8 



The Weekly Florists^ Review^ 



.li m: lij, 1910. 



Miscellaneous Exhibits. 



Thcrr were ,'i riiiisiik'i-;il)li> liuinbcr of 

 iiii>rrl!;iiiiMin.-- rxliiliil--. the ilisplav bc- 

 iiiy rdiisiilcr.'ibl V ;iiii:nii'iiii'il on tli(! sec- 

 • ']\i{ day and lilliiiL; 'In' main li.'ill and 

 \\\r Ici-tnrc hall. 



'J". ( '. 'I'liiiriciw V S.m- ^la^cd a large 

 rolicclioii lit' >in^l(' |i(Miny ll(i\\('r>. 



William Whitman set nj' a laryr dis 

 [ilav (if digitalis, iri.s and iirnnics. 



Mrs. K. M. (iill had a line table of 

 roses and peonies. 



Mrs. Fredorick Aycr'^ gard(Mier 

 sta^rd licyiinia b'ox. 



lilne Hills ^Cni'scries |iiil \\\< a line eob 

 led ion of pyret liiuins. 



The ]"]astern >v'iirseries staged a largi,' 

 display of herbaceons llowers. 



I!. .1. Shayli'i- was xntcd a silver medal 

 for a large collect inn of peony blooms 

 of best and ne\v(>st \aiieties staged in 

 fine comlition. Some oi' the best were 

 Lucrece, Mme. (,'ronsse. Le (Jygne, a 

 beautiful new wiiite from Jjemoine; 

 Mme. Kmil (ialle. .leanne (l"Arc, Mme. 

 iionlanger. Coronation. ()cta\e Demay, 

 <,'arne;i ]OI<>gans. .lames Kehvay. Baron- 

 ess Schroeder, Mile. Kosseau, Mme. A. 

 Dessert. Bonle de Xeige, Due do Well- 

 ington, Cytheree. Formosa .Mba and 

 ut lu^rs. 



Busine.ss Session. 



The business sessii.ii was liglitiy at 

 tended, l)ut the handfnl ot' peony en 

 ihnsiasts wlio i-oiistitute tin' soci(!ty's 



out the (!onfnsi(jn exisfing in the nom- 

 enclature of the jieony and ]niblishing 

 .accuiale c|(>scri ptions l)y means of 

 which all authentic \;irieties may be 

 identilied. It \v;is known tiuit the task 

 would be a dillicult one, l»ut it is only 

 on looking liack over the grouiul cov- 

 ered that one begins to realize how al- 

 most hopeless was the task and how 

 futile would have been the effort were 

 it not for the singularly fortunate com- 

 bin.ation of men and circuinstanees with 

 which it has been the society's great 

 good fortune to be favored, the result 

 of which enables me to have the sat- 

 isfaction of announcing to my fellow 

 members of the Anun-ican Peony Soci- 

 ety here assembled that there is now 

 th(! most encouraging prospect of a 

 speedy and successful conclusion of the 

 nomenclature work which the society 

 set out eight years ago to accomplish. 

 Most of the members of the society 

 are more or less familiar with the steps 

 which led to the organization of the 

 society. We are intlebted to C. W. 

 Ward, who conceived the idea and is- 

 sued the first call, and tiirough whose 

 etl'orts the cooperation of Cornell Uni- 

 versity was secured and the test plot 

 established. We must acknowledge, 

 too, the ready response of our home 

 growers, whose generous contribution 

 of plants, running into thousands, 

 made the test plot .an established fact. 

 To these were add(Ml through the efforts 



Peony Festiva Maxima, Generally Named as Best White. 



working force, under the le.-idership of 

 President Farr, put through a consider- 

 .i])le .•imount of work \\ith thoroughness 

 and ilispatch. 



President '.s Address. 



President B. H. Farr jiresenteil his 

 annual address, in jiart as f«dlo\vs: 



I'-ight vears liave ])assi'd since the 

 .-Vuieiican Peony Society was (U'g.anized, 

 for 'he jiurpose ni ti\iiig to straighti^n 



of Mr. Ward and Prof. Craig, of Cor- 

 nell, the sj)lendid foreign collections of 

 .\. Dessert, Croux A: Son, \j. P.aillet. of 

 franco, (ioos A; Koenemann, of Ger- 

 many, De Graaff Bros., A^on Leeuwen 

 & Son, of Holland, and Peter Barr, of 

 liondon, which have proven to be of 

 the most vital importance. In fact, it 

 is doubtful if without these we could 

 have accomplished nuich witli any de- 

 gree of certainty. 



