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276 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



June 21, 190«. 



including a pretty golden form of Acer 

 Negundo and a much improved form of 

 Fagus Bylvatica purpurea, named major. 



W. W. Bawson received honorable 

 mention for Gladiolus cardinalis Acker- 

 manni and F. J. Kea a similar aveard for 

 a variety of Anchusa Italica. W, Heus- 

 tis & Son had a large collection of cut 

 sprays of trees and shrubs. Mrs. J. L. 

 Gardner, William Thatcher gardener, 

 staged a nice table of gloxinias, also 

 Cypripedium Parishii well bloomed. Wra. 

 Whitman showed Cattleya Gaskelliana. 



Mrs. Oliver Ames, H. Cole gardener, 

 had a fine tank of hardy nympheeas 

 and other aquatics. C. W. Parker had 

 a display of Iris pallida Dalmatica. 

 James Crawshaw showed his new as- 

 paragus. F. ij. Ames estate, W. N. 

 Craig gardener, had a group of forty 

 Miltonia vexillaria. The best plant car- 

 ried eighty-five flowers and was awarded 

 a cultural certificate. 



Business Meeting. 



The annual meeting of the American 

 Peony Society was held on Friday after- 

 noon, June 15, with a fair attendance. 

 The usual reports were read by the 

 secretary, president and treasurer. The 

 latter 's report showed receipts $491.67, 

 expenses $135.93, balance $355.74; mem- 

 bership thirty-eight. 



The following new members were 

 elected: J. F. Bosenfield, West Point, 

 Neb.; E. B. Heuges, Westfield, Mass.; 

 O. H. Dickinson, Springfield, Mass. ; 

 William Kline, A. L. Gould, Geo. B. 

 Petersen, Fair Lawn, N. J.; B. H. Farr, 

 Beading, Pa. 



No papers or essays were read but 

 informal discussions took place on sev- 

 eral topics, in which Messrs. C. W. 

 Ward, C. S. Harrison, A. H. Fewkes, 

 E. A. Beeves, E. B. Hedges and others 

 took part. Mr. Coit, of Cornell, spoke 

 of the check list they are working on 

 at Cornell to cover all known named 

 varieties. This when completed will be 

 issued in bulletin form and will be one 

 of the most valuable publications for 

 peony specialists ever issued. Mr. Coit 

 has examined various libraries for all 

 literature pertaining to peonies and has 

 spent a great amount of time on his 

 work. The final catalogue will contain 

 a description of each variety from its 

 original introducers, also from the plant 

 as growing. All duplicates or synonyms 

 will also be given. A list of some 500 

 French sorts from Modeste Guerin, 

 Verdier, Mechim, Calot, Crousse, Lemoine 

 and Dessert, and about as many English 

 sorts from Kelway, in addition to the 

 American sorts will be given. 



A question was asked as to the cause 

 of and a remedy for the blight or fun- 



gus disease affecting peonies. This was 

 stated to be Botrytis vulgaris. No 

 remedy was suggested. C. S. Hanison 

 thought it did not affect the health of 

 the plants. A fungoid root disease, how- 

 ever, proves more harmful. For this a 

 change of land each year was recom- 

 mended. Mr. Harrison recommended the 

 leaving of the dying shoots of the 

 peonies over the crowns as a winter 

 mulch instead of cutting them away. 



Some discussion took place over the 

 method which had been recommended of 

 earthing up the stems of peonies to make 

 them produce adventitious buds. The 

 general opinion of members seemed to 

 be that this method of propagation, 

 while it may produce a lot of plants 

 in a short time, will give plants lacking 

 in vitality and that many will be blind. 

 Several years will be necessary under 

 most favorable conditions to produce 

 strong plants. Present methods of 

 propagation are much to be preferred. 



The vagaries of some varieties were 

 discussed. A certain sort would come 

 pink one year, white the next and in the 

 third or fourth year would become a 

 fixed color. 



