PARK AND CEMETERY 
160 
ANNUAL MEETING OF AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY 
The annual meeting and exhibition of 
the American Peony Society was held 
at Ithaca, N. Y., June 27 and 28. The 
society was the guest of the Cornell 
College of Agriculture, whose peony 
test plats were an interesting feature 
of the meeting. The" backward season 
had forced the postponement of the 
show two weeks in order that the 
plants in the Cornell test plats might 
come into bloom. The roots for these 
test plats were furnished by members 
of the association, the Cornell Experi- 
ment Station agreeing to furnish the 
ground and care for the plants. About 
1,900 roots were set two and three 
years ago comprising between 500 and 
600 varieties. Some 250 to 300 were 
in bloom at the date of the exhibition. 
President C. W. Ward, in his an- 
nual address, touched on the vital point 
in peony culture as follows: 
"At present there is little or no 
profit in peony culture, because its 
lists cannot be depended upon. A cus- 
tomer cannot be sure that a variety .is 
correctly named or not, and no one is 
in a position to tell him. We now 
have some 3,000 peonies, whereas 150 
would be ample to cover our necessi- 
ties.” 
Prof. John Craig in his report for 
the nomenclature committee said : 
“'Since there are 200,000 recognized 
species of plants, and over 700,000 
names, the necessity of a code of no- 
menclature will be seen. In 1869, Mr. 
Barry, of Rochester, N. Y., formulat- 
ed a set of rules, which, with revision, 
are generally used for guidance in 
naming varieties. They are as fol- 
lows; I. No two varieties may bear 
the same name. II. The name should 
be simple and brief. III. The name 
should be as characteristic as it is 
possible to make it without interfer- 
ing with Rules I and II, which should 
come first. On page 11 of Mr. Coit’s 
‘Peony Check List’ may be found fur- 
ther rules of classification.” 
Mr. Coit has classified peonies in 
six types which embrace them all. 
They are as: I, Singles; II, Japanese; 
III, Bomb; IV, Semi-double; V, 
Crown; VI, Rose. The last type in- 
cludes the most fully . developed 
peonies. 
“Our chief difficulty as peony grow- 
ers,” said Prof. Coit, “is incomplete 
and inaccurate descriptions and incor- 
rect labeling. These evils must be 
eliminated before the present muddle 
of names can be cleared. I suggest 
that the society maintain a register of 
all old and new varieties. The ques- 
tion of just what comprises a variety 
is an important one. There are two 
views, one that everything coming 
from seeds not coming true to type, 
or seedlings, are varieties; the other. 
that only' those plants and flowers of 
any race so resembling each other 
that they cannot be told apart are va- 
rieties. I believe that the latter is the 
correct view. As a guide to color, I 
have used the French color index. 
‘Repertoire des Couleurs,’ published 
by the French Chrysanthemum Soci- 
ety. 
The chart was later adopted by the 
Peony Society as its official color 
guide and copies were ordered pur- 
chased. It may be obtained through 
the secretary. 
Ellwanger & Barry of Rochester, 
N. \ ., and C. W. Ward, of Queens, 
were the principal exhibitors and di- 
vided the honors for the prizes about 
equally between them. 
It was voted to hold the next meet- 
ing at Ithaca, subject to the call of 
the secretary and at the time of 
blooming of the test plants. 
The old list of officers was unani- 
mously re-elected as follows: Presi- 
dent, C. W. Ward, Queens, N. Y. ; 
vice-president, W. A. Peterson, Chi- 
cago; secretary, A. H. Fewkes, New- 
ton Highlands, Mass.; treasurer, J. H. 
Humphreys, Germantown, Pa. G. C. 
Thurlow, West Newbury, Mass., was 
chosen director for three years, to 
succeed W. A. Smith, whose term had 
expired. The society has 41 members. 
PATENT GRASS CUTTER FOR DIFFICULT CORNERS 
One of the tedious jobs in park or cemetery grass cut- 
ting is to trim around monuments, curbings, trees, close 
to fences and in the many -nooks and corners of the, 
grounds where the lawn mower is too big to be used. In 
order to expedite this work, Charles F. Crosby, of Bur- 
lington, Vt., has invented the grass cutter illustrated here- 
with. It will be observed that the mechanism is carried 
in a frame supported on wheels. The shaft A is con- 
nected by a universal joint with a drive-shaft which, in 
turn, is operated by a hand crank acting through a pair 
of bevel gears. The shaft A carries a bevel pinion B 
which, at opposite sides, meshes with the bevel gears C 
and D. Secured to the lower gear D is a cutter G, This 
cutter is of star shape, being formed with a series of 
projecting blades. The gears C and D are journaled in 
a bracket, E. A hollow shaft passes through both of 
these gears, and is splined to the upper gear C. Fitted 
to this shaft is a second cutter H, similar in form to the 
cutter G. A bolt which passes through the hollow shaft 
carries a washer at its lower end, which bears against this 
cutter. The opposite end of the bolt is threaded into a 
plug which, in turn, is threaded into the upper end of the 
hollow shaft. A cap carried by this plug engages a spring 
F, which is held in compression between the cap and the 
bevel gear C. It will be observed that the spring F serves 
to hold the two bevel gears into resilient engagement with 
the bevel pinion B, and also to hold the cutters G and TI 
in resilient engagement with each other. Since the bevel 
pinion B is engaged on opposite sides by the bevel gears, 
it will be evident that the cutters will rotate in opposite 
directions, so that they will act like shears. 
