20 S 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
west side of the upper hall is the store room for back cor- 
res]X)n(lence files tind the mailinj? room. All the mailing 
lists are handled with an addressograph machine. Across 
the hall on the ca.st side is the visitors’ room. 12' 4" x 22' 8". 
and at the rear the photographic room, dark room and nega¬ 
tive rooni, 17' 8" x 21'. The photographic equipment is 
eom])letc in every detail; for the company believes in the 
liberal use of photographs taken on their own grounds, 
'fhc room in which exposures arc made is lighted by two 
windows cast and north, each 6x9 feet. 
The interior is finished with buft' ceilings and dark green 
walls, the woodwork being stained dark and varnished. The 
building is heated with hot air and is udred and piped for 
electricity and gas. 
All the down stairs offices 
are inter-connected and the 
Inisiness office is connected 
with the packing house by 
speaking tubes. For com¬ 
munication with the outside 
world, the ofhee is connected 
l)y long distance with Jack- 
som’ille. Florida, thirty miles 
away, and in the general busi¬ 
ness office there is a telegraph 
equiinnent, so that messages 
are sent and received direct 
over the Western Union tele¬ 
graph lines. 
Considered in every detail, this nursery office is one of the 
niost, if not the most complete and convenient in the country. 
ANNOUNCEMENT OF AMERICAN PEONY SOCIETY 
The annual meeting and exhibition of the American Peony Society 
will be held this year at Coniell University, Ithaca, N. Y. The date of 
the meeting has not yet been decided upon, but it will be about June 20. 
The Society has for some years past been carrying out a verj' 
important piece of work on the nomenclature of th.e peony. Peony 
growers do not need to be reminded that the names of many of even the 
commonest varieties have for a long time been under stispicion; that a 
\'aricty ordered under the same name from half a dozen different growers 
may bring as many different sorts, or even that the same varietj’ ordered 
from the siune dealer in successive years will not always prove identical. 
There are many reasons which have combined to produce this confusion 
in the nomenclature. One of the most potent was that there did not 
anywhere exist a standard collection of varieties by means of which 
unnamed or mis-nmned sorts could be identified; there has not even 
been any authoritative descriptive list which would answer the purpose. 
The American Peony Society decided some years ago to meet this 
situation by establishing a standard collection of varieties, and bv 
publishing a descriptive check-list. The authorities at Cornell Univer¬ 
sity generously offered to take care of the collection and on an a])peal 
from the Society to growers in all parts of the world, about two thousand 
named sorts were recei\-ed mid planted. These have now been under 
observ;Uion by the Nomenclature Committee of the Societ}' and bv 
experts at Cornell for the past four or five years, and in addition the 
Committee has worked over most of the larger collections in the eastern 
part of the country. 
The results of these studies have been published from time to time 
in separate bulletins, which offer to the nurseryman and amateur 
authoritative descriptions of the named sorts, so far as treated. Up to 
the present time about ninety-five per cent, of all the important commer¬ 
cial varieties have been described and many others of less importance; 
about a thousand varieties in all have come under the attention of the 
Committee. A great deal of confusion has been removed, and countless 
synonyms discovered. 
The work is now nearly complete. After the present season’s work 
is done, it is hoped that it will be possible to publish a final and complete 
check-list giving fall descriptions of practically all the varieties that are 
in commerce at the present time. This list will be put out in book 
form, and will constitute the only authoritative work of its kind in 
existence. It will be offered for sale to the public. 
With the completion of this work the collection at Cornell will be 
rearranged. It now occupies a large space, the care of which entails 
a good deal of labor. A representative collection is to be permanently 
planted at Cornell, and the rest of the stock will be disposed of. 
The meeting at Ithaca this year will give the members of the Society 
and all interested in the peony their last chance to visit the full, original 
collection ; and as the plants are now of six or seven years’ growth, 
the field offers an extraordinary opportunity of study for the specialist. 
For the nurseryman and the 
amateur not yet aw^ake to the won¬ 
derful developments that have been 
made in peony blooms during the 
past twenty-five years, the exhibi¬ 
tion of the .Society and the Cornell 
plot itself will be a revelation. 
The following letter has been 
sent out to all the members of the 
Society: 
To the Members of the American 
Peony Society: 
At the last meeting of the Soci¬ 
ety held in Philadelphia it w'as 
decided to hold this year’s meeting 
at Cornell University, the exhibi¬ 
tion at this meeting to be composed 
largely of blooms from the plants 
that have been placed in a permanent plot as representative of the 
identified varieties which have been described in the variorrs bulle¬ 
tins issued. This e.xhibition and meeting at Cornell have been arranged 
with the view of giving all the members of the Society an opportunity 
of seeing the actual results that have been obtained, and of comparing 
the identified varieties at Cornell with their owm varieties w’hich they 
are growing under the same names. 
As this will be the most important business meeting the Society has 
ever held inasmuch as various important questioris will come up, it 
would be to the interest of every member as well as to the Society to 
have as large an attendance as possible. 
Among the most important questions to be decided are: 
1. The method of bringing the first part of this work to a close and 
the disposal of the plants remaining in the original plot; 
2. The future course and policy of the Society to be pursued on 
the completion of the Cornell work; 
3. The publication by the Society of thecomplete official catalogue 
or peony manual, which shall be a revision and correction and condensa¬ 
tion of the present manuals, this book to be published exclusively by and 
to be the property* of the .Society with the view of making it a standard 
work on the peonjq which can be placed on sale to the general public, 
the proceeds of which shall go to the Society. 
At the last meeting of the Society held in Philadelphia, it was decided 
that the plants remaining in the original plot could be put to no better 
use than to be sold to some private estate and the proceeds of the sale 
used towards the e.xpense of publishing this book, and a letter has been 
sent to all those firms who contributed to this experimental work asking 
their consent to do this. 
As it is the desire to make the principal part of the exhibition from 
the Cornell plot, it has been deemed best to forego for this year the usual 
premium list and to offer in its place the following: 
For the best collection of not less than 100 varieties, a prize of S50 
and a second prize of S25. This will be open to commercial growers 
only. 
{Continued on page 2ig) 
Photographic Room and Steongrapehis’ Room, Glen Saint Maiy. 
