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JDNK 22, 1005. 



ThcWcekly Florists' Review, 



239 



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AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY. 



THE CHICAGO MEETING. 



The second annual meeting of the 

 American Peony Society, June 16 and 

 17, brought together what was undoubt- 

 edly the largest showing of cut peonies 

 ever seen at either a European or an 

 American exhibition. The large banquet 

 hall of the Auditorium hotel, Chicago, 

 was chosen for the exhibition and was 

 completely filled. There were a smaller 

 number of exhibitors than had been an- 

 ticipated, because of the great heat of 

 the few preceding days which had put 

 the flowers of growers in certain sections 

 beyond the exhibition stage, while the 

 western New York growers had nothing 

 yet ready to cut. Notable among those 

 whose absence was felt for the latter rea- 

 son was Eilwanger & Barry, of Roches- 

 ter, who had entered in almost every 

 class, but who did not have anything 

 open enough to show by the day of the 

 exhibition. Nearly all of the stock 

 shown had been in cold storage for a 

 number of days and in some cases quali- 

 ty was not up to the standard of fresh 

 cut stock, but it, nevertheless, made a 

 magnificent showing and served to em- 

 phasize one of the valuable cut flower 

 characteristics of the peony. 



As compared with the first exhibition 

 i>f the society, held in New York last 

 year, this show was many times larger 

 and did much to straighten out nomen- 

 clature. Two of the smaller exhibits 

 combined were as large as the entire 

 sliow of last year, while the display of 

 tlic largest exhibitor was fully twice 

 wliat was been at New York. The same 

 method of staging was employed as that 

 at the last convention of the American 

 Carnation Society, the tables being cov- 

 ered with a green cloth which made a 

 much better setting for the flowers than 

 the white covering ordinarily used. The 

 staging was delayed on Friday morning 

 by the non-arrival of the vases which 

 had been arranged for, so that the work 

 was hardly more than begun at the time 

 the show was supposed to have opened. 

 Then, too, the exhibitors were new to the 

 task of staging peonies and it took them 

 longer than it will again to accomplish 

 tlie same results. Furthermore, the 

 stored stock was dropping more or less 

 and had to be carefully picked over, all 

 of which consumed much time, and it was 

 \vell into the evening before the show 

 was wholly ready. For this reason the 

 JiHlging was delayed until the morning 

 <ir the gecx)nd day. 



The general effect of the exhibition 



was excellent, although the individual 



f'xhibits left something to be desired in 



the matter of arrangement. The absence 



"t the touch of the skilled hands of the 



ict^il florist was felt. The peony is too 



^tiff-stemmed a flower to lend itself 



leaxiiiy to decorative effects, particularly 



^\iicn a number of flowers are placed in 



•' Perfectly straight stone jar. The dem- 



'"'■stration of the individual beauty of 



lie flowers was often lacking, but to 



"f>at of the visitors this was of minor 



< '"si.leration. It was a noteworthy fea- 



"*' that nearly every visitor was travel- 



liiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



ing up and down the aisles note book in 

 hand. One would have thought that it 

 was an attendance of newspaper report- 

 ers from the assiduity with which the visi- 

 tors were taking notes of the varieties. 

 In this respect the influence of the exhi- 

 bition will be apparent for many months. 

 The attendance would have been larger 

 and the influence of the show greater 

 had the daily papers been interested. 



The Peterson Display. 



The largest exhibit, and one of the 

 finest showings of peonies ever staged, 

 was that of the Peterson Nursery, Chi- 

 cago. Much of their stock had been in 

 storage for a week or more, but other 

 portions were fresh cut the morning of 

 the opening of the exhibition. They 

 were entered in nearly all competitive 

 classes and had one long table of stock 



the Peterson exhibit which, at least from 

 an exhibition standpoint, outranked Fes- 

 tiva maxima. These were Couronne d'Or 

 and Marie Lemoine, These are not of 

 purest white, and the former has a touch 

 of lemon yellow deep in the center of the 

 flower from which it takes its name, the 

 Crown of Gold, But the color is good 

 nevertheless in both flowers and each is 

 of excellent rounded form, I^" they 

 possess the attributes required for com- 

 mercial cut flowers they will be heard 

 from in the wholesale markets in future 

 seasons. Each seems to be a better keep- 

 er than Festiva maxima. 



There were three notable exhibits 

 staged by Peterson in the class for 100 

 light pink and in this connection it might 

 be noted that some of the exhibitors 

 adopted the method of putting all the 

 blooms called for by a given class in the 

 schedule into one vase, while others di- 

 vided the number into two vases, and 

 even three vases in some cases. It all 

 seemed to be according to Hoyle, The 

 Peterson pinks were fifty to a vase. One 

 variety was Livingstone, judged the best 

 pink in the show. Next was Delicatissi- 

 ma, which is just now occupying a con- 

 spicuous position in the trade eye. It is, 



C. W. Ward, President American Peony Society. 



for exhibition only. Their vases of white 

 blooms attracted as much attention as 

 anything in the hall. The gentlemen 

 who framed the schedule of premiums 

 had no thought but that Festiva maxima 

 was the pre-eminent white peony and 

 they made a class for 100 blooms limited 

 to that variety. But in the view of many 

 visitors there were two other varieties in 



to say the least, very similar to Rich- 

 ardson's Floral Treasure Then there 

 was Modele de Perfection, which is a 

 large ground flower, with extended guard 

 petals. This is the variety M, Jules Elie 

 in some other exhibits. Another good 

 light pink in the Peterson showing was 

 Pottsii alba, which is almost white but 

 with pink shading, James Kelway and 



