July 6, 1912 



HORTICULTURE 



11 



CLUBS AND SOCIETIES 



AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY. 



The meeting of the American Peony 

 Society which tools place at Ithaca, 

 N. Y., on June 19 and 20 was a great 

 success. A large proportion of the 

 firms specializing in the peony were 

 represented and also there were a 

 good many amateurs from various 

 parts of the country as well as some 

 from Canada. The exhibition was 

 made up of cut blooms from the So- 

 ciety's plot on the grounds of the Uni- 

 versity and the exhibits of private 

 growers. 



For the best collection, one bloom 

 of each, the judges awarded first to 

 A. P. Saunders, Clinton, N. Y.; second 

 to Mrs. F. S. Kellogg, New York Mills, 

 N. Y. For the best new seedling of 

 American origin not previously exhi- 

 bited, Mr. Saunders was also awarded 

 first for Jean Bancroft, blush with 

 cream centre, and immense blush 

 guards. T. A. Havemeyer of Glen- 

 head staged a collection showing high 

 cultural skill, but owing to the differ- 



sisting of Messrs. Farr, Harris, Saun- 

 ders, Brown and Craig. It is hoped 

 that it will be possible to get the work 

 ready for the press within a year. 



President's Address. 



After voicing a welcome to the 

 members the president referred to the 

 imperishable and far-reaching records 

 of the Society's work as presented in 

 the bulletins and standard descriptions 

 of varieties as published. He spoke 

 appreciatively of the joint work done 

 by the Horticultural Department of 

 Cornell and the great assistance given 

 the society in indexing, classifying 

 and care of the plants and the publica- 

 tion of the bulletins all of which had 

 been assumed by the University, the 

 society supplying the plants. He gave 

 especial credit to Prof's Craig, Coit 

 and Batcheler for diligent work. 



The next and most important work, 

 he said, should be the gathering to- 

 gether of all the material contained in 

 the several preliminary bulletins which 



ence in the season between Mr. Have- 

 meyer's locality and that of Ithaca, 

 many varieties were too far advanced 

 to do the collection justice. 



There is to be a permanent planting 

 at Cornell of a representative collec- 

 tion of three plants of every variety 

 included in the bulletins of the nomen- 

 clature committee. This planting is 

 already partly completed, and will be 

 brought to a close by the end of the 

 present season. As the work of de- 

 scription and identification is now 

 completed, it is not necessary to re- 

 tain the whole plot any longer. The 

 main part is to be sold as a whole, 

 and the question of its disposal was 

 taken up at length in the sessions of 

 the Society. As to the smaller collec- 

 tions planted alongside the main plot, 

 the original donors having consented 

 to the plan, these are to be listed and 

 offered for sale separately. The funds 

 obtained from these sales are to be de- 

 voted to the publication of an illus- 

 trated Peony Manual made up from 

 the bulletins already published and 

 with a good deal of new material, giv- 

 ing accurate descriptions of all the 

 standard varieties, cultural directions 

 and much other material indispensable 

 to peony growers. A special commit- 

 tee on publication was appointed con- 



have been published, with such revi- 

 sions and corrections as is necessary 

 to form a complete book of the peony 

 which shall be the official peony cata- 

 logue or manual of the society. This 

 work should be so carefully compiled 

 as to become the standard book of 

 reference on the peony, a book which 

 would doubtless be in demand to such 

 an extent that its sale would eventu- 

 ally cover the cost of its publication. 



Arguing for greater efforts to bring 

 the merits of the peony more strongly 

 before the general public and to in- 

 crease the amateur membership, he 

 recommended that the society's ex- 

 hibitions in the future should be held 

 at points where the largest number o*f 

 people can have opportunity to view 

 them. He applauded the course of 

 some of the big seed houses in the 

 largest cities which have made a 

 feature of having a large peony show 

 during the season, sending out a large 

 number of invitations in addition to 

 advertising this display with the re- 

 sult that thousands of visitors have 

 been attracted and sales of roots have 

 been greatly increased. He also ad- 

 vocated the establishing of large col- 

 lections of plants of the best varieties 

 in public parks in the larger cities 

 where they could be under the care 



and protection of the authorities and 

 be visited by the masses of people. 



Now that the work of identification 

 has progressed so far, he said, the 

 work of elimination may be taken in 

 hand and the continued propagation of 

 inferior varieties discouraged, as well 

 as the introduction of new varieties 

 not up to the highest standard. 

 The Secretary's Report. 



Secretary A. P. Saunders reported 

 a membership of 66. He advocated 

 the desirability of interesting amateur 

 growers in the society and the offering 

 of prizes at the exhibitions exclusively 

 for amateur competition. Concerning 

 catalogue descriptions he spoke as fol- 

 lows: 



I think the growers should take 

 more account of the preferences of the 

 amateur in the choice of varieties. 

 The standard catalogues, and even the 

 descriptions of our own Nomenclature 

 Committee recommend varieties es- 

 pecially adapted for landscape work or 

 for cut blooms. Now the landscape 

 architect wants large masses of color 

 100 or 200 plants of one variety planted 

 together so that they may produce a 

 magnificent effect of color from the 

 house of his patron, who often does 

 not know one sort from another. Cut 

 blooms on the other hand, of the 

 florist's ideal, are such as will ship 

 from Chicago to New York without 

 fading. The amateur is nowhere here. 

 He grows only 50 to 100 plants, one of 

 each kind, and wants them for his 

 own delight and that of his friends. 

 This amateur class is Increasing all 

 the time, as my correspondence shows; 

 and I think it would be good policy on 

 the part of the nurseryman to cater 

 directly to it. The amateur does not 

 care much about durability, but he 

 wants exquisiteness on quality, and 

 he wants variety in his varieties. 

 There are many kinds that I could 

 name which are peculiarly for the am- 

 ateur, varieties such as the semldouble 

 LaRosiere, the single Albiflora, The 

 Bride, that strikingly decorative little 

 flower Philom61e; some of the best of 

 the Japanese kinds. These represent 

 the kind of thing out of which by ex- 

 panding the list the nurseryman might 

 make a separate class through which a 

 direct and special attempt could be 

 made to reach the preferences of the 

 amateur grower. Nor would I exclude 

 from this class those superb sorts 

 which we all agree to admire, Th6r6se, 

 Mme. Emile GalU, Glolre de Charles 

 Gombault, Duchesse de Nemours 

 (Calot), Carnea elegans (Calot) M. 

 Martin Cahuzac, and many others of 

 like excellence. 



The officers of the Society elected 

 for the coming year are: President, 

 B. H. Farr, Reading, Pa.; vice-presi- 

 dent, E. B. George, Painesville, Ohio; 

 treasurer, J. H. Humphreys, Chestnut 

 Hill, Pa.; secretary. Prof. A. P. Saun- 

 ders, Clinton, N. Y. 



C. S. Harrison of York, Neb., and 

 Leon D. Batchelor were elected to hon- 

 orary membership in recognition of 

 their services to peony culture in 

 America. 



No definite action was taken on the 

 meeting place for next year. Cleve- 

 land and Chicago were both discussed 



