150 



LI O R T 1 C U L T U R E 



May 10. 1919 



MARKETING PEONY BLOOMS 



Most people prefer blooms of solid 

 colors and massed together Mr. Wm. 

 A. Peterson, the Chicago nurseryman 

 told the members of the Minnesota 

 Horticultural Society. He continued 

 as follows: 



This building of a master list, into 

 which each tested variety must light 

 its way by sheer demonstrated worth, 

 is very absorbing. In comparing the 

 painstaking records which we annually 

 make, we sometimes find an outstand- 

 ing variety, like Madame Forel, should 

 be finally dropped, because other 

 kinds have superseded it. In my per- 

 sonal study in order not to be too ex- 

 acting and give new varieties every 

 chance, I have really seven colors to 

 divide the sorts into, vis.: (1) paper 

 white, (2) cream or yellow, (3) blush 

 or delicate flesh, (4) light or medium 

 pink, (5) deep pink and rose, (6) red, 

 (7) crimson and deep red. In this way 

 we have tried out some fourteen hun- 

 dred varieties and at the present time 

 are carrying less than eighty. 



Recommending varieties for other 

 localities is not a very safe proposi- 

 tion, and I shall only give a few notes 

 on how certain sorts conduct them- 

 selves at our nursery. We have dis- 

 carded Meissonier because of its 

 crooked stems; Madame Emile Galle 

 because of having no low lateral 

 leaves, which prevents cutting it with 

 a long stem; whereas Octavie Demay, 

 a dwarf-growing delicate pink, admits 

 of cutting with a fairly good stem 

 without injuring the plant and is a 

 wonder. So far with us, the prize- 

 winning Jubilee has a very weak stem. 

 Golden Harvest is one of the mixed 

 colored kinds that florists cannot send 

 on a definite color order unless the 

 customer knows it by name. 



Madame Crousse is tender in our 

 climate and often skips a season in 

 blooming. Because Richardson's Ru- 

 bra Superba has proven very shy, we 

 no longer carry it, while Richardson's 

 (Irandiflora is all that its name implies 

 and a very free bloomer besides. This 

 last is one of those unusual sorts that 

 comes into bloom over a long period, 

 so one must have a good many plants 

 to cut from to get a fair quantity of 

 flowers at any given time. 



Adolphe Rosseau is a wonderful 

 "black" but too loose and shows the 

 yellow stamens too much. The great- 

 ly talked of pink, Lady Alexandra Dcff. 

 is on the same order. 



Single blooming varieties attract 

 some but are not very suitable for 

 shipping. 



La Tulipe is objectionable in bud, as 

 the florists call it a "candy bud." 



where as the bud of Kelway's Venus 

 leaves nothing to wish for. 



No matter how fine a sort may ul- 

 timately develop on the plant, if in 

 the early stages of opening it is likely 

 to "water log." Like Charlemagne, it 

 is not worth carrying. Probably more 

 Delicatissima are used at June wed- 

 dings than any other light pink sort. 



The most popular selling red is 

 Felix Crousse, with its perfect bomb 

 shape and large guard petal, which al- 

 ways indicates a good storage variety. 



Many will be surprised that we have 

 finally dropped Edulis Superba. It 

 does so well in many places, but on 

 our records, which we have kept an- 

 nually since 18S8, it is not nearly as 

 dependable as M. Jules Elie and gen- 

 erally not more than a day earlier. In 

 some quarters Madame Ducel is 

 grown, but with us it is smaller and 

 so similar in shade and time of bloom- 

 ing to M. Jules Elie that we do not 

 need it. 



Cutting the Blooms 



Long straight stems are essential, 

 but the cutting must leave the plant 

 to grow the balance of the summer 

 with at least one or, better, two lateral 

 leaves on each stalk left standing. 

 Where every terminal has a bud it is 

 a good plan when disbudding the side 

 buds for the cut flower trade to also 

 roll off a terminal bud on one or two 

 of the weakest stalks, and thus give 

 the plant more leaf area with which 

 to breathe. The disbudding of all lat- 

 eral buds, when the size of a pea. 

 makes the terminal bloom develop 

 larger. 



Just at what stage of unfolding to 

 cut a bud depends on the variety and 

 how soon it is expected to open. Sev- 

 eral carloads of peony blooms come 

 annually to Chicago before Decoration 

 Day from points fully six hundred 

 miles away. 



As soon as the stalks are cut and 

 most of the lateral leaves stripped off 

 in order to give more of the sap re- 

 maining in the stem to the bud, they 

 are gathered together in bundles of 

 thirteen of the same variety and size 

 of bud. In units of thirteen they can 

 be sold either by the dozen or the hun- 

 dred. The buds cut when the dew is 

 on them carry better, but if they are 

 to be wrapped in paraffin or other 

 paper, the petals must be thoroughly 

 dry. 



If possible it is a good plan after 

 the bundles are tied up to stand the 

 stems in water for an hour before 

 shipping in boxes. 



For the benefit of those who want 

 peony blooms much later than their 

 normal season — and really one of the 



recent developments of this industry 

 — it has been found that certain varie- 

 ties of peonies when cut in bud will 

 keep in cold storage for six to ten 

 weeks, and upon their being taken out 

 will unfold in all their usual glor> . 



THE WRONG KIND OF PUBLICITY. 



"Here's some stuff that should be 

 stopped," says F. F. Rockwell, man- 

 ager of the Nurserymen's National 

 Service Bureau, New York. "The right 

 kind of publicity is all right, but here's 

 an instance of the wrong kind." 



In a Chicago paper recently this 

 statement appeared: 



"Every variety of Barberry — the 

 common, the purple or the bronzed 

 leaved, and all the rest — are under 

 fire, and it is hoped that Illinois will 

 soon be comparatively free from the 

 pest. The United States Department 

 of Agriculture is co-operating with a 

 similar department at the University 

 of Illinois in this work." 



The above, of course, refers to the 

 "common" barberry because of the 

 part it plays in the spread of wheat 

 rust. 



As every nurseryman knows, the De- 

 partment of Agriculture has stated 

 frequently that the Japanese Barberry 

 is not a host of the wheat rust. 



From information from other 

 sources, I know- that other newspapers 

 have been guilty of the same careless- 

 ness in remarks about the wheat rust 

 and barberry. Every wide-awake nur- 

 seryman should be on the look-out for 

 this sort of thing and take the matter 

 up immediately with the editor of his 

 local paper anywhere such statements 

 may appear so that the public may be 

 set right. I know of a number of in- 

 stances in which beautiful hedges of 

 Japanese Barberry have been torn out 

 as a result of this misdirected "patriot- 

 ism" on the part of the papers. 



This information is being sent to 700 

 newspapers which the National Serv- 

 ice Bureau is supplying regularly with 

 educational articles on small fruits, 

 shade trees, shrubs, etc. 



Another "warning" that has gained 

 some publicity is that planting should 

 not be done this year because of the 

 seventeen year locust. More damage is 

 done every year to newly planted stock 

 through careless planting and ignor- 

 ance than the seventeen year locusts 

 could do in seven times seventy-seven 

 years. 



The National Service Bureau, of 

 course, does everything it can to com- 

 bat this sort of thing, but individual 

 nurserymen should co-operate by 

 watching their local papers and im- 

 mediately taking it up with the editor 

 when they see such statements. 



