10 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



JlXF 



10] 0. 



•. ■ "^ 



PEONY CLASSIFICATION. 



The Department of Horticulture of 

 the College of Agriculture, Cornell Uni- 

 versity, has just issued its third report 

 on the classification of the peony. This 

 bulletin of seventy-six pages is written 

 by Leon D. Batchelor, but embodies the 

 work of B. H. Farr, president of the 

 American Peony Society, and J. Dau- 

 phin, of the Cottage Gardens Co., who 

 were appointed by the Peony Society as 

 a special nomenclature committee to 

 work with Mr. Batchelor in the soci- 

 ety's test plots at Cornell. During the 

 flowering season of 1909 the test plots 

 were gone over by Messrs. Farr, Dau- 

 phin and Batchelor, and from compari- 

 sons with the originators' descriptions 

 precise descriptions were formulated 

 for some 400 varieties, the descriptions 

 constituting the principal part of this 

 latest bulletin. A considerable number 

 of synonyms have been discovered and 

 classified and in future work it is ex- 

 pected that the identity of many more 

 varieties will be determined with such 

 accuracy that much of the heretofore 

 existing confusion will be eliminated. 



Before undertaking exact descriptions 

 of the varieties it was necessary to 

 formulate definitions for the various 

 characters in order that the descriptions 

 might be intelligent. The method of 

 description followed in the bulletin is 

 shown by the following two typical ex- 

 amples: 



' ' Edulis superba. — Species, P. albi- 

 flora. Originated by Lemon, 1824. Do- 

 nated by Dessert, Goos & Koeneniann, 

 Cottage Gardens Co., and Peterson Nurs- 

 eries. 



"Description in brief. — Large, loose, 

 dark pink (Mauve 2 (181)), crown type 

 bloom; rather flat when full open. 

 Early. Extra good commercial bloom. 



"Description in detail. — Large, loose, 

 flat crown with a few narrow lilac 1 

 (176) petals at collar. Large tuft of 

 wide petals, same coldr as guards, sur- 

 rounding a few narrow petals in ex- 

 treme center of bloom; prominent col- 

 lar. Odor pleasant. Same season and 

 colpr as General Bertrand, but it differs 

 in Having a collar and crown, while 

 General Bertrand is a bomb; the latter 

 is a more upright grower also. 



' ' Synonyms. — Identical with the above 

 are Delia, Edulis odorata, Rosa lilacina, 

 Mamie Cutler, Sylvanus, Gloire de 

 Douai, Pizano, Early Rose, Acanum, 

 Sainfoin and Lilacina superba. The 

 above so-called varieties are synonyms 

 pure and simple. No record can be 

 found of the origination of any bona 

 fide varieties under the aforementioned 

 names; they should be stricken from 

 the trade and this variety placed under 

 the proper name, Edulis superba. 



"In addition to the above synonyms 

 this variety has masqueraded undir the 



following names, which in reality are 

 standard varieties, and there should be 

 no confusion between them and Edulis 

 superba: L'Esperance, Alexandriane, 

 Jeanne d'Arc, Rosa Plenissima, Duchess 

 de Nemours (Guerin), Jules Elie, Gen- 

 eral Bertrand, Solfatare, Compte de 

 Paris, Triomphe du Nord, Triumphe de 

 1 'Exposition de Lille, and Fragrans. 



' ' Remarks. — There seems to be more 

 confusion over this variety than any 

 other, and it has been sent to the Cor- 

 nell plots under each of the above twen- 

 ty-three names; and in some cases Edu- 

 lis superba has come under three or four 

 different names from a single nursery. ' ' 



"Marechal Vaillant. — Species, P. al- 

 biflora. Originated by Calot, 1867. Do- 



nated by Croux Bros., Fewkes. Desstit, 

 Peterson Nurseries and Charlton. 



"Description in brief. — Very lar/;e, 

 compact, medium pink (pure mauve 8 

 (181)), rose type bloom. Very lao. 

 good variety, good commercial blocn! 



