THE BONNEWITZ GARDENS, VAN WERT, OHIO 
would furnish one five eye division of each of these very fine peonies, for 
$94.00. 
I immediately sent Jiim my check, and when the plants arrived I took the 
package to Miss Anderson’s garden, and asked her for the use of a very sharp 
knife. I immediately began cutting each division into two pieces, and when she 
asked my reason for doing this, I told her I intended to offer a division of each 
of these “finest peonies in the world,” in exchange for a division of “jubilee.” 
Realizing that these peonies had been selected by Mr. Shaylor, she was of 
course, very glad to make the trade, and so I came into possession of my first 
“JUBILEE.” 
No peony was ever planted with more care, and no plant ever responded 
more generously to the care bestowed upon it. During its second year in my 
garden, I made the discovery that there was an American Peony Society, and 
that it would hold a peony show in New York city during the first week in 
June. I immediately joined the society, and as the date for the show ap¬ 
proached, I noticed that the buds on my “jubilee” plant were expanding at a 
pace that would bring them into bloom, at exactly the right time for the show. 
I visited both the original Van Wert owners of “jubilee,” and told them of the 
advertised show of the American Peony Society, and also that it was their duty 
to take “jubilee,” which we all considered the finest peony in the world, to 
the national show. Neither of them however would consider it, and so I de¬ 
cided that if they would not take it, that I most certainly would. 
So it came to pass that I arrived in New York, with my box of precious 
peonies very early on the first morning of the show, which was held in the 
Museum of National History up near Central Park. When I entered the build¬ 
ing I found only one person present, and he informed me that he was Professor 
A. P. Saunders, the secretary of the Peony Society, and after introducing my¬ 
self, I asked to be allowed to watch him prepare his flowers for the show. I 
carefully observed everything he did, and then asking for vases in which I 
might exhibit my flowers, I got them ready and entered them in the contest 
for the best white peonies in the amateur class. 
After I had them satisfactorily arranged, I noticed a gentleman entering 
the hall with a package in his hand, and he looked and acted very much as I 
had felt when I first entered the building, and so I approached him, introduced 
myself and asked him if I might help him place his flowers on exhiition. He 
seemed very glad to accept my help, and when we had his exhibit completed, I 
took him over to where my “jubilee” was displayed, and told him the story of 
the widow who raised pecnies from seed, and how she had named this one 
jubilee because is bloomed first on the fiftieth anniversary of her wedding. 
I told him also what a thrill it had given me, when I first saw it, and it pleased 
me when he said it was a most beautiful peony. 
Then I noticed a lady coming in with a package, and as she did not have 
any too much assurance, I introduced myself, and volunteered to help her dis¬ 
play her peonies, and when I finished, I told her the story of jubilee. I kept 
busy all morning, helping strangers who were like me, attending their first 
peony show, and to each one of them I told the story of jubilee. As I was tell¬ 
ing the story, a lady with a note book in her hand, but without any package, 
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