July 15, 15105 



HORTICULTURE 



Hybridizing the Pseony 



I have been at hybridizing "i" raising of seedhng 

 psconies for many years. When I began I was 

 hampered with having only four or five varieties, 

 and none of them of the standard quaHty. I was 

 wanting in light colors, but I soon obtained a plant 

 of a pink variety, E. M. Harris, and this, with the 

 crimson Pottsii, marked the beginning. I still lacked 

 a white one. Nevertheless, I went to work, and 

 from these produced Welcome Guest, shell pink, 

 tipped with white, rose-flowered, which has been cer- 

 tificated by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 and was in three collections of several exhibitions, 

 prize winners, at the recent paeony show held in 

 Boston, June 17 ; the deep crimson Miles Standish and 

 John Alden, a pale crimson or dark pink, a fine fioWer 

 for the lawn, but not fine enough for the critics. At 

 this time I imported a collection and got my white 

 pollen-bearing plant, and from these have sprung 

 (ioliath, an extremely large, full double, rose-flowered, 

 deep pink bloom, and Maud L. Richardson, white, 

 flushed with rosy hlac, rose-flowered, and a finely 

 modeled form, both of which have been certificated 

 by the above-named society. Next came Beauty's 

 Mask, with its flaunting heads of rosy-white and 

 gold, borne on tall stalks; this is rose-leaved also. 

 • Owing to the rivalry of the numerous growers I 

 have exercised the greatest care in the selection of 

 seed, sowing seed only from the best, and selecting 

 the pollen only from the finest blooms, thus ensuring 

 the more certainty of what? the result will be. Then, 

 after the sowing of the seed, ensues the waiting for 

 the plants to appear, which will not be until the 

 second year, except in occasional instances, and 



P.tONY MODELE DE PeRKECIION, AT PETERSO.N": 



I'.iiiNV Soui'H Weymouth 



then it will be from four to ten years before I can 

 know the result of my labor. For thus we make 

 haste slowly, keeping in view the light that is before 

 us; always rememliering tlie poorest come first, like 

 all other high-bred flowers; nursing the feeble ones 

 in their infancy, for among them may be the price- 

 less one we are looking for. The percentage of good 

 flowers increases with the selection of seed, for with 

 good parentage only can we hope 

 to attain success, for we want the 

 children better than their par- 

 ents; with this thought before 

 us, we have courage for our work. 

 There is a fascination in ori- 

 ginating new varieties, whether 

 they be pasonies or other flowers 

 or fruits, that surpasses all other 

 employments; the creating of 

 new forms, or the improving of 

 those already existing, lends en- 

 chantment to employment, and 

 makes labor sweet. 1 well rc- 

 meinber when Lieutenant Hob- 

 son, a Japanese, appeared in mv 

 collection, a deep crimson-pur- 

 ple, crowned with gold. It was 

 entirely different from the com- 

 mon run of singles and doubles; 

 I had neither seen nor heard 

 anything like it, but I have since 

 learned that Kelway calls it 

 Imperial, and values it almost 



