A manual on the propagation and cultivation of the paeony

A Manual on the Propagation

And Cultivation of

the Faeony

By
C»S» Harrison

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES

<iA MANUAL

ON THE PROPAGATION
AND CULTIVATION OF

PAEONY

By* C. S. HARRISON

YORK A* NEBRASKA

REPUBLICAN, YORK, NEBR.

252973

FLORAL TREASURE AND RUBRA TRIUMPHANS

€ S. Harrison's Pacony manual

K. S. Damson's

INTRODUCTION

("Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.")

How can it be, unless we give it a hearty invitation and a cordial wel-
come. Over every home, hamlet and farm there hangs a divine ideal of
what the place should be, just as the plan of the stately building hangs
in the office of the architect. Pull down the plan and work to it, and
you will be amazed at the result. All around us are surprises of loveli-
ness, if we would only let them reveal themselves. How rich we would
be if we could only reach out and take our own!

I am the child of a King. My hoe is a magician's wand. I touch
the earth, and lo, thousands of forms of loveliness spring up to salute
me. When I work, there thrills through my soul the ache and eagerness
of the overshadowing love to give a revelation of His gifts of beauty to
the world.

The good Lord never has had a chance to glorify and cheer this
somber earth

I love to work, to get near the heart of good old Mother Nature
and go into her inner temple and help her work her miracles. We tread
on the verge of a vast empire, whose splendors are just coming to our
vision. We have reached a point where we can do great things. The
parents of our great families of flowers are ready to give us a new
progeny.

In summer my place is a garden of delight. I believe in adorning
Beulah Land which lies on the hither shore, that it may give a forecast
of the glory beyond. The heavens are the flower gardens of God, each
sun shining in its own robes of splendor. One is a sapphire, and that
a glowing amethyst. There is an opal, and beyond an emerald. There
is a blazing topaz, and there swings a flashing diamond. When the
great Horticulturist drove His plowshare through the fields of azure He
sowed the furrows with stars

The Author of beauty has great treasures of loveliness down here if
we will only reach out and take them. Less than six years ago my place
was a patch of rank weeds. Now, every morning, from early spring till
the hard frosts of autumn, thousands of flowers salute me. The Paeonys
are in their glory, 50,000 in 400 varieties, many of them entirely new.
Here at the door stands queenly Festiva Maxima, white as the soul of
the Madona, with now and then a blood drop, as though the iron had
some time entered her heart. What a marvelous flower, seveji inches
across. Close by is a La Tulipe. Never flower had such a bud, with its
interlacing of green and crimson, growing more and more pronounced
till the great ball opens, flooding the air with fragrance. There is Baron-
ess Schroder, one of the most ethereally delicate, and yet hardy. What
rose can match it? And in the center the lingerings of gold, from which
come exhalations of sweetest perfume. There stands Terry's Carnation
on dress parade, and yonder Tecumseh, and the radiant Pottsi. Nor

Pacony manual 3

are those of Nebraska birth far behind. There is Golden Harvest, the
whole plant striving to cover itself with garments of bloom. Floral
Treasure is a fragrant hemisphere of delicate pink, fading to white.
We cannot name them. My 400 are much better dressed and better
l>ehaved than the other "400" we read of.

Billows of fragrance load all the air, and these thousands of thous-
ands seem in the distance a vast carpet of a grace and splendor too good
for earth, fit to be pressed with the feet of angels.

Look this way, and you see great fields of columbines, of fifty varie-
ties in one fascinating blend of loveliness. There the Coerelia we see
in the Rockies, photograph of heaven's deepest blue and the fleecy
clouds. There is one of pure gold, such as we saw blooming in the Yel-
lowstone Park. These are not enough appreciated. Don't be stingy
with them. Plant great masses, and they will be two months in bloom.
There is a field of oriental perennial poppies. They are of dazzling,
flame-like brilliancy, some of the flowers nearly eight inches across, and
inside the most delicate penciling and tracing all done up in jet. It is
astonishing how much exquisite and artistic work nature has put out on
each blossom.

Then comes the procession of thousands of Gaillardias, with smil-
ing, open faces, blooming all summer, pansies in almost infinite variety.
Then come the blessed phloxes, then gladioluses, cannas and dahlias, a
great, worshipful host. I go through them all and wonder if this is my-
self, the hard-working man on whose shoulders sit more than three score
and ten years. Is it a miracle? Retiring from professional labors with
nerves worn threadbare, in poor health, with hardly any means, yet with
"heart within and God overhead," with skilled hands, willing brothers
of the brain, so much has been accomplished, and I am in wonder-
land. A case like this should be an encouragement to the home-maker.

ttlby this manual is Written

FIRST. Because there is no work on the subject in the English
language.

SECOND. Because there ought to be.

Having watched these flowers summer and winter, and boarded with
them, studying their wants and characteristics, and finding out the most
successful modes of culture and propagation, I feel that they should be
more fully introduced to the public.

To me it seems that their hardiness, fragrance, adaptability, su-
preme beauty and ease of propagation place them in advance of all other
flowers. Again, they have a mission in the great, bleak northwest, where
they succeed most admirably, the very best of all, where so many others
fail

This is not copyrighted. Quote all you like from it, simply giving
credit for it. We would not put chains on the sweet Evangel of beauty.
Let it go forth to cheer and brighten the world.

4 €. $. garrison's

CHAPTER I

Ulftat the English Say

The following is taken from Kelway's Manual, probably the finest
ever published. The Kelways are paeony princes, and have done much
to bring these glorious flowers to the front. Both Queen Victoria and
Alexandria have paid high tribute to their efforts.

