Evening star., 1942-09-05
National Flower
Societies Help
The Gardener
Devote Their Time
To Beffering All
Plant KnovIedee
By J. Sfealey EIms

II y - DtEHeV Lb"S
To many Of us who are interested
in the various popular flowers and
other plant material, the functions
of the several national flower socie-
ties are an unknown quantity
Through the efforts of their officers
and membership great strides have
been made in the better develop
ment of plant material and the In
formation passed on to the public
at large.
The beginnings of these societies
followed about the same pattern
A few interested people, desiring to
gain further knowledge of their
particular flower and also to impart
their own, believed that If some sort
of group could be formed as clear
ing house for information much
good would result.
Assuming there are many peony
lovers who would like to have some
information on the society which
devotes its time to the better de-
velopment of their favorite flower
this article will try to cover the
history of the American Peony
Society.
1t was in the latter part OF June,
1902, that the president of the Cot
tage Gardens Nursery Co., at
Queens, Long Island, Charles Willis
Ward, contacted by letter other nur-
series and growers of peonies.
In brief his letter complained of
the unsatisfactory condition of no.
menclature of the peony" and re-
quested cooperation in the forma-
ton of an association "for the
purpose of advancing the public
interest in the peony and especially
Strengthening out peony nomencla-
ture." He also decried the practice
of selling the same plant under
several names, done even by rep
utable nurseries. Many other points
were covered in his letter, particu-
larly the holding of annual exhibi-
tions.
But the sponsoring of exhibitions
was not the principal theme of the
organization. As Mr.. Wards initial
letter had pointed out there was
great need for an accurate check
list of peonies and the society
quickly started upon this work. Up
on the solicitation of Mr.. Ward, M.
Auguste Dessert, a famous French
peony grower, agreed to compile a
list Of the originations of several
French and Belgian growers. This
list, known as the Dessert manu-
script, contained the names of $40
varieties. At the same time, in this
country, Arthur H. Fewkes, secre-
tary of the society, undertook to
make similar list of American
commercial varieties.
These two lists were combined
with one sent by Kelway & Sons of
England, who furnished the names
and description of 294 double
varieties introduced by them from
1884 to 1904.
The need of such survey soon
became apparent. Almost incredible
was the confusion of names To cite
an example, the variety Edulus Su-
perba was found to have been sent
to the collection under % different
names, some instances having been
sent under three or four names from
the same nursery. This was typical of
great many varieties, so you can
see this group had its work cut out
for it. Another interesting factor
toward the confusion of names ex-
isting in the trade was the practice
OF some nurserymen, who, having
lost the label bearing the name of
a particular plant, relabeled it by
any name which came in handy and
advertised it as SUCH One case is
cited of nurseryman who bought
a large lot of unnamed roots and
assigned his own names to them, on
the theory they might sell better.
The undertaking. started in 1904
and completed in 1912, resulted in q
list of $50 true varieties, complete
with detailed and standard descrip-
tionS.
A further brief outline of the
American Peony Society and the
good work it is doing will continue
in another article. The writer is
indebted to chapter by Prof. A. P.
Saunders in the Manual of the
American Peony Society for much
Of this Information.