The Weekly Florists' Review. 



June 17, 1909. 



Collection crimson varieties with stamens, 

 B. H. Farr first. 



Collection tricolor varieties, B. H. Farr first, 

 O. H. Peterson second. 



Fifty blooms white, S. G. Harris, with 

 Kestiva Maxima. 



Fifty dark pinli, S. G. Harris first. 



It was decided to combine in future 

 the classes calling for collection of white 

 and collection of cream white, also the 

 classes for collection of crimsons with 

 and without stamens. 



Jn the classes open only to amateurs, 



in the greenhouses. Every convenience 

 was provided for the conventionists ; all 

 trains were met and nothing was left 

 undone by the Cottage Gardens Co. to 

 make the meeting memorable. 



Visitors. 



Among those present were: 

 BatcUelor, Leon D., Cornell University. 

 Brown, K. T., Queens, N. Y. 

 Bryant, Guy A., Princeton, 111. 

 Craig, John, Ithaca, N. Y. 

 Cowan, James, Oshawa, Canada. 



A Portion of the American Peonv Society's Test Collection at Cornell. 



Albert Laliodny, gardener to T. S. Have- 

 iiieyer, took all the prizes. 



Special mention was accorded the 

 ])eony collections of B. H. Farr and Geo. 

 H. Peterson, and John Lewis Childs for a 

 fine display of iris and lilies. Childs ex- 

 hibited fifteen varieties of iris, also 

 Amaryllis Johnsoni and liliums. 



The peonies of the Cottage Gardens 

 Co. were at their prime and the oppor- 

 tunity of inspecting them was ample rec- 

 ompense for the journey to every peony 

 grower, for the collection is one of the 

 largest in the country. Many of the 

 visitors were nurserymen and found 

 inuch of interest in the big nursery and 



Daillt'douze. Henry, Flatbush. X. Y. 

 DaiUedouze. Paul, Flatbush, N. Y. 

 Dauphin. Joseph. Queens, N. Y. 

 Dykes. W. P.. Ridgewood, N. J. 

 Farr. B. H., Beading, Pa. 

 Fewkes, A. H.. Newton Hlgblands. Mass. 

 Harris. S. G., Tarrytown, N. Y, 

 Heurlin. Julius. South Braintree, Mass. 

 Hicks. Henry, Westbury Station, L. I. 

 Merkel. John. Mentor, 0. 

 Peterson, Geo. H.. Falrlawn, N. Y. 

 Peterson, W. A.. Chicago. 

 Plerson. F. R., Tarrytown, N. Y. 

 Saunders, Prof. A. P., Clinton, N. Y. 

 Thurlow, Geo. C. West Newbury, Mass. 

 Traendly. F. H,, New York city. 

 Young, John, New Y'ork city. 



Big Bapids, Mich. — C. M. Buskirk, of 

 the Star Greenhouses, is adding two 

 houses. 



THE PEONY. 



No Boom Bunted 



Talk to a Holland nursery salesman 

 and he will te'l you the peony boom in 

 America is over. Booms are fine things 

 when they are on the up grade, but when 

 a boom oursts someone gets hurt. 



As a matter of fact, there never was a 

 peony boom in America. There was, of 

 course, a measure of awakening to the 

 merits of this wonderful flower, and a 

 greatly augmented demand, which found 

 few American nurserymen prepared with 

 stock. The result was a great increase 

 in the number and size of orders sent to 

 Europe. It does not take many years 

 to work up stock of any popular plant, 

 and that the rush of orders to Europe 

 should have subsided by now is no more 

 than natural. The fact is, however, that 

 the orders sent abroad for peonies are 

 still more numerous and larger than they 

 were before the peony began to be appre- 

 ciated at its true worth. 



That "the boom is 'busted' " is 

 wholly wrong. There are more and more 

 peonies sold each year. Tte only change 

 is that the number of those able to sup- 

 ply the leading varieties has greatly in- 

 creased, and with the» large increase in 

 the supply of stock there has naturally 

 been a decline in prices. 



Public Only Partially Appreciative. 



It still would take decimal fractions 

 to state the part of the American flower- 

 buying public that has been aroused to 

 an appreciation of the peony. It is a 

 fact, unbelievable as it may seem, that 

 a good many people of considerable re- 

 finement do not even recognize the peony 

 when they see the cut blooms as now sold 

 by capable florists. "Why, what is it?" 

 It is a question heard every now and 

 then where the peony is included among 

 other flowers used at some social func- 

 tion. But there is never failure to 

 recognize it as something beautiful; the 

 better sorts vie with the rose, and it is 

 only a question of time when the use of 

 peonies will be many times as great as it 

 is today, far as the advance already has 

 been. The regular flower buyers already 

 know the peony as one of the hand- 

 somest of garden plants and one of the 

 best of decorative cut flowers. 



For the Retail Flori<t. 



For the retail florist there is no flower 

 which excels the peony in bold decora- 

 tive value. Not even the chrysanthemum. 



The Peony in the West— Nothing but Peonies in Sight. 