HERBACEOUS PAEONYS. — If you look out "Paeony" in a common or garden diction-
ary, you will find therein the bald information that it belongs to the natural order of Crow-
foots—Crowfeet seems a etter plural, but that is neither here nor there— and that the
flower is named after one Paeon, a physician, who first used it medicinally "One Paeon"
must be looked for in the dim obscurity of legendary ages. In days mediaeval, when sim-
ples were so curative and faith so strong, the Paeony was known as a gallant herb of the
Sun, under the Lion, good for the falling sickness, the black seeds thereof being taken at
bedtime, possessing great virtue against the incubus; "but we doe commonly calle it ye
nightmare," wrote an old scribe. Infused in sack, and drunk before and after the new
moon, it was sovereign against weakness in the back; while, in the case of children, the
surest way to ease them was to hang a bit of the root about the neck. Even it. those archaic
times the flower was known by the name it bears unto this day, and we must go yet further
back into the mists of antiquity for its title, for our Paeon was the physician who minis-
tered to the wounds re:eived in the Trojan war, and the heroes to whom he ministered
were none other than the immortal gods themselves. The Paeony is a native of Siberia
and the whole of northern Asia, of Southern France, and of Spain. One species has long
been known to grow on an island, called the Steep Holme, in the mouth of the Severn sea,
but I should judge its presence there to be purely accidental. I should hardly think it is
indigenous to that frowning but friendly shelter. Herbaceous Paeonys should be in every
garden; of that there can be no doubt. What would a cottage garden be worth in May
time without its rich, red "Pyannies?" But these — their high-sounding scientific name
being Paeonia ofncinalis are but the type of the beautiful flowers that are the result of
years of patient cultivation, and the marvelous developments that have* been made in the
last decade are truly remarkable. The old red Paeony has a strong, pungent savour, tonic
and stimulating, perhaps, but not one that would be distilled for scenting a lace handker-
chief, withal; whereas in the case of the new kinds, hybridization and intercrossing have
changed all that, and the Paeony must henceforward rank amongst the scented flowers.
These beautiful and most decorative plants are, I am assured by a noted grower, as hardy
as paving stones. They are, moreover, of the easiest possible culture, and amenable to the
treatment ordinarily meted out to herbaceous plants, never dainty in their requirements, and
flourishing exceedingly well in the most ordinary garden soil. I i now where the very
Paeonys grow from which this photograph was taken. I could name dozens of varieties of
this perfect flower, and rhapsodize over their delicate loveliness with great satisfaction to
mys elf, but here I must content me with naming six different kinds, of distinct characteris-
tics, and here they are: Lady Beresford is a large-flowered variety of a shade of softest
blush, which might be even called white by a careless observer. It is the tips of the petals
which are so softly pink, and at their bases they deepen into buff. Olivia is a truly lovely
flower, yellow at first sight, but a closer view discloses the fact that the guard petals
are white and very broad, enclosing a center of sulphur, a peculiar and most delicately tinc-
tured blossom. Bioni is another uncommonly shaped blossom, with guard petals of deli-
cate blush, enclosing thread-like segments as "raggedy" as a Japanese chrysanthe •< um
These segments differ in color from their guard, being cream. Sainfoin is a very brilliant
flower of deep rose color, a striking contrast to the others just named. Labolas is rose,
purple dyed, with short inner petals tipped with gold, a dream of regal sunset.

Lyde is a rose-colored flower, with a paler center, pink tinted, and with it I must close
my list for lack of space. This flower has the most powerful yet delicate scent of pure rose
attar. It is like the concentrated essence of all the rose gardens of Persia. Some of the
Paeonys have a scent that seems compounded of roses and violets, others are reminiscent of
roses and summer chrysanthemums, but Lyde is all rose-scent throughout, and of the very
purest quality at that. — The Ladies' Field.

THK MANY-SIDED PAEONY.— The Paeony is among garden flowers what the mocking
bird is among birds. In acquiring its right to range as a flower of to-day it has stolen the

Paeony manual 5

perfume of the rose, and stolen the tints and shapes of petal from many of the most beauti-
ful of our summer flowers Without the Paeony, therefore, no flower garden is complete.
There are two kinds of Paeony, the Herbaceous and the Tree Paeony, and they have their
legendary lore like all aristocrats of the garden. . . . Down at Langport, in Somer-

set, there are three generations of the Kelways, and it is a pleasure to tramp with either
one or the other, father, son, or grandson, over their broad acres of Paeonys and Gladioli. In
your walk you make a close acquaintance with all manner of flowers. Naturally the first
trek is for Paeonys. "You cannot very well kill them," is the reply to our question. "They
are as tough as a Scotch thistle, and as full of vigor as a common marigold " "Yes, those
rows after rows of deep-colored or crimson spikes that you see fighting their way up through
the earth are Paeonys just making a start to grow. The colors vary from snow-white to
yellow, yellow to pink, and pink to maroon; also there are purples and shades of violet, but
Nature has so far refused to produce a blue variety. Certainly a Paeony can give you a
grand spot of fresh color in a shady corner, for, although the flower enjoys the sun, it does
not object to the shade. Another idea: if you like flowers on your lawn, but do not want
to cut up the green by placing beds here and there, plant Paeonys, either kind does well.
The Paeony will thrive on almost any soil. Up to a point good manure intensifies its
color and improves its form. \s to the lifetime —once planted the plant goes on growing,
and multiplies exceedingly. You need not take up your roots, except when they have
grown too large and want separating The selected varieties really give you a garden of
sweet-scented, rose-shaped flowers before the roses come in, as well as a little forest of beau-
tiful foliage, for the color of its leaves is often as lovely as the bloom of many flowers. Then
the Herbaceous Paeony, with its beautiful foliage, is most suitable for church decoration.
There are almost any number of varieties. For thirty years we have crossed and re-crossed,
married and given in marriage, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, and cousins, for in the plant
world there is a natural and n >t an ecclesiastical law, so that like the old lady in the shoe,
we have so many children that sometimes we don't know what to do. . . . No plant
travels better than the Paeony." —Westminster Budget, 1898.

CHAPTER II

Letter from Wm. Kelway. The Kelways have done more than any
other family to bring the Paeony up to its present position.

LANGPORT, ENG., SEPT. 3d, 1901
MR. C. S. HARRISON.

