102 
Slower (Brower 
The Peony 
The Peony and its People— From 
Amateur to Professional* 
W HEN, IN 1897, I came to Wyomissing, 
where I could have a real garden, one 
of the first things I determined was to 
have a complete collection of Peonies, “a 
white one, a red one and a pink one.” Then 
I discovered that Ellwanger & Barry had a 
great collection, as many as twenty kinds. 
After I had gotten these, one of Lemoine’s 
catalogues fell into my hands and, after some 
hesitation over the extravagance, I made the 
plunge. I sent to him my first foreign order 
in 1901. Only then did I realize what was 
before me, but it was too late. The Peony 
bug had gotten me, as it has gotten many 
others, and will get you, too, if it once gets 
fairly hold of you. Orders from Dessert and 
others soon followed. Then from Kelway in 
England. 
There must have been a sort of Peony 
epidemic prevalent at that time, for I learned 
afterwards that a number of those who today 
are well known in the Peony world were 
similarly affected at about the same time in 
the same manner, the two Petersons, Shay- 
lor, McKissock, Ward, John Good, Betscher 
and others. In the Thurlow ranks, where 
it had partly subsided (Mr. Thurlow having 
recently sold his collection), there was a 
fresh outbreak of the craze. I was not then 
in touch with these people, but I had heard 
of a Peony Society. I packed my grip and 
started to Boston to see the Peony show 
and learn something about Peonies. 
Ever since then Boston has seemed to me 
the “Hub” in Peony matters, as it used to 
be for me in things musical, for here in this 
hall I got my first real inspiration. I stopped 
off at Cottage Gardens to see Mr. Ward, then 
president of the Peony Society. He was busy 
collecting flowers for the show, noting new 
things coming into bloom for the first time, 
identifying things untrue, etc., and trying his 
best to be polite to me, all at once. In the 
light of later experience, I can appreciate his 
position, but neither he nor I suspected then 
that I was to be his successor. 
AMERICA’S LEADERS. 
Mr. Shaylor carried off the honors at that 
first show I attended, in 1906, as he has done 
so many times since, with his splendid col- 
lection. Mr. McKissock was there with his 
fine collection of novelties from France. Of 
course the Thurlows were represented there, 
and in the center of the room stood a mas- 
sive great vase of Richardson’s Rubra Su- 
perba, which carried off the first prize. Here 
I first met the late Rev. C. S. Harrison, 
“ Evangelist of the Peony,” for he, more than 
anyone else, has preached the gospel of the 
Peony throughout the great northwest. Here 
I met our Mr. Fewkes, whom all of us of the 
Peony Society have come to hold in such 
sincere regard. I visited T. C. Thurlow, the 
first of the great Peony enthusiasts in New 
England, at his delightful and hospitable 
home. I visited James McKissock, and his 
beautiful collection at West Newton. 
Up at Wellesley Hills I found Mr. Shaylor 
among his Peonies. In one corner, carefully 
screened under a tent from the hot sun, we 
came to the climax of our visit, when he said 
to us, “ There, gentlemen, is the celebrated 
Lady Alexandra Duff." He was doomed to 
disappointment, for it turned out at the 
show to be identical with Grandiflora Nivea 
Plena. Others had had similar disappoint- 
ments, for Lady Duff turned out to be first 
* An extract from an address by Bertand II. Farr, 
of Wyomissing, Pa., ex-president of the American 
Peony Society, delivered before the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society. 
James Kelway, then Mrs. Gwyn Lewis, and a 
host of other things, even to Festiva Maxima, 
till Mr. Shaylor, in disgust, pronounced the 
Lady a myth, using a famous quotation, 
“There ain’t no such thing.” 
I met many others there, whom for lack of 
time I cannot mention, but I formed friend- 
ships with them that have endured to this 
day. Some of them have passed away, but 
the greatest thing I learned was that Peony 
people as a class are mighty fine people. 
They are true blue. For they grow Peonies, 
not as a commercial proposition, but because 
they really love the flower, and find in it a 
fascination that cannot be resisted. 
A FEW WORDS OF HISTORY. 
The Peony is a true aristocrat of the hardy 
garden. I do not apply this as a mere 
phrase, for it is true in every sense, both as 
to its lineage and its associations. In China 
it is said that the tree Peony has been their 
chief pride and glory for nearly 1,500 years. 
This Asiatic Peony must not be confused 
with the old-fashioned, early-flowering red 
Peony of our grandmothers’ gardens, which 
belongs to an entirely distinct species, offici- 
nalis, a native of Europe, the early history 
of which is intricately woven with a haze of 
superstition, allegory and myth. Its magical 
charms were supposed to ward off witch- 
craft, and the name Peony’is derived from a 
Dr. Peon, who used its roots as medicine. 
The modern Chinensis Peony has only 
been known in Europe a little more than 
half a century. It was under the care of M. 
Jacques, gardener to King Louis Philippe, 
that one of the first collections was formed, 
and some of the first of the fine varieties of 
today originated. M. Jacques’ collection was 
inherited by his nephew, M. Victor Verdier, 
who raised a number of fine seedlings. The 
collection of the Comte de Cussy, an ama- 
teur collector, was inherited by M. Calot, of 
Douai, who continued to raise seedlings till 
1872, when his collection passed into the 
hands of M. Crousse, of Nancy, who made 
careful selections from the Calot seedlings 
and sent them out annually until 1879. From 
1882 until 1899, Crousse sent out seedlings of 
his own raising. The Calot-Crousse varie- 
ties are noted for their uniform high quality, 
raising the standard of excellence to a height 
that has never been surpassed, unless it be 
by the splendid varieties introduced in re- 
cent years by that greatest of all the world’s 
hybridizers, Victor Lemoine, whose establish- 
ment at Nancy is at Crousse’s old place. 
