special Plant Societies 
It is interesting work, this coming into touch with our neighbors 
through these various plant societies. One feels the difference of 
atmosphere in each by the very first communication. Some are 
full of life and action; some have "one foot in the grave and the 
other aU buttered"; while others are struggling manfuUy to pull 
themselves out of the lethargy into which it is so easy to slip. 
The Committee on Awards has offered our Silver Medal at the 
192 1 Shows of the four Societies: Peony, Dahlia, Rose and Iris. 
These have among their memberships many members of the Garden 
Club of America. They have shown interest in and co-operation 
with our Member Clubs, and they are deeply appreciative of our 
offer. 
We hope that this move will help toward that better understand- 
ing between all the Plant Societies and ourselves, which we so earn- 
estly crave. 
We hope also that each member of the Garden Club or America 
will feel an individual desire to join that Plant Society which fosters 
his or her favorite flower, and thereby help it to function to its best 
advantage. H. M. S. 
The Northwestern Peony and Iris Society 
We are standing on the threshold of a very promising season of 
bloom. An exceedingly mild winter and an early spring have stimu- 
lated rapid growth and Nature seems to be working overtime to 
compensate us for our eager, watchful care of the flowers we have 
nurtured through the winter months. How pleasantly the winter 
months have passed as we have planned our garden activities and 
dreamed of the pleasures awaiting us this coming June when we will 
again behold the Iris and Peony in aU their glory! 
On the evening of June 26, 1916, a meeting of several enthusiastic 
Peony and Iris growers was held at MinneapoHs, Minnesota, which 
resulted in the forming of the Society, of which I have been asked 
to tell. The object was to acquire and disseminate knowledge of the 
Peony and Iris in districts and localities where its membership reside; 
to encourage their cultivation, propagation and improvement and to 
work in harmonious conjunction with all other societies and organ- 
izations having like purposes or objects; through the medium of the 
Minnesota Horticulturist, a monthly magazine, pubhshed by the Minne- 
sota State Horticultural Society, of which the Northwestern Peony 
and Iris Society is an auxiliary with a membership of 3,760, we are 
enabled to keep in close touch with our members, a page or more 
being devoted to our purpose in each issue, as they are scattered 
52 