DEAR SIR: — In reply to your kind solicitation to write an article on
the Paeony for your "International Paeony Book," I must tell you that
it is quite out of my line, but it is particularly interesting to note the va-
rious forces and freaks of nature exhibited in the Paeony from the effects
of cross fertilization, which has occupied thousands of hours of my life
during the past thirty years. To notice the produce of parents of a va-
riety with only three or four rows of petals, with its stamens, evolve into
petaloids, and then again noticing the produce from this petaloid parent
with its petaloids evolve into petals, and then again to cross fertilize this
variety, and to notice its progress, with its stigmas evolved into petals,
so that at the end we find this Paeony with its beautiful original guard
petals, with a cushion of petals instead of stamens, and surmounting this
cushion petals, as in Paeony "Agnes Mary Kelway," evolved from the
stigmas, representing a comb of feathers like those on a cockatoo's head;
to know that one is handling a plant that bears any amount of heat or

6 €. $. garrison's

cold, that will grow in any soil, that it is not infested with any fungus or
blight or vermin; that its foliage is beautiful in early spring, coming out
of the cold earth various shades of green, red and purple, just at the time
when the Daffodil takes the winds of March with beauty. And so it goes
on, turning to the deepest, glaucous green in June, when the gorgeous
flowers surmount the noble plants, giving such an array of magnificent
blooms in every shade of color except blue, all dying off into lighter tints
in July, leaving on some varieties their capsules, which when open show
their seeds of very pretty tints, and in the British variety, "Corallina,"
they are particularly brilliant, and may be well compared to Amethysts.
The leaves at the same time change to crimson, purple, chrome, and a
rich brown, shading off to that rich, lighter brown which is to be found
in the bracken after it has been seasoned with the winter's blast. Cross
fertilizing has also done a great deal to increase the perfume of the Pae-
ony, giving to a numerous variety of them a combination of the scents
of the Violet and the Rose. The Paeony has a longer run of employ-
ment for decorations than any other plant, the shoots, flowers or leaves
being in use from March to November.

Yours Very Respectfully, WM. KELWAY.

We have just received the following letter from Superintendent Bed-
ford, of the experiment farm of Brandon, Manitoba. As we are at work
on an International Paeony Pamphlet, and desiring to make it as com-
plete as possible, we are sending letters to different parts of Europe and
Canada, and here is the reply kindly given by Superintendent S. A. Bed-
ford:

BRANDON, MANITOBA, Jan. 2, 1903.
C. S. HARRISON.

DEAR SIR: — Your letter of December 24th received. The herba-
ceous Paeonys do exceedingly well here. Our collection is a small one,
but we find no difficulty whatever in wintering them, even without pro-
tection. We simply keep them free from grass and weeds, and let na-
ture do the rest. In my opinion, they are by far the best perennial for
cultivation in this northern climate. Some of our plants have as many
as sixty bunches of blossoms. I am looking forward to the time when
we will have a complete collection of this beautiful flower here. If at
any time you wish me to test a root or so, I shall be glad to do so. I
shall try and send you a cut showing some of the Paeonys growing here.
We are getting a very large immigration from the United States to this
country, and you can tell your people to bring the Paeony roots along
with them, as they grow well all over Manitoba and the northwest. We
do not even mulch or manure our plants. The soil is rich, and the snow,
though not deep, is sufficient for protection.

Yours, S. A. BEDFORD.

This testimony is also substantiated by Dr. William Saunders, gen-
eral superintendent of all the experiment stations. I have been sending
some to Assiniboia, a province lying west of Manitoba, where they also
do well. A friend told me of an article he saw concerning their successful

Paccny manual 7

growth in Alaska. So, when we have flowers called for from Mobile to
the Arctic circle, we need not fear we will overstock the market right
away.

4*

U. S. EXPERIMENT STATION,
BROOKINGS, S. D., Feb. 26, 1902.
MR. C. S. HARRISON.

DEAR SIR: — I was glad to receive your letter and to learn that you
are doing so much in ornamentals. I do not think it would pay you to
plant any cuttings of conicera this spring. I only have a very few plants
of each kind, and cuttings, in order to do well, should be planted in the
fall. At least that has been my experience. In bulletin 72 I have men-
tioned my experience with the Paeony. The following note may serve
your purpose: The Tree Paeonys are tender, and winter kill in the
Northwest, but the Herbaceous Paeonys are perfectly hardy in South
Dakota without winter protection. We have many varieties under culti-
vation here, and all appear hardy, and flower profusely. Of all herba-
ceous plants the Herbaceous Paeony should be the first one to plant in
the garden of every dweller on the northwestern prairies. They are as
hardy as pie plant, and do well with no more care than that given to pie
plant. It pays to manure both plants for the best results. The number
of cultivated varieties of Paeonys runs up to a thousand or more, and the
list is continually being increased by the raising of new varieties from
seed. This will be an interesting line of work for the amateur, as he
may obtain varieties superior, or at least equal to, any of the many sorts
now grown by nurserymen and florists, but the planter who wants a sure
thing will prefer to plant named sorts. The Paeony is steadily gaining
favor with florists all over the country, and some plant them by the acre
for the purpose of growing flowers in quantities for market. Some peo-
ple call the Paeony the "King of Flowers," but this title is probably
claimed by many other flowers, each one having its devoted adherents.
Yours truly, PROF. N. E. HANSEN.

CHAPTER III

Classification

I have spent much time in the endeavor to search out the original
families of this remarkable flower. From the number we judge that there
is yet great room for progress, and perhaps we have only just begun with
our hybridizing. By permission I quote from J. W. Manning, in
"American Gardening," of March 5th, for which I tender grateful ac-
knowledgment:

"Until the forthcoming Paeony list of the American Paeony Society
is published, I believe quotation of variety names should be used with

8 €. $. garrison's

great care, and believe that the best interest may be served by giving the
following list of species and their distinctive characters:

Paeonia Albiflora, PALLAS. A Siberian species introduced about
1756, and one of the forerunners of the hybrid herbaceous forms, two to
three feet high, with deep, rich green, often veined red, leaflets, and
bearing clusters of three or more very large, broad, overlapping petaled
white to light pink single flowers, and showing globular masses of golden
anthers in the center of each. June. Reevesiana, Fragrans, Whitleya
and Festiva show close affinity to this species.