Election of officers resulted in the 

 selection of the old board unanimously, 

 as follows: President, C. W. Ward, 

 Queens, N. Y. ; vice-president, William 

 A. Peterson, Chicago; treasurer, J. H. 

 Humphreys, Germantown, Pa.; secre- 

 tary, A. H. Fewkes, Newton Highlands, 

 Mass. 



Invitations for 1907 were received 

 from Norfolk, Va., and Ithaca, N. Y. 

 It was voted to meet at the latter place. 



The Dinner. 



The Gardeners' and Florists' Club of 

 Boston entertained visiting members of 

 the American Peony Society at a dinner 

 at the Quincy House on the afternoon 

 of June 15. About fifty sat down. At 

 the short post-prandial exercises Presi- 

 dent James Wheeler presided. He wel- 

 comed the Peony Society to Boston and 

 hoped to soon have the pleasure of its 

 company again. 



C. W. Ward, on being called upon, 

 expressed the pleasure it always gave 

 him to come to Boston, where he was 

 always hospitably received. The Ameri- 

 can Peony Society came into existence 

 owing to the defective nomenclature 

 existing. It was an impossible thing 

 to send to any three prominent growers 

 for any peonies outside of a few well 

 known sorts, like Festiva maxima, and 

 expect to get the same article from 

 each. The probabilities were that each 

 would be of a different color. It was 

 impossible to buy hundreds of any one 

 sort and get any guarantee that they 



were true to name. In his own business 

 he could have sometimes used 1,000 of 

 one color for mass effect, but where 

 could he obtain any such number and 

 get them true to name? It is a small, 

 unpretentious society, but trying to do 

 the square thing in getting the nomen- 

 clature down to a correct basis. 



C. S. Harrison thought the society 

 stood for a little more than nomencla- 

 ture. It stood for the beauty of this 

 magnificent, hardy flower. He wished 

 the society would send out a pamphlet 

 telling people how to grow this beautiful 

 hardy plant, so that front yards may be 

 planted with them, rather than be de- 

 voted to such live stock as is. of ten now 

 the case. 



After a few words from E. A. Beeves, 

 W. C. Barry said the exhibition was a 

 most creditable one. The peony is 

 worthy of the attention of the moat 

 refined people. Many European plants 

 are being constantly tried here and 

 proved to be failures. The peony 

 is peculiarly adapted for culture 

 in America and a magnificent fu- 

 ture is before it. The Peony Society is 

 doing a grand work and he hopes it 

 will go on and prosper. 



The Visitors. 



Some of the visitors were: W. C. 

 Barry, Eochester, N. Y. ; Mr. Coit, of 

 Cornell, Ithaca, N. Y.; C, S. Harrison, 

 York, Neb.; E. A. Reeves, Cleveland, 

 O.; Geo. C. Thomson, Alex. Wallace, 

 New York; C. Cropp, Chicago; C. W. 

 Ward, Queens, N. Y.; John Ash, Pom- 

 fret, Conn.; F. C. Green, Warwick, R. 

 1.; T. McCarthy, Providence, R. I.; 

 Prof. Saunders, Clinton, N. Y.; Geo. A. 

 Petersen, Fairlawn, N. J.; E. B. Hedges 

 and H. J. Miller, Westfield, Mass.; 

 James McPherson, Trenton, N. J. ; B. 

 H. Farr, Reading, Pa. 



G>nvention Notes. 



C. S. Harrison, the grand old man 

 of Nebraska, was one of the greatest en- 

 thusiasts at the meeting. He stated 

 that his peonies were in perfection for 

 Memorial day. From his batch of 

 50,000 seedlings he expects some good 

 things. 



The show came too late for C. W. 

 Ward and he was unable to make a frac- 

 tion of the exhibit he had intended. He 

 hopes to do better at Ithaca in 1907. 



That the peony is the most popular 

 of hardy flowering herbaceous plants 

 was attested by the crowds who visited 

 the show, scanned the exhibits and jotted 

 down names of those sorts which took 

 the'r fancy. 



E. J. Shaylor's collection of 200 varie- 

 ties, comprising, as it did, so many fine 



The Boston Peony Show -Displays of A. H. Fewkes and Others. 



