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 run 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 con¬ 
fine 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. In the above opinion we are sus¬ 
tained by Professor Leon D. Batchelor, when in the latest American Peony Society Bulletin issued by Cornell 
University he says in the introduction: “It is probably a conservative statement to say that the Peony inter¬ 
ests of the country would be better off if about seventy-five per cent, of the varieties were destroyed and future 
propagation made from the remaining twenty-five per cent, of superior varieties.” As there are about two 
thousand varieties of Peonies, say one thousand of them in commerce, to eliminate seventy-five per cent, of 
them would leave at least two hundred and fifty sorts as desirable. We are not pleading for a long list of 
Peonies, but we contend that the merits of the Peony that should be perpetuated are not found in any one hun¬ 
dred varieties. 
Six Points of Excellence 
In judging a Peony the six points of excellence we demand are in their respective order as follows: 
1st. Time of Blooming . 25 points. 
2d. Sure Free Bloomers. 25 points. 
3d. Color. 15 points. 
4th. Form and Size . 15 points. 
5th. Vigorous Grower with Strong Stems... 10 points. 
6th. Fragrance . 10 points. 
100 
No Peony is admitted to the society of our collection unless it scores at least 50% or more of each of the 
above points of excellence. 
You ask why we place time of blooming first on the list. We answer could we possess say a flower as 
fine as Festiva Maxima that bloomed one week earlier than that sort, then we would have the most valuable 
point possible in a Peony. 
A Month of Peonies 
Would you not rather have a month than a week of Peonies? Say by planting of whites, the early, early 
midseason, ipidseason, late midscason, late and very late, you could have a month of continuous enjoyment 
with the choicest blooms you ever beheld, would not that be preferable to one week of such bloom where you 
confined yourself to kinds that bloom at one and the same time? To illustrate, suppose you confine your 
planting of White Peonies to Festiva Maxima you would have the best flower of that color blooming at that 
time, but after your Festiva Maxima has done blooming your neighbor who has planted with Festiva Maxima 
other choice white varieties that are just as handsome and grand as that variety that will prolong her bloom¬ 
ing season three weeks longer, would that not be much preferable to your plan? Do you get that? Let us 
repeat, for this is important, by planting a succession of the early, midseason and late varieties you can enjoy 
Peonies for one month instead of for only a week. 
Describing Peonies 
Another matter that has been discussed and that some decry is the using of adjectives in describing a 
Peony. Dear friends, that is where we shine, for we make the statement without fear of successful contradic¬ 
tion that no person on God’s green footstool may convey to another their impression of a Peony flower with¬ 
out the use of adjectives and plenty of them. Try without their use to describe Monsieur Jules Elie with its 
enormous ball of loveliness before you, and you will be compelled to admit at once that it cannot be done. 
No, the stoicism of an Indian in describing Peonies will get you nowhere; don’t be an iceberg, thaw out. 
Neither inability to make rhyme; lack of sequence in thought; carelessness with the king’s English, or 
absence of sentiment will bar us from using adjectives in describing Peonies. We step right in and air our 
muse; nobody has to road it unless desired and it gets it out of our system. 
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