Paeonia Anomala, LINN. From Europe and Asia, with finely dis-
sected, smooth foliage. Solitary, single, bright crimson flowers, and
distinct in the large size of the petals and the peculiar compound, leaf-
like sepals. Two feet. May. Its varieties, Insignis, Peter Barr, Smoutti
and Intermedia are now recognized, being more distinct in the character
of foliage than otherwise.

Paeonia Arietina, ANDERS. A tall south European species, distinct
in the stems, being hairy toward the top ; the foliage quite glaucus and
downy beneath. The flowers are large, dark red and solitary, and the
seed pods are prominently covered with hairs. The varieties range
through shades of pink and red.

Paeonia Browni, DOUGL. A northwest American dwarf species with
glaucus foliage and dull, brownish-red flowers, borne on re-curved stems.

Paeonia Broteri, Boiss AND REUT. An early - blooming, European
species, similar in foliage and habit to Paeonia Officinalis, with red flow-
ers varying to white.

Paeonia Coccinea. A reported species in the Royal Botanical Gar-
dens at Glasnevin.

Paeonia Corallina, RETZ. Asia Minor. A vigorous species, two to
three feet high, with dark green foliage, the lower leaves of which are on-
ly twice divided. Bright, crimson flowers, with short, rounded petals
and seed vessels of a bright red color.

Paeonia Coriacea. Boiss. Similar to Paeonia Albiflora, with even
broader leaflets, bright crimson flowers, purple stigmas and smooth
seed vessels.

Paeonia Corsica, SIEBER. Closely related to, if not the same as,
the last.

Paeonia Decora, ANDERS. From southern Europe. A close spe-
cies to Paeonia Arietina, with peculiar horizontal foliage diminishing to-
ward top of the stems, which are two to three feet high. The crimson
flowers are small, with few narrow and small petals. Pallasii, with nar-
row leaflets, and Elatior, with broadly oblong leaflets, are recognized
varieties.

Paeonia Emodi, WALL. A Himalayan species, two to three feet
high, closely related to Paeonia Anomala, with smooth, finely cut foliage,
pale beneath. Flowers pure white, borne in clusters of four or more.

Paeonia Humilis, RETZ. A French species of low growth, with some-
what velvety foliage, and with bright red flowers on short stems, and
borne in clusters of three or more, with smooth seed pods.

FESTIVA MAXIMA

Pacony manual 9

Paeonia Lutea. Recently discovered species from Yunnan, and in-
troduced by Abbe Delavay, growing about two feet high and bearing
small, bright yellow flowers. The plant is somewhat shrubby in habit,
and allied to Paeonia Moutan. Not sufficiently tested as yet as to hardi-
hood.

Paeonia Microcarpa, Boiss AND REUT. Closely allied to P. Humilis,
with even dwarfer habit and more downy foliage. Presumably a native
of France.

Paeonia Mollis, ANDERS A dwarf Siberian species, with dark green
upper surface to foliage, and distinctly glaucous and velvety below.
Flowers pink or red, and borne singly.

Paeonia Moutan, SIMS. The well-known Tree Paeony, a native of
China.

Paeonia Officinalis, LINN. The oldest cultivated species, first
grown in 1548, with dark green foliage above, pale green beneath, grow-
ing two to three feet high and producing single, dark crimson flowers,
and with re-curved crimson stigmas. Early blooming, and a parent of
many double anemone-flowered and semi-double varieties. A native of
Europe.

Paeonia Paradoxa, ANDERS. A very dwarf, almost tufted, Turkish
species, with three-lobed incised foliage and purplish red flowers borne
singly, and with seed vessels closely pressed together. There is a varie-
ty, fimbriata, with double purple flowers and projecting purple stamens.

Paeonia Peregrina, MILL. An European species similar to Paeonia
Officinalis, but with very smooth, deep green foliage above, pale green,
hairy beneath. Flowers bright crimson. This has given rise to two
good double forms and a number of varieties with single whorls of petals.

Paeonia Obovata, MAXIM. A little known species, with "lower
leaves not more than twice ternate; flowers large, red-purple, and glab-
rous seed vessels."

Paeonia Pubens, SIMS. Allied to Paeonia Arietina. Leaves hairy
below, margins red.

Paeonia Russi, BIVONI. A Sicilian and French species varying from
Paeonia Corallina in decidedly hairy undersurface of foliage.

Paeonia Sessiliflora, SIMS. Nearly related to Paeonia Mollis; very
low; flowers short-stemmed, pure white.

Paeonia Triternata (Daurica) PALLAS. Three feet. Differs only
from Paeonia Corallina in the rounded leaves, greener stems and rose-
colored flowers. A native of Caucasus.

Paeonia Sibirica. A little known species in the Glasnevin Royal
Botanic Garden list.

Paeonia Tenuifolia, LIN. A Caucasus species eighteen inches high,
with light, soft green, very finely divided foliage, and dark crimson, yel-
low anthered flowers and spirally recurved stigma. The earliest bloom-
ing species There are double and semi-double types of this.

Paeonia Wittmanniana, STEV. A Caucasian and north Persian spe-
cies about two feet high, with coarsely divided, dark green foliage, downy
beneath and bearing showy, incurved, pale yellow flowers, one to a stem.
Rare.

io C. S. Garrison's

CHAPTER IV
Propagation

It is highly important to know how to multiply these valuable flow-
ers, for the process is slow at best.

You buy a choice Syringa or Philadelphus, and you can divide the
roots and plant cuttings and increase them very rapidly. You can, in a
few years, run a new kind of a fruit tree up into the millions, but you can-
not rush the Paeony. One of the best on the list originated in 1835,
and it is impossible now to supply the demand. If you raise from seed
you never reproduce the original, and it takes from five to eight years to
know what you are getting. But with care, by root division alme, you
can secure from one to two thousand in ten years. There are three
modes of propagation; by division, from roots and from seed.

