68 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



little more than half a century. It was under the care of M. 

 Jacques, gardener to King Louis Philippe, that one of the first 

 collections was formed, and some of the first of the fine varieties of 

 today originated. M. Jacques' collection was inherited by his 

 nephew, M. Victor Verdier, who raised a number of fine seedlings. 

 The collection of the Comte de Cussy, an amateur collector, was 

 inherited by M. Calot, of Douai, who continued to raise seedlings 

 till 1872, when his collection passed into the hands of M. Crousse, 

 of Nancy, who made careful selections from the Calot seedlings 

 and sent them out annually until 1879. From 1882 until 1899, 

 Crousse sent out seedlings of his own raising. The Calot-Crousse 

 varieties are noted for their uniform high quality, raising the 

 standard of excellence to a height that has never been surpassed, 

 unless it be by the splendid varieties introduced in recent years by 

 that greatest of all the world's hybridizers, Victor Lemoine, whose 

 establishment at Nancy is at Crousse's old place. iVll the Lemoine 

 varieties are exquisitely beautiful, but most of them so rare, they 

 are but little known outside of the larger collections. 



Another famous French collector of Peonies, contemporary with 

 Calot and Crousse, was M. Mechin, also an enthusiastic amateur, 

 whose grandson, M. A. Dessert, of Chenonceaux, succeeds him, 

 and is considered today the greatest living authority on Peonies. 

 Among his most recent introductions may be found some of the 

 most beautiful additions to the many fine varieties for whicli we 

 are indebted to the French specialists. Recently a number of fine 

 new varieties, which are yet but little known in this country, have 

 been originated in France by Riviere, Paillet, Brochet and others. 

 To these must be added the beautiful varieties raised V^y James 

 Kelway, of England, who began his work on the Peony in 1864, 

 and twenty years later catalogued forty-one new varieties of his 

 own raising. 



Among those who have been most prominent in the introductions 

 of new Peonies in America which equal those of the finest French 

 introductions, was John Richardson, of Dorchester, Massachusetts. 

 Robert T. Jackson in his paper published in the Transactions of the 

 Massachusetts Horticultural Society for 1904, "John Richardson, 

 His House and Garden" writes: "Mr. Richardson had a perfect 

 passion for horticulture, and every plant in his garden that he loved 



