8 



The Weekly Florists' Review^ 



JuLT 4, 190T. 



liable to mistakes and we all feel chari- 

 table toward the one who makes them 

 honestly, but he who makes them dis- 

 honestly should be dealt with, with a 

 heavy hand, by this society when de- 

 tected." 



A committee consisting of Prof. Craig, 

 Mr. Humphreys and Mr. George was ap- 

 pointed and later brought in the follow- 

 ing report on the secretary's recommen- 

 dations : 



Plant Diseases. 



Your committee recommends that a 

 special committee on plant diseases be 

 organized. We recommend that this 

 work be associated with the trial studies 

 at Cornell, and we would recommend that 

 the plant pathologist of the Cornell Uni- 

 versity Experiment Station, Prof. H. H. 

 Whetzel, be chairman of that committee. 

 We also suggest that all members of 

 this society having diseased plants or 

 coming in contact with parasitic troubles, 

 should refer these, with samples of plant 

 material, to the chairman of the com- 

 mittee on the diseases of the peony. 



New Varieties. 



Your committee recommends that pro- 

 posed names for new varieties shall be 

 submitted to the committee on nomen- 

 clature for the purpose of avoiding du- 

 plication. 



We recommend the appointment of a 

 committee on new varieties. The duty 

 of this committee shall be to pass upon 

 the merits of varieties whose names have 

 been accepted by the committee on 

 nomenclature and which have been tested 

 in the Cornell trial grounds and ex- 

 hibited at the annual exhibition of the 

 association. 



Your committee recommends that re- 

 ports on new varieties be of three kinds: 

 those recognizing merits; those specify- 

 ing superior merits, and those specifying 

 highest merit. Also that these certifi- 

 cates bear the seal of the society. 



We desire to place ourselves on record 

 as condemning strongly habits of care- 

 lessness, and of fraud in the handling 

 and naming or renaming of varieties, 

 which result in unnecessary confusion and 

 duplication. We would further recom- 

 mend that where any case of unques- 

 tionable fraud in the naming or renam- 

 ing of varieties comes before this so- 

 ciety, the perpetrator thereof shall be 

 debarred from membership. 



This report was accepted and adopted 

 and the following committees appointed 

 by the president: Committee on Plant 

 Diseases — Prof. Whetzel, chairman; A. 

 H. Fewkes, W. C. Barry, W. A. Peter- 

 son, O. A. Wild, H. H. Warren. Com- 

 mittee on New Varieties — A. H. Fewkes, 

 chairman; S. G. Harris, C. J. Hunn. 

 Committee on Nomenclature — Prof. 

 Saunders, chairman; B. H. Farr, Jos. 

 Dauphin. 



Treasurer's Report. 

 The treasurer's report showed receipts 

 amounting to $631.17 and expenditures 

 of $120.34, leaving a balance in the sav- 

 ings bank of $510.83, drawing three per 

 cent interest. A committee of Mr. 

 Hedges and Mr. Fewkes audited this re- 

 port. 



Mr. Thurlow, of Massachusetts, Mr. 

 George, of Ohio, and Mr. Humphreys, of 

 Pennsylvania, were appointed judges 

 and later reported the awards. They 

 called especial attention to the fact that 

 the quality of the flowers in the exhibits 

 of amateurs was equal in many ways 

 to anything shown in the exhibition 

 hall. The judges also recommended that 



the society adopt rules for the guidance 

 of those judging exhibits, the rules to 

 cover such points as the correctness in 

 the. matter of numbers exhibited, colors 

 as called for by the schedule, and such 

 other items as may properly be governed 

 by exhibition rules. 



Officers and Meeting Place. 



It was unanimously voted to hold the 

 next meeting at Ithaca, subject to the 

 call of the secretary and at the time of 

 blooming of the test plats. 



The old board of officers was unani- 

 mously reelected as follows: President, 

 C. W. Ward, Queens, N. Y. ; vice-presi- 

 deint, W. A. Peterson, Chicago; secretary, 

 A. H. Fewkes, Newton Highlands, Mass. ; 

 treasurer, J. H. Humphreys, German- 

 town, Pa. G. C. Thurlow, West New- 

 bury, Mass., was chosen director for 

 three years, to succeed W. A. Smith, 

 whose term had expired. 



The committee on resolutions, consist- 

 ing of Messrs. Harris, George and Good, 

 presented resolutions on the death of 

 Francis L. Blake, of Rochdale, Mass., 

 and resolutions thanking the college and 

 Prof. Craig and his, assistants for their 

 hospitality, and especially appreciatory 

 of the kindness and hospitality of Pro- 

 fessor and Mrs. Craig. Thanks wer6 ex- 

 tended to Prof. Coit for his excellent 

 work. 



New Members. 



The following new members were 

 elected: Geo. C. Thurlow, West New- 

 bury, Mass.; Frank Seither, Cleveland, 

 O.; Willis H. Bobinson, Flint, N. Y.; 

 Geo. F. Carter, Syracuse, N. Y. ; S. H. 