All the Lemoine varieties are exquisitely 
beautiful, but most of them so rare they are 
but little known outside of the larger col- 
lections. 
Another famous French collector of 
Peonies, contemporary with Calot and 
Crousse, was M. Mechin, also an enthusi- 
astic amateur, whose grandson, M. A. Des- 
sert, of Chenonceaux, succeeds him, and 
is considered today the greatest living 
authority on Peonies. Among his most re- 
cent introductions may be found some of the 
most beautiful additions to the many fine 
varieties for which we are indebted to the 
French specialists. Recently a number of 
fine new varieties, which are yet but little 
known in this country, have been originated 
in France by Riviere, Paillet, Brochet and 
others. To these must be added the beauti- 
ful varieties raised by James Kelway, of 
England, who began his work on the Peony 
in 1864, and twenty years later catalogued 
forty-one new varieties of his own raising. 
OTHER AMERICANS. 
Among those who have been most prom- 
inent in the introductions of new Peonies in 
America which equal those of the finest 
October, 1919 
French introductions, was John Richardson, 
of Dorchester, Mass. His varieties are all 
of unusual merit. Milton Hill and Paul 
Fisher are among the best ; Walter Faxon 
stands alone unapproached by any other 
Peony in its color, the nearest true deep 
pink; while Rubra Superba, crimson, and 
Grandiflora, soft shell-pink, still stand at the 
head, as the best and very latest of these 
colors to bloom. H. A. Terry, of Crescent, 
Iowa, early became interested in Peonies, 
and produced many varieties, the best prob- 
ably being Grover Cleveland, Etta, Emma, 
Princess Ellen, Euphemia and Stephanie. 
It was in Boston, in 1906, that I first met 
Mr. Hollis and saw his beautiful blooms on 
exhibition. I thought them fine then, and in 
my garden since they have not disappointed 
me. He was a genial, kindly gentleman, 
with means and leisure to devote his time to 
his favorites. I visited him in 1910 when his 
Peonies were in bloom. Although stricken 
then with a fatal illness, unable to walk 
alone, he sat in the little summer house 
overlooking his Peonies, happy in the sight 
of them, still able to talk with enthusiasm 
about his treasures and call them by name. 
Among his many fine ones are Paradise, 
Welcome Guest, Maude L. Richardson, Stand- 
ard Bearer, George Washington, Bunker Hill 
and Tragedie. Mention must also be made 
of his Japanese types, of which he raised a 
number which are distinct and fine. 
WESTERN WORKS. 
Mrs. Sarah A. Pleas, now living in Whit- 
tier, Cal., at the advanced age of over 83 years, 
is as actively interested in Peonies as when at 
her home in Spiceland, Ind., she raised and 
introduced Opal, Elwood Pleas and her now 
famous Jubilee, which carried off highest 
honors at the National Peony Show in Phila- 
delphia in 1917. A. M. Brand, of Faribault, 
Minn., for many years has been giving his 
attention to the raising of seedling Peonies. 
His varieties are now attracting a great deal 
of attention ; his Martha Bullock, best known, 
was one of the prominent features in the 
show in 1917. Among his many new ones 
I would mention Mary Brand, Richard Carvel 
and Frances Willard. E. J. Shaylor, of Wel- 
lesley Hills, is devoting his later years to rais- 
ing new varieties, and has already given us 
Georgiana Shaylor, Mary Woodbury Shaylor, 
Wilton Lockwood and a number of others 
which have received certificates of merit. 
We must not forget to mention Cherry Hill, 
by Thurlow, of West Newbury, and Karl 
Rosenfield, by Rosenfield, of Omaha, Neb., as 
being two American varieties of exceptional 
merit. Some of you may remember the 
splendid exhibit of some fifty new unnamed 
seedlings made here in 1916 by Prof. A. P. 
Saunders, of Clinton, N. Y. You will want 
to keep an eye on his work, for possibly one 
of these days the long sought yellow Peony 
may appear in his garden, for he is after it, 
apparently on the right track, and I shouldn’t 
wonder if he succeeds. 
AN ENTHUSIAST’S PASTIME. 
It will be seen, therefore, that nearly all 
of our modern Peonies are of comparatively 
recent introduction, and I am greatly im- 
pressed by the fact that practically all of the 
fine Peonies we have today have come to us 
through that remarkable group in France, 
Calot, Crousse, Lemoine and Dessert, most 
of them having a family relationship, and 
the few enthusiasts in America, just men- 
tioned, who have taken up the growing of 
Peonies because they found it intensely fasci- 
nating ; for the Peony does not attract the 
commercial grower. In its propagation there 
is no easy, royal road to quick results. It 
takes from four to six years before blooms t 
may be had from seed, and if, perchance, 
one seedling in a thousand has sufficient 
merit and distinction to justify its introduc- 
tion as a new variety, it takes many more 
years to raise, by the slow process of divis- 
ion, sufficient stock to be able to offer it to 
