MYTHOLOGY, AND HISTORY OF THE PEONY 



Other persons who, as hybridisers or growers, 

 have been closely connected with peony history 

 in this country since 1850 are: Mrs. Sarah E. 

 Pleas, now over eighty-five years of age, who 

 originated Jubilee and Opal No. 2, Rosenfield 

 (Floral Treasure, 1900, and Karl Rosenfield, 

 1908), Fewkes, Ellwanger, Peterson, Ward, 

 Barry and Harrison. 



The admiration in this country for the peony, 

 which started about 1850, has continued to wax — 

 with occasional wanings — until the present time. 

 But the growth in favour has had disadvantages 

 as well as advantages: about 1900, the number 

 of different varieties introduced from seeds and 

 from importations of plants (chiefly from Eng- 

 land and the Continent) had grown to such a size 

 that considerable confusion in nomenclature was 

 caused. The difficulty a purchaser had in get- 

 ting the kind ordered became so great that it 

 seriously affected the peony trade as well as the 

 dispositions of many peony buyers. Unscrupu- 

 lous growers — some, alas, are always with us — 

 put on the market hundreds of new seedlings 

 which they christened with good old names. One 

 expert feelingly described the condition of the 



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