"Description in detail. — Typical rose 

 bloom, borne on a large, coarse, thi. k 

 stem, poorly furnished. Odor unple;is- 

 ant. Tall, strong growing plant, steins 

 rather weak at the base, giving plant 

 a spreading habit. Medium bloonn v^ 

 laterals undeveloped., Coarse, heavy 

 stem and foliage is a distinguishing 

 characteristic of the variety. 



"Synonym. — Identical with the above 

 is the so-called grandiflora rubra. 



"Remarks. — Souvenir d'Augusto, 

 Miellez, is said to be identical with the 

 above by prominent growers. From 

 correspondence with A. Dessejrt. " 



FUNKIA UNDULATA VARIEOATA. 



Kindly instruct me how to handle 

 Funkia undulata variegata to have it 

 for Easter. Should it be potted in the 

 spring or fall? J. P. M. 



This beautiful variegated funkia, 

 which is also sometimes called F. un 

 dulata media variegata, is better pot- 

 ted in late fall when wanted for Easter 

 sales. Keep the plants over winter in 

 a coldframe and bring into a cool 

 greenhouse six or eight weeks before 

 being wanted. C. W. 



GOOD SOETS TO START WITH. 



I should like to grow a couple of 

 houses of chrysanthemums and I want 

 to plant them now. Would you please 

 advise me what varieties to buy and 

 also state the time when the buds 

 should be taken? When may I expect 

 the first'' (flowers? I intend to grow 

 early and' late varieties mostly, but 

 also some midseason sorts. I am locat- 

 ed in Illinois. F. K. 



A selection of early varieties may in- 

 clude the following: Pacific, Polly 

 Rose, Monrovia, Golden Glow, October 

 Frost, C. Touset and Early Snow. The 

 buds on these can be taken at varying 

 dates, from July 12 in the case of Mon- 

 rovia and Golden Glow, to August 1 for 

 October Frost and its yellow sports, 

 and August 20 for Pacific, Polly Rose 

 and Touset. 



Some midseason varieties that do 

 well generally are: Duckham, Apple- 

 ton, President Taft, Mrs. Partridge, M. 

 Desjouis, Ivory and its sports, Bon- 

 naffon and White and Yellow Eaton. 

 The buds are safe on these varieties 

 after August 20 to 25, in almost any 

 location, so far as I know. 



The late kinds mostly grown are 

 Nagoya, White and Yellow Chadwick, 

 J. Nonin, Enguehard, J. Shrimpton, J. 

 Rosette, Maud Dean and W. T. Brock. 

 In growing for late flowers the plants 

 should not be benched till July and 

 then should be kept grawing along as 

 long as possible before the bud is 

 taken. The later the bud is taken, the 



better, as it will make the flowers cor 

 respondingly late, and the kinds men 

 tioned all do well on terminal buds. 



C. H. Totty. 



MUMS IN UNFINISHED HOUSE 



If I bench my mums in an unfii 

 ished house, with the sides and en( s 

 glazed but the roof not yet glazed, ca i 

 I control the conditions for a whih .' 

 In this part of Oklahoma the weathi r 

 gets so hot and dry that I am afrai t 

 I shall have trouble to keep the plan * 

 moist without overwatering thei' • 

 Please advise me how to handle the i 

 till I get the roof glazed, which wi ' 

 probably be in two months. 



W. R. M. 



If the weather is dry, as W. R. >' 

 says it is, I see no reason why 1" 

 should not grow the mums succesisfuJi^ 

 in the benches till the. roof ca-ix 1 • 

 put on. The chief trouble in this stai' 

 would be that we might get heaw 

 thunder storms and these make it som<" 

 times difficult to keep the soil in goo'l 

 condition. The plants can easily he 

 kept sprayed five or six times a day. 

 to keep them soft and provide a cooler 

 atmosphere, and if this is done by ^ 

 careful operator, with a fine-nozzled 

 sprayer, the benches need never b<' 

 come too wet. C. H. Totty. 



WellsviUe, N. Y.— Mrs. Jennie Mo 

 Ewen has purchased the greenhouses oi> 

 West State street, formerlv owned bv 

 W. F. Yewdall. 



