tulip bulb of the variety Viceroy, to-wit: Two 
lasts of wheat, four lasts of rye, four fat oxen, eight 
fat swine, twelve fat sheep, two hogshead of wine, 
four tuns of beer, two tuns of butter, one thousand 
pounds of cheese, a complete bed, a suit of clothes, 
and a silver drinking cup?” 
Some thirteen years ago the writer became in 
terested in Peonies and it has been a pleasure to 
him to assemble the reatest collection of Peonies 
on this globe. By greatest we refer to guality 
and guantity; by guality as to the large number 
of choicest varieties; by guantity to the largest 
stocks of these varieties in the world. There are 
collections of Peonies that outdistance ours in num~ 
bers of varieties by many hundreds, but none that 
equal ours in the two points named of guality and 
Our planting em- 
braces near a million roots covering, about fifty 
acres of ground. 
the guantity of this guality. 
It has neither required a so~ 
called Peony expert nor a Peony specialist to 
bring, together this wonderful collection of Peonies, 
but rather a love for the flower with a will to 
work, plus the necessary means to secure the stock 
desired. 
An appreciation by Miss Jessie M. Good on 
seeing, our fields of Peonies in June, 1909: 
This spring, IT had the very great pleasure of visiting the 
Perennial Gardens of the Good & Reese Co., lying ina 
sheltered valley about eight miles from their greenhouses at 
Springfield, Ohio, where this year a quarter of a million 
peony roots will be ready for market. About six hundred 
of the best known varieties are grown here, and each year 
sees many varieties tried out, and added to their list or dis~ 
carded as their merits or demerits warrant. 
When I first saw the Peony field this spring, there were by 
low computation fully one million blooms in sight; these blooms 
were largely on three-year-old plants, the period at which 
a Peony after subdivision of the roots usually &ives normal 
bloom. The bloom on these carefully cultivated Peonies 
was a revelation. The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a 
tawdry hand-made affair compared to it. It was as if a 
softly tinted cloud had settled over the field through which 
the fiery sun slanted its scarlet rays, while the delicious 
rose-like fragrance met you from afar. In one block ten 
thousand Festiva Maxima was a mass of blooms that covered 
the field like snow; only when coning, close could any foli- 
age be discemed. This field, with Festiva Maxima in the 
foreground, is illustrated elsewhere in this catalog, but pho- 
tography can never give the color and perfume of these 
gorgeous blossoms. How large some of them were I dare 
not say, but a dozen of them made as heavy an armful as 
most women cared to carry. A convention was in progress 
in Springfield when the Peony blooms were at their best, 
and several hundred were sent in to decorate the stage. It 
nearly broke up the convention; for when the delegates 
were convinced that the blooms were really Peonies, and 
that they might be seen by the thousands at the field, every 
vehicle to be had was soon on the way to the Peonies. 
One delegate told me she felt as if she must fall on her 
knees at first sight of the field, “for I felt as if the heavens 
had opened and showed me a glimpse of the glories within.” 
PEONY NOMENCLATURE 
The first obstacle and the most serious one of a 
few years ago in the collecting of Peonies was the 
almost interminable tangle that the nomenclature 
of the Peony had fallen into; this had occurred 
partly by premeditated forethought and partly by 
pardonable ignorance, if we may pardon igno~ 
Page Two 
rance. But thanks tothe nomenclature committee 
of the American P eony Society this confusion of 
Peony names has in a large measure been elim- 
inated, so that today the Qrower and dealer in 
Peonies may both be honest and enlightened if 
he so wills. There are a few snarls yet to un~ 
tangle, but time will right them all. Letus hope 
this committee will be continued until everything 
along, this line has been cleared up. 
Among, the varieties in the trade that are iden~ 
tical are Avalanche and Albatre, Docteur Bois~ 
duval (Guerin) and Delachei, Felix Crousse and 
Victor Hugo, Golden Harvest and Jeanne d’ Axe, 
Mar:chal Valliant and Souvenir de Auguste 
Miellez. 
Among, the varieties that have well known 
synonyms are Augustin d’ Hour and General or 
Marechal MacMahon, Elwood Pleas and Lost 
Treasure, Floral Treasure and Delicatissima, Gi- 
gantea and Lamartine (Calot), James Kelway and 
Lady Derby, Lady Leonora Bramwell and Doc~ 
teur Bretonneau (Verdier), Mademoiselle Leonie 
Calot and Monsieur Charles Levecgue, Marechal 
Valliant and Souvenir de Auguste Miellez. 
Theoretically it is held by some that the first 
name it was known by should be maintained, but 
commercially our contention is that the name best 
known by and that really means something, to an 
American should be held. This may be done 
without deception to anyone by stating the syn~ 
onyims in the descriptions. To illustrate: Gigantea, 
one of the very best Peonies grown, will sell at 
least ten times the plants that Lamartine (Calot) 
will; thus you have disseminated ten times as much 
beauty and incidentally added to your profits. 
Some dealers may say the above would sound 
better in a Peony bulletin rather than coming 
from a descriptive catalog. We answer that we 
have nothing, that we wish to conceal from any 
of our patrons; we are doing, our best to sell Peonies. 
ONE HUNDRED VARIETIES 
At one of the meetings of the American Peony 
Society it was suggested by some one that the 
attempt— mind you, the attempt—be made to 
discard from the list of varieties of Peonies until it 
should embrace as the maximum number one 
hundred varieties—this elimination to be secured 
by a rule of judging to be adopted by the society. 
And right there is where the judges yan smack 
into a stone wall and the attempt failed as it 
should. 
One of the very first decisions we arrived at in 
Peony culture was that for ourselves we could no 
more confine our list to one hundred varieties and 
be satisfied with same than that the waves of the 
ocean could be kept back with a broom, and that 
for the very good reason that no one hundred, or 
for that matter no two hundred, varieties would or 
could embrace all the worth and charm of this 
flower. 
by Professor Leon D. Batchelor, when in one of 
the American Peony Society bulletins issued by 
In the above opinion we are sustained 
Miss Ella V. Baines, Springfield, Ohio. 
ee se est 