We have a different system, where we raise for roots, than where we
propagate for flowers. By the best of care on the richest ground you
can hurry them considerably. But there is a great difference in them.
L'Esperence and Victoria Tricolor multiply rapidly, while J. Discaisne,
though a glorious flower, wants about four years to double itself. Others
equally as good in bloom are much more profitable. From Baroness
Schroder, La Tulipe and Richardson's Rubra I have cut thirty roots in
four years from one By dividing every two or three years you have
perfectly healthy and vigorous roots. I have bought those that must
have stood twelve or fifteen years. The buds were partially decayed,
and they had great, club-like roots. There is no advantage in such large
roots. A two-year-old plant, sound and vigorous, is much to be preferred.

A neighbor wished me to do something for his Paeonys. They had
been twenty-five years in grass and weeds. They were crowding and ex-
hausting each other. They would bud, but had no vigor to expand the
bloom. I took up great clumps, and found them much decayed. I cut
them up, planting the buds and what little root I could secure with them,
and in two years had as strong and vigorous stock as I ever saw. My
land consists mostly of city lots, so I must plant closely in rows, about
eighteen inches apart, and eight inches in the row. Of course they
could not stay long. I have the advantage of irrigation if necessary. I
have often planted buds alone, with no root whatever. One fall I put in
thirty, and the next year had twenty-seven fine plants.

J*

Dividing tbc Roots

This is difficult, and requires patience and judgment. Some have a
distinct cleavage, and are easily separated. Others, like Marie Lemoine,
have no cleavage, but are gnarled and twisted. Some, like Princess
Ellen, have roots like a ball. Many are very tender, and as you begin
to divide, they will snap like pipe stems. This is bad, for there are the
roots, and you need them to go with the buds. If you lose them it will

Paeony manual n

take a year or two to replace them. Let them lie in the shade a few
hours and wilt. This toughens them and does not hurt them a particle.
You can immediately restore them to their plumpness by putting them in
wet moss, or keeping in or planting in moist earth. This is a very im-
portant matter. I got onto this process after a good deal of annoyance
and vexation. In planting, have your ground in the best of order. I
have deep, rich soil, fertilized with hen manure when I can get it: only
prepare your ground beforehand, so the fertilizing will be assimilated.
Make a deep, wide hole with the spade, insert the root, press the earth
close about, put the bud two or three inches below the surface, and be
careful not to bruise it. It is a good idea to put a coat of manure over
them in winter.

Planting for flowers

You can raise roots and blossoms at the same time, but you cannot
multiply as rapidly as where you raise solely for the increase. Of course
you will raise many flowers while you are propagating. The ready
bloomers will get in their work the second year, and at that time we of-
ten have quite a burden of bloom. Some sorts require time to come to
their best. Usually the largest and latest sorts need a year longer than
the others, while some kinds will bloom on the least provocation. Vic-
toria Tricolor is noted as an early, prolific bloomer, and a ready multi-
plier. It often blossoms the first year.

To raise the largest and finest flowers, the ground should be very
rich. We often cart on soil and manure to increase the depth. Rich,
bottom land, well manured, is best. The ground to be planted in the
fall should be prepared in the summer. It should be spaded two to three
feet deep. Plant in rows four feet apart and three feet in the row, so
you can cultivate with the horse, if necessary. Sometimes I have pre-
pared ground in this way: On an eighth of an acre there were scattered
eight loads of hen manure, and a strong team plowed it two furrows deep
and took the whole day for it. This thorough preparation is necessary
for the best results and the largest blooms. Of course you do not have
to be at such expense. They will grow, thrive and bloom on good corn
ground. By this process you are raising roots as well as flowers, and at
the end of ten years you will have an enormous crop of the former, but
they will be large and not so easy to handle.

In planting to raise flowers, be sure and take good, strong roots.
Such will come into bearing much sooner than small ones. I should not
plant clumps, but heavy ones, and they will make the clumps soon
enough.

I have gone into detail because I deem the Paeony the queen of
flowers, and it should have the best possible chance.

Raising Trent Roots

I have watched this process closely for years, and have found one
thing, perhaps not discovered by others. The root is small where it joins
at the top; it swells in the center and then tapers. Now if a root is bro-

i2 C. $. prison's

ken at the center, the lower portion never can form a head. It will try
hard. A calous will be formed at either end. The poor thing will do
its best to put a head on itself, but cannot make it. At the end of the
first year the root will yet be sound; the second year the top will begin
to decay, and the third year it will be rotten. The upper portion of
this same root, where it breaks from the plant, will have a good show
for forming a head. Kinds differ. The Edulis Superba and others of
its class are stored with vitality. I have often stripped off roots, like
fingers from the hand, and planted them, and almost invariably a bud
would form the first year and be ready for business the next spring.
Sometimes it will take two years to form a head, but in the main you
will succeed better to carefully divide and plant root and bud together.

CHAPTER V

Raising from Seeds

We must pay more attention to this. There is no reason why we
should not produce more rare sorts. There is a fascination here. You
never know what is coming. Just beside you, in the unknown, there is
a rare, lovely and fragrant flower waiting to surprise you. You wish to
give it a chance to materialize, so you are on the alert to welcome your
new creations. One in a hundred will be fair; perhaps one in a thous-
and will be superior.

How about hand pollenization? I should let the bees attend to that.

Note this fact: You must secure seed from the VERY CHOICEST
KINDS. Here we are handicapped. Great, splendid ones, like Festiva
Maxima, Tecumseh and Richardson's Rubra Superba, can go no further.
Those grand, double ones have reached their limit. It is well-known
that the single and semi-double are very prolific, and yield any amount
of seed. When Terry and Rosenfield, in the west, commenced their work,
they secured seed from the very best. Thirty years ago Mr. Terry be-
gan with seeds from the choicest flowers that would yield any, and he has
given us some fine ones. So with Rosenfield, who gave us Floral Treas-
ure and Golden Harvest, that now stand well at the head of the proces-
sion.

Other propagators I know of have used, I am sure, seeds from in-
ferior plants, and as like begets like, they have very inferior strains.
One grower, by a good deal of enthusiasm and fulsome praise, has sold
several which prove to be a disappointment. The whole stock, with a
few exceptions, is coarse and cheap, and does not sustain itself. It is
remarkable that you may raise a thousand seedlings, and there will be no
two exactly alike.

