The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



July 23, 1908. 



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THE PEONY 



is POPULAR 



PEONY LADY ALEXANDRA DUFF. 



In July, 1906, I stated in the Eeview 

 that Kehvay & Son liad already sent to 

 persons in America five different peonies, 

 all as Lady Alexandra Duff, and con- 

 cluded with the deduction that it was my 

 belief that there was no such peony. 



Kolway & Son saw t^is article and re- 

 plied in the Review that there was such 

 a peony and, at the time of writing, "it- 

 can be seen flowering in our nurseries. ' ' 

 Now the second chapter: 



I instructed A. H. Fewkes, secretary 

 of the American Peony Society, to offer 

 to buy one, with this understanding: 

 Kelway & Son must guarantee it. I was 

 to pay the cost and was to take it and 

 grow it. As soon as it was fit to be di- 

 vided I was to give a root to Mr. Fewkes, 

 as secretary of the society. Mr. Fewkes 

 asked that they send a photo of the 

 bloom and a full description of the 

 flower. The whole thing was declined by 

 Kelway & Son, with the excuse that there 

 was none for sale. 



In the meantime I had asked to be 

 made good on the two lots of five each 

 which were mistakes, they having said 

 publicly in their article that they were 

 wiHing so to do. 



In April of 1907 one root came to mo 

 by parcel post, with a label reading: 

 ' ' Peony Lady Alexandra Duff. True. ' ' 

 Although it was sent gratis, I had to pay 

 the duty of nearly $4. 



James McKissock, of West Newton, 

 Mass., had a standing order with Kelway 

 & Son, and also with Barr & Son, of 

 London, to send him one Lady A. Duff 

 as soon as any were for sale. He re- 

 ceived both of these roots before the one 

 came to me. Now for the result : 



One sent to Mr. McKissock by Kelway 

 & Son, bloomed this year, about as red as 

 Felix Crousse. It bore a label reading 

 similar to the one sent me. 



The other one, which came through 

 Barr & Son, bloomed very late, at the 

 same time as Baroness Schroeder. It 

 looked like Schroeder and was of the 

 same perfume. 



The one that came to me bloomed tiif- 

 ferent from either of those which Mr. 

 McKissock had, and which had cost him, 

 with duty and charges, about $3.5 each. 



This gives three more peonies, two 

 guaranteed to Mr. McKissock and one 

 sent to me for the purpose of convincing 

 me that there was such a variety, ' ' a 

 lovely French white, the finest peony in 

 existence. ' ' 



What a mess! All three are different. 

 All three are different from any of the 

 five which I specified in my article two 

 years ago. E. J. Shaylor, 



July 1, 1908. Wellesley Hills, Mass. 



PEONY P. DUCHAHTRE. 



C. Betscher, Canal Dover, O., says that 

 P. Duchartre is one of the best of the 

 late peonies. An illustration of it in 

 this issue serves to show the form of the 

 flower, but the photographer neglected to 

 indicate the size, for Mr. Betscher says 



he often has seen blooms eight to ten 

 inches jn diameter, large as that may 

 seem. The color is soft blush salmon. 



SOME PEONY OBSERVATIONS. 



Demand for Finest Sorts. 



The season has been an excellent one 

 with most growers. The demand is more 

 and more for the finest sorts and the or- 

 dinary stuff will be a heavy glut in a 

 few seasons. There are far too many 

 sorts that possess little merit, and this 

 refers just as much to some "novelties" 

 as to the old-timers. Again, there are 

 many old-timers that possess exceptional 

 merit. I cannot understand why the 

 older growers have overlooked their ex- 

 ceptional merits. 



Causes of Failtire. 

 Some growers have not had a good crop 

 for three seasons. Quite a few causes 

 contribute to this. The peony might be 

 called in great degree a bi-annual peren- 

 nial; that is, it will store up capability 

 to produce a full crop the next season 

 after it is disappointing. In old clumps 



in their colorings and markings, thus add- 

 ing to the confusion in nomenclature and 

 descriptions. Far too many sorts have 

 no particular merit, especially from the 

 cut flower or landscapic viewpoint. Many 

 are of poor color, lack freedom, etc. 

 Some seemingly will come blind through 

 quite a number of causes. I feel that 

 many failures are brought about by one 

 not understanding some details of cul- 

 ture. I have noticed plants of Whitleyi 

 come into full bloom annually, while other 

 plants apparently just as large or larger, 

 in the best of soil, were a failure. On 

 my own grounds I have noticed the same 

 thing, but I cannot believe that frost has 

 had much to do With it, as in each of the 

 last three seasons we have had fine 

 blooms on most of our sorts. One season 

 we had a severe two-day freeze with dry- 

 ing winds, after the stems were eighteen 

 inches or more high. While many stems 

 were split open from the effects of the 

 10 degrees of frost, when June came we 

 had a fine crop of bloom. Some other 

 growers, with much less cold, had a com- 

 plete failure. From various experiments 

 and observations I am fully convinced 

 that wrong methods of culture are the 

 cause of failure generally attributed to 

 late frosts. 



Some sorts seemingly stand any sort of 

 ill-treatment, while others are exceedingly 

 sensitive to the least wrong feature. The 

 Lady Bramwell type seemingly is more 

 sensitive to wrong, treatment than others, 

 but from my observations in hybridizing 

 various plants I think this type is the 

 product of Whitleyi parentage, so that 

 point may more than ever indorse my 

 observations as to wrong treatment, etc. 



Peony P. Duchartre. 



this does not seem so much the case as 

 with smaller ones, and in some sorts 

 more than others. Many sorts can be cut 

 almost devoid of foliage, and the next 

 season they are fine; others under such 

 treatment almost perish. 



Many of our sorts were planted in 

 1902, 1903 and 1904. Some gave grand 

 blooms the following spring, but in a few 

 cases we have not had typical ones until 

 this season. This leads me to believe 

 that many sorts have been passed as of 

 no merit because not developed to their 

 full character. 



Quite a few sorts are annually variable 



Too Many Varieties. 



Last season nearly every one of our 

 1,200 sorts gave us grand blooms' on 

 plants with twelve to thirty-six blooms, 

 but out of the list we have selected about 

 200 that we consider worthy of increas- 

 ing; the others we shall discard, all but 

 two plants for test-plot purposes. 



I cannot understand what some special- 

 ists mean in sending out sorts as new 

 that possess so little merit as many do. 

 Out of about 300 newer sorts I will re- 

 tain not over twenty-five as being AAl 

 in every way. 



W^e know of eight importations that 



