter Barr of London, 

 which have proven to be of most vital 

 importance. In fact, it is doubtful if 

 without these we could have accom- 

 plished much with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. 



The tas!; of preparing and planting 

 the peony plot was done by Cornell 

 University, 'who from that time on 

 assumed the great burden of the worlc, 

 and it is doubtful if there are many 

 members of the Society who realize the 

 full extent of indebtedness we owe to 

 the University and to those who have 

 had the work directly in charge, espe- 

 cially to Dean L. H. Bailey, who during 

 the last two years has given Professor 

 Batchclor "carte blanche" to go ahead 

 and do everything which in his judg- 

 ment was needed to bring the experi- 

 ment to a successful issue. Also to 

 Professor John Craig, of the Depart- 

 ment of Horticulture, who has taken 

 a deep personal interest in the work 

 which has been done under his person- 

 al supervision. 



We must not forget that while the 

 work and interests of the Peony So- 

 ciety are national in their scope, the 

 University is an institution of the 

 State of New York, and while the 

 Peony Society has made donations 

 toward the cost to some extent, the 

 greater part of the expense of caring 

 for the test plot, publishing the bulle- 

 tins, photographing, etc., and the men 

 detailed to carry on the studies, have 

 been furnished and paid for by the 

 University. 



The test plot has proven the neces- 

 sity for its establishment, at the same 

 time proving how useless it would have 

 been without the co-operation of the 

 University as it would have been out 

 of the question for any individual or 

 firm to have carried on this test on so 

 large a scale for so long a period. 



Last but not least we realize how 

 much has depended on those at Cor- 

 nell who have had the actual work to 

 do and whose indefatigable and schol- 

 arly efforts have cleared the way to 

 ultimate success. To Prof. J. Elliot 

 Coit we are indebted for the check list 

 containing all the names of peonies 

 known to exist in commerce upwards 

 to three thousand in all, together with 

 a most comprehensive bibliology of 

 the peony extending back to the sixth 

 century, also for the first bulletin con- 

 taining the history of the peony, classi- 

 fication, cultivation, etc., and the pre- 

 liminary descriptive list of about fifty 

 varieties. 



To Prof. Leon D. Batchelor. who has 

 so ably and conscientiously carried on 

 the work from where Professor Coit 

 left it, we owe the second bulletin cov- 

 ering the work of the nomenclature 

 committee last year with a careful de- 

 scription in detail of two hundred and 

 ninety additional varieties. Following 

 up the plan adopted last year, Mr. 

 Batchelor has in co-operation with the 

 special committee appointed for this 

 work, visited other collections where 

 the season is earlier than at Cornell, 

 and so far over one hundred new de- 

 descriptions have been made this sea- 

 son and it is expected before the sea- 

 sou closes at Ithaca a total list of ap- 

 proximately 500 varieties will have 

 been identified and described. It is 

 proposed to publish a fourth bulletin 

 covering the work to date early this 

 fall. 



A new planting has been made pon- 

 faining three plants each of all the 

 varieties so far identified, and to these 

 will be added this fall specimens of 

 the additional varieties described so 

 that when the Society again meets at 

 Ithaca the net results of the work ac- 

 complished will be condensed and may 

 be seen by all. This meeting should 

 in my opinion be held two years hence, 

 which will allow the plants to become 

 well established. It will allow time 

 also for the discussion of descriptions 

 as published and the correction of er- 

 rors before the publication of the final, 

 official catalogue of the Society. This, 

 too, will mark the conclusion for all 

 practical purposes of test and the ac- 

 complishment so far as this goes of 

 the original object for which the So- 

 ciety ■was formed. 



So far this season the committee 

 has visited and worked among the peo- 

 nies at Wyomissing, Andorra Nurser- 

 ies, Cottage Gardens Co., Geo. H. Peter- 

 son, Fairlawn, N. J., and it is a signifi- 

 cant fact that the descriptions already 

 taken practically cover everything to 

 be found in any of these large collec- 

 tions, with but few exceptions covering 

 also almost completely the extensive 

 catalogues of Lemoine and Dessert. 



With the conclusion of the test at 

 Cornell, what is to be the future of 

 the Society? Shall it consider its work 

 completed and disband or will It find 

 now interests to keep it alive? The 

 dahlia, the gladiolus and other flowers 

 have newly formed societies composed 

 of their devotees, to say nothing of 

 the older societies in other lines, and 

 it would seem that surely a flower as 

 beautiful and popular as the peony 

 wi';h a history and pedigree not ap- 

 proached by that of any other flower 

 should find abundant support from its 

 enthusiastic admirers to maintain its 

 organization. 



The interest in the nomenclature 

 committee was largely a commercial 

 one arising from the difficulty which 

 dealers experience in purchasing from 

 each other with any degree of cer- 

 tainty as to what they would receive. 

 But as dealers acquire what stock they 

 desire they will deal with each other 

 less and future sales will depend more 

 on the popularity of the peony with 

 the general public. New membership 

 to the Society will come more and 

 more from the amateurs who become 

 interested in the peony and acquire 

 large collections because of their ad- 

 miration of the flower rather than from 

 commercial motives. 



We should give the amateurs and 

 private growers our warmest welcome, 

 for upon them we must depend for our 

 finest specimen blooms for the exhibi- 

 tion table, and our premium lists 

 should encourage as much as possible 

 the keenest competition in the ama- 

 teur class. It will be through the in- 

 fluence of larger collections throughout 

 the cotintry and the exhibitions that 

 the general public will come to know 

 and appreciate the modern peony and 

 the exhibitions should be held at cen- 

 tral points easily accessible so that 

 they may be attended by a large num- 

 ber of people; every effort should be 

 made to have the exhibitions as at- 

 tractive as possible and every commer- 

 cial dealer should deem it not only a 

 duty but of vital importance to his own 

 Interest to do his share by sending 

 flowers whenever it is at all possible. 

 It is, of course, impossible for the 