What shall be done with the thousands of rejected ones? We have
too many named ones already, about two thousand. Shall we throw
them away? By no means. If you never saw a Paeony and were intro-

Paeony manual 13

duced to the thousand left behind, you would call them fine flowers, and
so they are. In the hosts of these common ones I never saw a really
poor one. They are all good, but there are the better and the best. I
would say keep them. They can be used for parks and in masses. Put
them on your cheap list and classify them in colors. There are many
people who insist that a "piny" is a -'piny," and that is all there is of it,
and they will insist that you keep a "bargain counter," for they think
they are terribly cheated if they have to pay more than twenty-five cents
for a "piny." They are much like the young darkey who, by mistake,
got a license to marry Lucinda, when he had agreed to marry Katie. It
would cost him something to get a new license. He proved equal to the
occasion, "Dere aint no $1.75 difference between dem two niggers, and
I'll just marry Lucinda."

We are glad to note cheering success in originating new varieties in
America. We need to go in on a larger scale. Mr. Kelway, of Eng-
land, and Mr. Terry, of Iowa, have given us over 100 each. The main
difference between them is, Kelway has used the most ink. I think Ter-
ry has never photographed one of his grand creations. We are happy,
however, to present some in this Manual. I think it would be much
better to go heavily into the business of propagation than to send so
much money to Europe and import so many disappointments.

There is a future for this industry. For instance, the new Japan-
ese, with their peculiar stamens, are very unique. I have about twenty-
four kinds. They seed readily, and, having them hemmed in with other
fine varieties, I have great hopes of a new race of hybrids. I also in-
tend this fall of 1904 to plant about two quarts of the very choicest seeds
that I can secure. I have large quantities of my own and have engaged
more, and from the coming thousands I hope to see some of superior
merit. As to those which will not be named, keep them. The great
empire of the northwest will need them. Most of those raised by west-
ern growers yet go east, and the bleak northwest is waking up to their
merits, and will yet absorb millions.

<$#

Care of Seeds and Planting

It is better to gather the seeds before they get thoroughly dried, and
plant immediately, or mix them with moist sand and plant just before
the ground freezes. In the west, often our falls are so dry that seed, at
the ordinary depth, would dry out. Those can be planted that are thor-
oughly dried, but it takes two, and even three, years for them to germi-
nate. They should be planted in rows about two inches deep. If, in
the spring the ground should incline to crust, it may need pulverizing
with a rake, so that the little plants can come up readily. If sown in a
seed bed they can be removed when a year old. Though the roots will
be small they will be full of vitality. If far enough apart so they can
have a fair chance to develop, it is better to let them remain till they
bloom. But it takes some years for them to fully show their individual-
ity so you can know what to depend on. Don't be in a hurry. I have
known rejected ones to develop flowers equal to almost any, and I have
one which was discarded while young, which is now near the head of the

i4 €. $. garrison's

procession. Young plants do not often go back, but show up better as
they grow old. The Paeony has almost infinite patience, and you must
have a little even in this age of steam and lightning.

CHAPTER VI

Che fiardincss of the Paeony

We know of nothing in the vegetable world which has the vigor and
hardiness of this plant. The root is like the grip sack of the traveler which
contains the supplies for his journey. It will come to us from Europe and
bring in compact form foliage, flower and life. We know of nothing
that will stand more hard treatment, exposure and neglect. It may be
left on the ground, exposed to the sun, for days, and be badly withered,
and yet it will revive and grow. Often we find, where we have cut up
plants in the fall, that tiny buds, so small as to escape notice, after freez-
ing and thawing all winter, will throw out shoots and tiny rootlets, and
we have often saved them. One spring two roots of La Tulipe were left
in the barn two months, till, to all appearance, they were dead. They
were planted the first of June, and they immediately revived and grew.

One winter we had several boxes stored in a root cellar. They were
poorly packed. Someone left the door open and they were all frozen
solid. The door was closed, and they remained frozen till spring,
when they were planted, without the loss of one. It is no uncommon
thing to keep a lot in boxes seven months at a time with but slight pack-
ing. I once had a remarkable experience with a lot from Kelway, Eng-
land. They came over in reasonable time, but were delayed in a warm
office at Lincoln, Neb., a month before I was notified. The box was
dried out and full of cracks, and the moss was dry as powder. The
roots were black, and snapped like sticks. The buds were shriveled. I
had the expressman look them over, and all pronounced them dead.
There were thirty roots, some of which cost $2.50 each. Of course the
express company had to pay damages. Taking them home about the
first of November, I cut off the dead roots and planted the buds in moist
earth in a box in the cellar. At the end of a month the buds began to
swell. December ist, they were planted out, and were frozen all winter.
They all grew but one, and one of them bloomed. Of course it took an
extra year to form new roots. They seemed much like the Mexican res-
urrection plant.

They are like the Rocky Mountain burro that bears any amount of
misuse or neglect, and yet patiently plods along. Often for years they
must bear neglect in grass, or the hard earth tramped solid about them.
And yet they hang on, doing the best they can. Yet while they patiently
endure so much, there is nothing that responds with more grateful alac-
rity to generous treatment. A neighbor had an Alba Sulphuria, which

Paeony manual 15

had bloomed in utter neglect for twenty-five years. I bought the clump,
he retaining a couple of roots He planted his in the grass and hard
earth, digging but a little space for them. In four years they have not
bloomed or grown. They could not. They could only live. I planted
my part in the richest ground, and how they increased and blossomed.
In about four years I had nearly one hundred plants.

All the great west and northwest are well adapted to them, and it
should be a matter of encouragement that the finest flower that blooms
will give its cheer to a vast region where other flowers cannot grow.
They are hardier than the pie plant. We pay out millions for choice
roses, and other things which cannot endure our winters. It is much
better to plant an absolute success than a sure failure.

"Playing Possum"

Possessed of a marvelous patience, this plant will often bide its time,
and seem dead, when it is only gathering its forces for a vigorous push.

One fall I planted quite a row of the splendid Princeps. Next
spring not one of them came up, nor did they show any signs of life dur-
ing the summer. I was preparing to use the ground for something else,
when, after lying dormant for eighteen months, the whole row pushed up
and commenced a vigorous growth.

