THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



peony business at this time as " utterly chaotic." 

 To replace confusion with order a few peony 

 enthusiasts and growers in the summer of 1902 

 started the movement which resulted in the fol- 

 lowing year in the incorporation of the American 

 Peony Society, of which C. W. Ward was the 

 first President, and A. H. Fewkes the first Secre- 

 tary. The original purpose of the Society was 

 " to advance public interest in the peony and 

 especially to straighten out peony nomenclature." 

 In 1904, the Society agreed to co-operate with 

 the Horticultural Department of the Experi- 

 ment Station at Cornell University for the pur- 

 pose of making a study of all the varieties of 

 peonies which it was possible to obtain. To an 

 appeal for plants of different kinds, a liberal 

 response was made by those having large collec- 

 tions. Nearly every prominent grower in this 

 country sent samples from his stock: in addition 

 contributions were made from the finest collec- 

 tions in Europe, including two hundred plants 

 from A. Dessert at Chanonceaux. 



The first plantings at Cornell in 1904< soon 

 increased to thousands of specimens having up- 

 wards of twenty-six hundred names — practically 



64 