 Harris, Tarrytown, N. Y. ; F. 0. Walcott, 

 New York Mills, N. Y. ; Joseph Dauphin, 

 Queens, N. Y. ; R. T. Brown, Queens, 

 N. Y.; C. Ward Welch, Springfield, O.; 

 James Cowan, Oshawa, Ontario, Can. 

 Prof. J. Elliot Coit and Prof. H. H. 

 Whetzel were elected honorary members 

 of the society. 



Gmvention Notes. 



The fourth annual exhibition of the 

 American Peony Society was voted the 

 most successful in its history and the 

 New York State College of Agriculture 

 at Cornell an unusually good place to 

 hold a meeting. 



The Cornell test plats furnished a 

 fine place for the study of the different 

 varieties of peonies, and the members 

 improved the opportunity. 



The membership of the society has in- 

 creased by fourteen members over last 

 year. It now numbers fifty-two. 



The list of the French society is to be 

 published by the treasurer and will be 

 available to members. 



Anyone joining the Peony Society, and 

 paying the initiation fee of $5, will re- 

 ceive free a copy of the "Peony Check 

 List." 



Some prominent trade visitors were: 

 C. W. Ward, of Queens, N. Y.; Mr. 

 Reeves, of Cleveland, O. ; G. H. Harris, 

 of Tarrytown, N. Y.; A. H. Fewkes, of 

 Newton Highlands, Mass.; J. H. Hum- 

 phreys, of Germantown, Pa. ; G. C. Thur- 

 low, of West Newbury, Mass.; Frank 

 Seither, of Cleveland, O.; James Cowan, 

 of Oshawa, Ontario, Can.; F. C. Wal- 

 cott, of New York Mills, N. Y.; Geo. 

 F. Carter, of Syracuse, N, Y.; J. Wil- 

 kinson Elliott, of Pittsburg, Pa. 



Geo. Hollis, of South Weymouth, 

 Mass., was accorded special mention for 

 a fine display of nineteen seedlings of 

 the peony, all originated by him. 



PEONY DEUCATISSIMA. 



The illustration on page 9 is from 

 a photograph showing one of the grand- 

 est sights in the big peony plantation 

 of the Peterson Nursery, Chicago. These 

 are the rows of Peony Delicatissima, 

 which is one of the best clear pink varie- 

 ties. It is so similar to Floral Treasure 

 that some authorities consider these 

 names to be synonyms. At the peony 

 show in Chicago in 1905 Delicatissima 

 was awarded second prize in the class 

 for 100 pink, but the Peterson Nursery 

 also had been given first prize in this 

 class and the rules were found to pro- 

 hibit the same exhibitor receiving both 

 premiums, so second was bestowed upon 

 J. F. Rosenfield for Floral Treasure. 

 Wm. A. Peterson says that if there is 

 any better pink peony than Delicatissima 

 it is Livingstone, of which he says he 

 now has the largest stock of any peony 

 grower in the world. 



REDEMPTION OF HOGBACKS. 



[A paper by Thomas J. Oberlln, of Sinkin;: 

 Spring, Pa., read before the Florists' Club of 

 Philadelphia, at Its meeting July 2.] 



" Here and there throughout the county 

 of Berks and the adjacent country in 

 Pennsylvania can be seen bare, uncov- 

 ered spots, usually at some elevation 

 above the surrounding wooded or ver- 

 dure-covered surface; in many instances 

 they are inaccessible to the ordinary 

 methods of tillage — where a plow would 

 find it exceedingly difficult to draw a 

 furrow through the hard, sterile or rocky 

 soil, even if it were possible to get there 

 with that implement. 



These arid, desert-like spots hump 

 themselves up in conspicuous fashion, 

 visible frequently at long distances, and 

 mar by their unsightly barrenness what 

 would otherwise form a portion of a 

 beautiful, veraure-covered landscape. 



In the south they call such patches 

 hogbacks, and we have borrowed the 

 term and applied it to similar situations 

 in Berks county. Just why our southern 

 friends have called them hogbacks has 

 not been so clearly explained to the 

 writer, unless it is that through the exer- 

 cise of a lively imagination they have 

 observed some similarity in their gen- 

 eral contour to the dorsal surface of a 

 Georgia razor-back when his swineship 

 arises from his slumbers, yawns and ele- 

 vates his spinal column to a maximum 

 curvature. 



Two Classes of Hogbacks. 



The hogbacks of Berks county admit 

 of classification. In the first class we 

 would place those existing in the red 

 shale and yellow gravel districts, in the 

 gecond those found in the limestone for- 

 mation; the former frequently are pic- 

 tures of desolation, being entirely de- 

 void of vegetation on their crests except 

 perhaps some lichens and mosses, every 

 particle of arable soil having been 

 washed away by the winds and rains of 

 past centuries; the latter are usually 

 more accessible and respond more readily 

 to the hand of the gardener, the sharp 

 lichen-clothed rocks protrude at the apex 

 .and also at the sides through the shal- 

 low, loose soil bordered perhaps by thin 

 grass, and some depauperate shrubbery 

 struggles to live, wedged in tightly be- 

 tween the rocks. 



The task of redeeming these seemingly 

 useless spots from their native savagery, 

 in which they have lain for centuries 

 since the first pioneers cleared the sur- 

 rounding land in the fertile valleys and 