When you dig a lot from the same ground, there will be many spring
up the first year, and often more will show the second year, having taken
so long a time to form a head. It is my custom in cutting up, to replant
the same row to the same kind, to avoid any mixture, and if I cannot do
this I am careful to plant between where the rows were, so the strays
will not come up in the same row with those I am planting, but between
them.

CHAPTER VII

Cftorougbbred Etoe Stock and thoroughbred flowers

I used to keep thoroughbred Jerseys and Shorthorns. Though I en-
joyed it they were a constant care. One night I was awakened by a
fearful crash. I wakened the boys and told them to bring the lanterns.
Rushing out, I saw in the barn two balls of fire. They belonged to the
Shorthorn. He weighed a ton, and every pound of him was in fighting
trim. Aiming a pitchfork a suitable distance below those blazing orbs,
I caught him in the nose. Then the lights came. We secured him and
led him back to his stall. It seemed the Jersey got loose and thought it
a good time to take revenge. The Shorthorn tore himself loose, drove
the Jersey back to his stall, and, with one tremendous thrust, hurled him
through the side of the barn. I was younger then, but I don't want any

1 6 €. S. garrison's

more. I have seen men who had built up a fine, choice herd of hogs;
then came the cholera and wiped them out. Beautiful flocks of fowls
melt away with disease, become the prey of sneaking beasts or the chick-
en thief.

It is different with thoroughbred Paeonys. They do not tear them-
selves in wire fences. You know where they are nights They do not
eat their heads off in winter. The food costs nothing. You can go off
on your summer vacation, and they will be there when you come back
They multiply as fast as live stock. There is more money in them, le-
gitimate, honest gain. Sixteen years ago a man laid out $50 for choice
strains. For some time he has been selling $1,000 worth a year.

I bought a fine plant for Hi. In five years I sold $iS worth, and
had eighteen roots left. One choice variety in the same length of time
brought in $34.00, and I had fifteen roots left. One fall I had an order
for 500 common mixed sorts for $6 per 100. It took but a small piece
of ground to furnish them. My man, who had worked on the farm, was
astonished. "Here," said he, "we have dug $30 from a few rods of
ground, and if we got that from two acres of farm land we would do
well "

Is Paeony raising a fad, that will soon pass away? It cannot pass;
people will not allow it. In staid old Europe the interest has fairly com-
menced. In our eastern states, where they can raise Azalias, Kalmias
and Rhododendrons, the demand is on the increase. Most of the stock
of western growers yet goes east. In the west we cannot raise the flow-
ers above mentioned. They will have nothing to do with us. They are
aristocratic easterners that will die before they will live with us. I
thought our hot suns and drying winds too much, so I got 1,000 of the
hardiest kinds I could hear of, and put them under a screen. Kalmias,
Azalias, Rhododendrons, all dead in a year, despite the tenderest care.
Do you wonder that we love a flower that will step in and take their
places, one that never grumbles nor pines, and is never homesick, that
is more fragrant and lovely than the best of them? I have attended some
of the most famous flower shows of the east, and here in Nebraska we
can raise as fine Paeonys as anywhere on earth. We plant roses, and
they kill down and dwindle away, but the Paeony stays by us. Millions
are needed for our western states. Billions are needed for the Dakotas,
Minnesota and Manitoba, where they do as well as in England. When
the finest flowers on earth are fitted for such a vast empire, and they will
grow and thrive where other things will not, you can depend on them.

Talk about Ginseng for profit! Go to raising Paeonys This is
work for ladies. Already many are going into it. There is much less
care and expense than in raising chickens, though as light work the two
go together. The hen is mightier than the sword. She seems insignifi-
cant, yet her produce and progeny every year are greater than the output
of all the gold mines, and the more eggs and chickens you raise, the
higher they get. The two enterprises are in woman's realm. Mrs. Pleas,
of Indiana, has raised some fine new sorts. One she sold for $100, and
another for $150, besides having thousands of dollars' worth of enjoy-
ment from her floral friends.

When you take into consideration the growing value of cut flowers,

-

H. A. TERRY, Crescent, Iowa

BELLE OF YORK PRINCESS OF WALES
JUNO

Pacony manual 17

you have three harvests from your Paeony bed, one in the spring, the
blossoms in summer, and again root sales in the autumn. This delight-
ful and profitable employment, together with the fascination of raising
new kinds from seed, will give a zest and joy to living which cannot be
found in any indoor employment. There is the delight of seeing a trans-
formation going on, the brown earth putting on robes of beauty while
you are culling forms of loveliness out of the unseen, taking the rainbow
and moulding into shapes of wondrous fascination.

CHAPTER VIII

Adaptation

The Moutan or Tree Paeony does remarkably well in England and
in our Atlantic States. It blooms grandly and grows to be quite a bush.
I have grown them in Nebraska for more than fifteen years, and find
them very shy bloomers. They will grow and increase all right, but I
think the buds are sensitive to our trying climate. It is possible these
will do well where the herbaceous ones are not satisfactory. I think, as
you go south into the Gulf states, especially into the sandy soils, the
Chinensis will not be satisfactory, and perhaps those regions will be just
the place for the Moutan.

I understand they can be used successfully for forcing, and think
this would be feasible. The trouble with those grown out doors is
supposed to be the severe spring frosts. This difficulty would be obvi-
ated by bringing them into the green house. In those sections where
you can depend on them, the blossoms are of resplendent beauty, some
of the newer sorts almost as large as a dinner plate.

They are usually propagated by putting a slip into the fleshy root
of the herbaceous kinds. It will use this for a time and then discard it
for its own. The stools can be readily separated, and if you wish to
increase faster, graft the tops on their own roots much as the nurseryman
does his young apple trees, using the lip or splice graft. Care must be
taken, however, to let them knit well before planting out. But if you
have patience you can wait for the root division.

The Tenuifolia are the earliest of all. They are single and double.
They are not quite as hardy as the Chinensis, as they need mulching in
the west in winter, where the cold will be excessive and sometimes there
will be no snow. I have had them bloom as early as May 5th. The
blossom is like a rose, seated in that delicate, soft, fern-like foliage. The
only draw-back is, it is not fragrant. Yet it has an important place to
fill.

