Mr. Peterson:  I have nothing to add.  I have been in the game a good many years.  We have systematically kept track of over three hundred varieties since 1888, so that it may be if you have any questions to ask I might be able to answer them, and I would be glad to.  The proposition that Mr. Brand has stated is actually within the facts.  We have raised thousands of seedlings, and not one of them do we now grow.  You see some of the Peterson seedlings listed in other people’s catalogues, but I don’t have one myself.

A Member:  What kind of varieties would you suggest for the ordinary home garden, best dozen varieties?

Mr. Peterson:  I would name for the white peonies, the Madam de Verneville, Avalanche, Couronnes d’Or; of the pale pink, Delicatissima, Marie Crousse, Grandiflora; of the red, Monsieur Martin Cohuzac, Monsieur Krelage, Felix Crousse; of the deep pink, Modeste Guerin, M. Jules Elie and Claire Dubois.  I do think that Mr. Brand has some of exceptional merit that will probably be put in the red class.  I don’t know his others, but Felix Crousse is undoubtedly the best of its type in the red.

A Member:  Have you tried out the Baroness Schroeder?

Mr. Peterson:  I surely have.  It is very fine, but it is a little changeable, not only in its habits but in its shade.  If you want a perfect white, it isn’t that, it is a nearly flesh white.  I would say that the Madame Emile Lemoine is finer.

A Member:  Do you advise spraying for them?

Mr. Peterson:  No, but I tell you what was asked of me today, which is the secret of having no disease in our plants.  Any two-year-old plant in our field that doesn’t bloom, we dig it up and throw it away, and that will nip any trouble in the bud, and then you will not get any strain that is not blooming.  If we see any other defect, any that won’t head good, we take it up and throw it away.  That one point I think all of you can well follow, and that is, to dig up every two-year-old plant that doesn’t bloom and throw it away, that is, during the blooming season.

Mr. Harrison:  Some varieties will bloom and some won’t.  You have got to punish the whole on account of the few?

Mr. Peterson:  I do that.  If I have a two-year-old plant that is blooming in a section I keep it and follow it up.

Mr. Harrison:  Any special rule about multiplying or dividing?

Mr. Peterson:  No, except to divide in September, even possibly the last week of August, and the earlier they are divided at that time when the eyes are large, the better it is.

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