APPENDIX B 



DISEASES OF THE PEONY* 



By Prof. H. H. Whetzel, Ithaca, N. Y., The 

 John Lewis Russell Lecture Delivered 

 Before the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society, March 27, 1915. 



IT is an old fable passed down from catalog 

 to catalog that " The peony is free from dis- 

 eases." Yet one has only to observe carefully for 

 one season the peony plants in gardens, lawns, 

 and nurseries to lose his childish faith in the story. 

 Not less than seven distinct diseases of this beau- 

 tiful perennial are now commonly to be met with 

 in eastern United States. Doubtless there are 

 others not yet recognized or reported. I now have 

 these seven slated for further study and observa- 

 tion and expect to add others to my list this sea- 

 son. The less we know of the diseases of a plant 

 the fewer and less important they appear. The 

 reverse is equally true. Yet is is only through 



*Reprinted from the Transactions of the Mas- 

 sachusetts Horticultural Society, 1915, Part 1. 



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