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242 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



June 22, 1905. 



J. Malloy, of Ellwangtr & Barry, Eoches- 

 ter; Mr. Wallace, of D. S. Lake, Shen- 

 andoah, la.; Elmer D. Smith, Adrian, 

 Mich.; Irving Gingrich, South Bend, Ind, 



Jottings. 



The sorts with which Peterson Nursery 

 won the silver cup for the best twelve 

 varieties were: Marie Lemoine, white; 

 Festiva maxima, white; Marie Calot, 

 blush and white; Golden Harvest, light 

 pink; Pottsii alba, baby pink; Delicatis- 

 sima, light pink; Princess Beatrice, rose 

 pink guard; Livingstone, rose pink; 

 Modele de Perfection, rose; Modeste 

 Guerin, deep rose; Marechal MacMahon, 

 red bomb; Purpurea Delachei, deep red 

 with stamens. 



Elmer D. Smith says that picking out 

 the right peonieS is a tougher proposi- 

 tion than picking the right mums. If 

 the mums don 't suit you, you try others 

 the next season but you are tied up to a 

 peony several years because the plant is 

 so intolerant of division. 



Secretary A. H. Fewkes says that the 

 Peony Society's records now include de- 

 scriptions of close to 1,300 varieties. 



Amza Kennicott, of A. Kennicott & 

 Son, who cut over 100,000 peonies for 

 the Chicago wholesale cut flower market 

 this season, looked over the show and 

 when asked what he liked best of the va- 

 rieties said that he thought Marie Le- 

 moine, white, the best of the lot. 



Wm. A. Peterson said that if he could 

 have only one peony he thought he should 

 take Golden Harvest. 



MR. WARiyS ADDRESS. 



[The foUowing Is the address of President 

 C. W. Ward delivered before the American 

 I'eoiiy Society at Chicago. Juiio 16.] 



It has now been two years since the 

 organization of the American Peony So- 

 ciety and to those who thought that 

 there was no need of such a special so- 

 ciety to tare for the interests of the 

 peony, the success of the present mag- 

 nificent exhibit should be ample proof 

 that the society was not only needed, but 

 really wanted, for it is by such exhibi- 

 tions as these that we who are devoted 

 to the interests of any special class of 

 floriculture really learn the possibilities 

 that exist when concentrated eifort is 

 made to develop all that there may be 

 contained in any special subject. 



This is practically the first exhibition 

 of peony flowers given under the man- 



agement of our society and what has 

 been done here today can be much im- 

 proved upon in future eflforts, for by 

 experience we learn and the experience 

 leading up to the staging of the present 

 show has already taught us many things 

 that will redound to our benefit in the 

 future and will enable us to stage in- 

 creasingly interesting exhibits as the 

 years roll by. 



No doubt the officers of the society 

 will be somewhat sharply criticized for 

 not providing essays to be read before 

 this meeting and, while not attempting 

 to offer excuses for such lack, I wish in 

 connection with an apology which we of- 

 fer to members of the society, to say 

 that unfortunately prior to the season at 

 which the peony show is possible almost 

 all of the members of our society are 

 driven to exert their utmost energies in 

 order to properly care for the year's 

 business which must be done practically 

 in the two or three months of spring. 



Chaotic Nomenclature. 



One of the crying needs of such an as- 

 sociation as ours is the surprisingly cha- 

 otic state into which the nomenclature 

 of the peony has been allowed to degen- 

 erate and if this association should do 

 nothing else than straighten out in a 

 passable manner the nomenclature of the 

 peony, striking from the list duplicate 

 or nearly duplicate and worthless varie- 

 ties and render it possible for the trade 

 to list fifty or sixty of the best sorts 

 under names and descriptions that would 

 render their identification certain and 

 make possible extensive deals between 

 different peony growers, insuring the 

 buyer of getting exactly what he wants 

 whenever he places an order, and then 

 should disband, it will have accomplished 

 one of the greatest benefits to floricul- 

 ture in general and amply repay for all 

 the effort put forth and expense incurred 

 in its organization and maintenance. 



The ComeU Test. 



Eealizing the importance of this ques- 

 tion of nomenclature, a competent no- 

 menclature committee was appointed and 

 has already accomplished a long step to- 

 ward straightening out the tangle which 

 has been the source of annoyance and a 

 bane to us all who have attempted to 

 purchase peonies. I now refer to the 

 extensive test plot at Cornell University 

 which has been planted with upwards of 



a thousand varieties of peonies, all of 

 which have been contributed by its mem- 

 bers without one cent of expense being 

 incurred by the society. It is a foregone 

 conclusion that this attempt to straight- 

 en out the peony nomenclature, under- 

 taken under the auspices of Prof. John 

 Craig, of Cornell University, whose care- 

 ful and efficient work performed in other 

 lines is ample guarantee for the thor- 

 oughness with which this work will be 

 done, will be productive of great results 

 and will place the entire fraternity un- 

 der obligations, not only to Prof. Craig, 

 but to Cornell University and lastly, but 

 not least, to the American Peony Society 

 itself. 



Peonies for Cut Flowers. 



Fourteen years ago, when I first began 

 growing carnations, they were usually 

 sold upon the market under the designa- 

 tion of red, pink and white pinks. So 

 far as I know very few varieties had at 

 that period produced a sufficient impres- 

 sion upon the buyers to be asked for un- 

 der distinctive names. However, soon 

 after the formation of the American Car- 

 nation Society they began to be designat- 

 ed by special names and at the present 

 time retail buyers generally ask for Tlie 

 President, Enchantress, Ethel Ward or 

 any other variety they wish to purchase, 

 because thereby they identify those 

 blooms which best satisfy their tastes 

 and purposes and it will not be long be- 

 fore this will be the case with the peony. 

 At present Festiva maxima is known 

 upon the i^yv York market as "the big 

 white" peony and all other white varie- 

 ties are simply designated as white 

 peonies, but within a comparatively short 

 period buyers will begin to call for Mont 

 Blanc, Festiva maxima, Mons. Dupont, 

 Marie Lemoine and other named varie- 

 ties because they will want to secure just 

 the effect produced by those sorts and 

 will be able to identify them under their 

 proper titles. 



For some years past the value of the 

 peony for cut flower purposes has been 

 recognized in the larger markets, such 

 as Chicago, New York, Boston and other 

 large cities, but up to the present time 

 there seems to have been no organized ef- 

 fort made to place the most suitable va- 

 rieties on sale, and a large proportion 

 of the blooms offered seem to have been 

 of the more common kinds, composed 

 largely of undesirable shades of color, 

 the result being that the color value of 



Peony Grandiflora Rubra (Lee), Shown by E. A. Reeves, Cleveland, O. 



