Our 1917 peony and iris show will be held in conjunction with the 

 Minnesota State Horticultural Society and the Garden Society flower show. 

 Full particulars as to date and directions for reaching the exhibit will be 

 found in this issue of the Horticulturist. 



Don't fail to read Mr. Bonnewitz's very able paper which appears in 

 full in this issue. Mr. Bonnewitz has 288 varieties of peonies in his garden. 

 We want you to meet him at the June meeting. 



Your Secretary has the assurance of several members located outside 

 of the state who expect to be with us at our June meeting. We will gladly 

 welcome them and hope to be able to have a good exhibition on display. 



Don't fail to disbud in order to get the best bloom for exhibition pur- 

 poses. Thoroughly cultivate, exercising care not to work too close to the 

 plant and cause injury to the roots. 



A committee on the peony and also one on the iris is preparing a list of 

 100 varieties of each sort that the society can unqualifiedly recommend as 

 being desirable. It is the purpose to include only those varieties that have 

 proven their worth from year to year in the various localities under adverse 

 as well as favorable conditions. We are in hopes to have these lists com- 

 piled in time so the matter may be brought before our June meeting. 



Some time ago I sent out the following questions to a number of our 

 members : 



(1) 



or iris? 



(2) 

 flower? 



(3) 

 effects. 



(4) 



Have you experienced any difficulty with the growing of peonies 

 If so, does it relate to disease or diseases of the plant or of the 

 Describe the disease and state when it starts, its progress and 



What remedies have you applied and with what success? 

 The following reply was received from Mr. James Boyd of Philadelphia, 

 Pa., one of our members. Mr. Boyd has a splendid collection and his experi- 

 ence will doubtless be valuable to our readers. I quote his answers below. 



(1) "Yes, I have experienced difficulties in growing peonies, particu- 

 larly during the last two or three years. Before that time I thought the 

 peony one of the easiest plants in the world to grow successfully. 



(2) "My plants have suffered mostly from what I call 'root disease,' 

 or 'black rot.' The buds do not develop but become hard and brown and 

 sometimes shrivel up. Here and there a stem will wilt completely and has 

 to be cut off. The wilting of the stem generally takes place after blooming 

 time and is almost a sure indication of root disease. 



(3) "When the plant is dug up, I find the part of the root from 

 whence the withered branch was cut to have a black decay that extends 

 down into the root. This seems to always start from the point where the 

 wilted stem grew and sometimes will extend throughout a root that on first 

 inspection appeared to be perfectly healthy. 



(263) 