The task of piepariiiL: and plantinj.- 

 ihe peony plot was done by Cornel 

 I'nixersity, which from that time oi 

 .•issunnMJ the great burden of the work 

 an<l it is doubtful if many members oi 

 tlie society realize the full extent ot 

 indebtedness we owe to the university 

 and to those who have had the work 

 directly in (diarge, especially to Deai/ 

 1j. If. Bailey, who during the last two 

 years has given Prof. ]iatchelor cartt 

 blanche to go ahead and do everything 

 which in his judgment was needed ti 

 bring the experiment to a successful is 

 sue. Also to Prof. John Craig, of tin 

 Department of Horticulture, who has 

 taken a deep personal interest in tlie 

 work, which has been done under hi^ 

 personal supervision. 



W'e must not forget that while tlu 

 work and interests of the Peony Soci 

 ety are national in tlieir scope, the 

 university is an institution of the state 

 of New York, and, while tlu^ Peony 

 Society has made donations toward the 

 I'ost to some extent, the greater part of 

 the expense of caring for the test ]dot. 

 ])ublishing the bulletins, photographing, 

 etc., and the men detailed to carry on 

 the studies, have been furnislied .and 

 paid for by the university. 



Last, but not least, we realize liou 

 much has depended on those at Cornell 

 who have had the actual work to do 

 and whose indefatigable and scholarly 

 efforts have cleared the Avay to ulti 

 mate success. To Prof. -1. Eliot Coit 

 we are indebted for the check list con 

 taining all the names of ]ieonies knowi. 

 to exist in commerce, ujAvard of ll.OOi' 

 in all, together with a most «ompre 

 hensive bibliology of the peony extiMtd 

 ing back to the sixth century; also foi 

 the first Inilletin, containing the his 

 tory of the ]ieony, classification, cnlti 

 vation. (^tc, and the ].reliminar,\- de 

 scri|iti\e list of about fifty \;irieties. 



To Prof. Leon D. Batchelor, who ha- 

 so ably and conscientiously carried on 

 the work from where Prof. Coir left it. 

 we owe the second bulletin. coverin;j 

 the work of the nomenclature <-oinmit 

 tec last year, with :\ careful description 

 in di^tail of 290 varieties. Following 

 up tlu"" plan adopted last >(\ar. Mr 

 P>at(dielor has. in co()])eration with the 

 speci.'il committee ajipointed for this" 

 woik'. \ isited other collcil ions where 

 the season is earlier tli.m .if Cornell, 

 aucl so far over lOn new descii|,tions 

 lia\e been made this ^eas(Oi. and it is 

 expected before the sea>oh closer iit 

 Tthaca a total list of ;ippioxim;ilel\- .lOO 

 \aiieties will li;i\e been i<ien'itied and 

 described. It is piopo>e.| ;o publish a 

 fourth bulletin e;irl\ tin- tali, ■•■ivei'ing 

 the work to date. 



A new ]>lanting ha- been n.aoe con 

 taining three |)l;nil- each i,t .iji the 

 \;irieties so far ideniitii'd and to these 

 will lie added this tall -pccimen- of tlie 

 additional varieties de-.iil, rd. -o that 

 when the societ\' .again meet.- :it Ithaca 

 the net results of the work .icconi 

 plished will be condensed ,ind in.ix' be 

 seen by all. This meeting should, in 

 my opinion, be held two \e.ir> heio-e. 

 wiiich will allow the phint> to 1m eoiiie 

 well established. It will .allow lime 

 also for the discussion ot de>cii pi ions 

 as jiublished and the cuiii^ctiiPii of 

 errors before the jmblication of' the 

 linal. official catalogue ot the society 

 This, too. will mark the . on, In-ion for 

 all i)ractical purposes oi tie- lesi. and 

 the acconii)lislinient so l.n .i- ihi- ::oes 

 of the original object I'm wIm.-m the 

 ~ociet\- was formed. 



