THE BOOK OF THE PEONY 



Colours 

 In the Main List, I have given in ordinary 

 terms the details of shadings and combinations 

 immediately under the name of each variety and 

 have placed the colour of the general effect in 

 a separate column. I have avoided the use of 

 such expressions as Tyrian rose, Solferino red 

 and purple-garnet (which as a matter of fact 

 contains less purple than other shades bearing no 

 mention of purple). The colour terminology 

 used by the professional growers is confusing 

 and misleading to a beginner. For the informa- 

 tion of those who care to compare the trade terms 

 with actual samples of colour, I would state that 

 the chart used by the American Peony Society 

 is the " Repertoire des Couleurs pour aider a la 

 determination des Couleurs des Fleurs, des Feuil- 

 lages et des Fruits." This elaborate work, pub- 

 lished by the Societe Fran^aise des Chrysan- 

 themistes in Lyons in 1905, comes in three vol- 

 umes, or rather portfolios, and contains over 

 fourteen hundred shades. There has been some 

 discussion as to the respective merits of this chart 

 and Ridgeway's " Colour Standards and Nomen- 



78 



