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y- .'\ : JcLY 4, 1907. 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



General View of the Ezhibitioo of the American Peony Society, at Ithaca* N. Y., June 27 and 28. 



in this matter in a broad and altruistic 

 gense. This society has been very for- 

 tunate in having Mr. Coit in this work 

 so far, but he now has to leave to ac- 

 cept an advanced position. However, the 

 work will go on and another man has 

 already been secured to take his place." 



Prof. Coit'i Address. 



Prof. Coit's address, which had been 

 looked forward to with much interest, 

 was fully up to expectations. He gave 

 a brief sketch of the history of the 

 peony as follows: "Up to about 100 

 years ago we had only the one double 

 red peony of our grandmothers, with its 

 'sqapy' odor. Chinese peonies were then 

 introduced. They were single whites, 

 albiflora, but under intensive cultivation 

 they sported to nearly every color and 

 doubled. Most of our peonies are now 

 albifloras. The peony of the ancients 

 was the Moutan. It was not known in 

 Europe until 1856. 



"The tree peony originated, beyond 

 all doubt, in China in 536 A. D. In 

 713 A. D., 1,193 years ago, there were 

 so many varieties that a Chinaman found 

 it necessary to make a peony register. 

 So you see our efforts in this direction 

 are not at all original. In 1794 an at- 

 tempt was made to introduce peonies 

 into Europe. The first successful intro- 

 duction, however, was to England in 

 1805 (Fragrans). The same peony seems 

 to have been brought to America in the 

 next year, 1806, by Wm. Prince. 



"There is no doubt but that the 

 peony of today is very different from the 

 old peony. Why this difference and the 

 present great variety? What has brought 

 it about? There are three chief causes 

 of variation in plants: (1) environ- 

 ment, (2) change of food, (3) intercross- 

 ing. Peonies have shown all kinds of 

 variations, especially of form, from 

 these causes." 



Prof. Coit has greatly aided the study 

 of peonies by classifying them into six 

 types which embrace them all. They are 

 as follows: I, Singles; II, Japanese; 



III, Bomb; IV, Semi-double; V, Crown; 

 VI, Hose. The last type includes the 

 highest and fullest developed peonies. 



"Our chief difficulty as peony grow- 

 ers," continued Prof. Coit, "is incom- 

 plete and inaccurate descriptions and in- 

 correct labeling. These evils must be 

 eliminated before the present muddle of 

 names can be cleared. I suggest that 

 the society maintain a register of all old 

 and new varieties. The question of just 

 what comprises a variety is an impor- 

 tant one. There are two views, one that 

 everything coming from seeds not com- 

 ing true to type, or seedlings, are varie- 

 ties; the other, that only those plants 

 and flowers of any race so resembling 

 each other that they cannot be told apart 

 are varieties. I believe that the latter 

 is the correct view. As a guide to color, 

 I have used the French color index, 

 'Repertoire des Couleurs, ' published by 

 the French Chrysanthemum Society, 

 which may be secured through Gustav E. 

 Stechert, book dealer, New York city." 



This chart was later adopted by the 

 Peony Society as its ofScial color guide 

 and copies were ordered purchased. It 

 may be obtained through the secretary, 

 Mr. Fewkes, the three volumes for $6. 



Business Meeting. 



At the opening of the business session, 

 Secretary Fewkes presented his report, 

 which was in part as follows: 



* ' The present membership of the so- 

 ciety is forty-one, not including two hon- 

 orary members. During the year we 

 have lost one member by death, F. A. 

 Blake, of Rochdale, Mass., who passed 

 away July 1. He was a charter member 

 of the society and in his death we have 

 lost a most valuable member. He was 

 an enthusiastic horticulturist, taking 

 great interest in the peony and the suc- 

 cess of our society, but was too unas- 

 suming to appear in any prominent way. 

 It was through his efforts that the list 

 of Japanese peonies was secured, he be- 

 ing an intimate friend of a young Jap- 

 anese of high standing in the govern- 



ment of his country, who was prevailed 

 upon to secure an authentic list of such 

 varieties as were known to exist there. 



"In regard to the fungous disease 

 mentioned in my last report, we were in- 

 formed that it had been pronounced by 

 Prof. Whetzel to be Botrytis vulgaris or 

 the common brown mould, and only a 

 temporary affection, dependent upon 

 weather conditions. While that state- 

 ment may be true in a measure, it is 

 nevertheless a most troublesome disease . 

 in many places, particularly in old gar- 

 dens, and I have known instances where 

 nearly all of the stalks of large plants 

 have been swept away by it. We were 

 told at the last meeting that a change 

 of location is a remedy for this trouble. 

 Undoubtedly this is a great help, but not 

 wholly effective, as I found the present 

 season the disease had followed some of 

 my plants which were moved into new. 

 ground last fall. It seems to me the 

 society should take up the study of the 

 diseases of the peony, and not only de- 

 termine their nature, but also find effec- 

 tive ways of preventing them, for it is 

 a vital matter, particularly with the ama- 

 teur, whose garden room is usually limi- 

 ted and is constantly in use, so that he 

 is unable to run away from diseases but 

 must find some means whereby he can 

 fight them on the spot. 



"Another matter of importance is the 

 registration of new varieties, and some 

 systematic method of recognizing new 

 varieties of more than ordinary merit. 

 Registration would naturally fall to the 

 care of the nomenclature committee, and 

 I suggest that steps be taken to estab- 

 lish this. 



"Recognition of superiority of new 

 varieties is a more complex matter and 

 needs careful thought before any system 

 is decided upon. 



"Another matter which seems to come 

 within the jurisdiction of this society is 

 the branding of dishonest dealers in 

 peonies. Some means should be found 

 whereby these unprincipled frauds can 

 be driven out of business. We are all 