The Officianalis is the "piny" of our mothers. I remember with a
shudder the steeping of the "piny toes" for the ills of childhood. For
years I looked with contempt on the whole family on account of the
rank and disagreeable odors which came down out of the past. Though
this has been one of the mothers of the new and fragrant race, yet much

1 8 C. $. garrison's

of the indifference regarding the modern flower dates back to the memory
of the sickening odor, so indelibly impressed on childhood.

Again, they are not hardy in the west and northwest. Thousands have
planted them and failed, and think the whole family a fraud. We get
letters from Minnesota, telling of failures, and in every instance you
trace it back to the same old "piny." Six years ago I planted a dozen
good, strong roots. The first winter eleven of them died, and it took
the survivor six years to furnish one bloom. No wonder, when people
judge from these, that they are prejudiced against the whole. The Offici-
nalis multiplies slowly. Others, beside this lone one, have blossomed
gloriously and increased rapidly.

I know there are clumps here and there in Nebraska, and when once
established and not disturbed, they give early blossoms, following hard
on the Tenuifolia. Both these kinds have an entirely different system of
roots from the Chinensis, something like clumps of sweet potatoes. In
separating them, as in case of the dahlia, you must have a bud go with
the root. So please bear in mind, if you live in the bleak northwest,
that you are never to order the Officinalis

A*
Changes of Soil and Climate

Some kinds are more sensitive to their conditions than others.
Many varieties of fruits which do well in one locality are worthless in
others. Some of these flowers will do better in certain soils and climates
than others. Baroness Schroder is called flesh colored in England. In
Massachusetts sometimes instead of being pure white it has a grayish
tint. In Nebraska it is of snowy white, and one of the most perfect
flowers that ever bloomed.

Charlemagne is called an enormous flower in Rochester, but it has
been something of a disappointment in other locations. We must not
condemn a variety as a fraud if it does not meet our expectations, for it
may be a success elsewhere. While we say this, there is probably no
flower that does so well under varied conditions. Difference in soil will
have something to do. Of course they cannot do as well in light sand
or stiff clay as in the rich loam of the west.

CHAPTER IX

mistakes and mixtures

There has been no end of trouble from these causes. As we have
had no Paeony society till recently, we have had no check on loose meth-
ods. So one name has been given to several different sorts. Often the
choicer the kind the more substitutes it has. At least six kinds have
been sold for Festiva Maxima, and one of our best firms innocently sent

Paeony manual IQ

out Grandiflora Alba for years for this variety. There has been no end
of confusion regarding the genuine Humei or Thorbeckii, one of our
very best. I have bought from many of our leading firms those bearing
this name, which were not even distant relatives of it. It is so with the
Duke of Wellington.

Holland firms are notorious for their carelessness. I bought of
Koster & Sons. They were not what I sent for. They insisted that
they were, when I returned their own labels and my order. Then they
were not true to name. About that time I bought quite a bill of an
American firm, and they proved the worst mixtures I ever saw, though
they were packed with the greatest care. I notified them. They supposed
they were all right, for they got them of Koster. So many of the Dutch
firms are so unreliable that we are sure of nothing. Before me lies a let-
ter of one of our leading growers. He has had no end of vexation.
Such methods are in wide contrast to most of our American firms. Vis-
iting the grounds of Rosenfield, I found he had the different kinds in
beds by themselves, and while blooming every plant was watched, and if
perchance there was a stray it was marked with a stake.

A noted firm in England, which has done more to bring this flower
to the front than anyone else, has fallen into careless ways. So one deal-
er says, "we get only the sweepings of their fields." This is bad, for
we supposed we had a firm we could absolutely depend on. Their prices
were very high, but we did not care so much for that, provided we got
pure stock. Some time ago I sent for two roots of Lady Alexander
Duff, supposed to be the best Paeony on earth. They were five dollars
a root. I watched them grow, and had my friends look at those plants
which were to surprise us with the grandeur of their bloom. When the
flowers opened we looked on in a daze of expectancy, when lo, they
showed us some inferior single blossoms, on stems about a foot high.
They were very short lived, the petals falling in two days along with our
expectations. They were just fair xo-cent plants When I ordered, I
charged them to return the money if they did not have the genuineplants.

What is the lesson from all this? Patronize American growers.
They are responsible. They keep as good kinds as the world produces,
and will gladly correct mistakes. They do not hide behind an ocean.
We must go to raising new varieties on a large scale. Our growers have
now hundreds soon to go on the market as fine as we import.

A*
Difficulties

Where one has several hundred varieties it is hard to keep the stakes
all right. The weather will wear off the names in a few months, and
they must be re-marked with care. Sometimes the stakes will be broken
down. Perhaps an inquisitive visitor may pull one up to read the name
and set it back facing the wrong way. So, with the greatest care, mis-
takes are inevitable. I have bought of the leading firms of America and
Europe, and have never yet found one which did not have some more or
less mixtures. Of course, among the most careful, the strays would be
insignificant. Anything serious, of course, is corrected as soon as pos-
sible. This goes to show that very few of us are infallible. One of our

2o . €. $. garrison's

western growers was sick, and hired a man to plow out his plants, and
he, like a "wild bull in a china shop," knocked down most of the stakes,
so the plants had to be sold as a mixed lot.

Cbe Proper may

is to wait till the plants bloom before stock is put on the market, unless
you have it from some reliable firm. If mistakes occur, rectify them as
soon as possible. I find the best way is to have good, strong stakes, at
least two feet tall, painted, with the bottoms dipped in coal tar.

CHAPTER X

Keeping the Paconys Back in the Spring for Selling

We do not all of us have cold storage, and unless very cold, they
will start, if kept moist, at a very low temperature. I have kept boxes
of Paeonys frozen, and as soon as the frost was out they began growing.
It will not do to leave them in the field if we expect to sell them, for
buds grow rapidly and are very tender, and often orders come in when
the plants are two feet tall. Of course it is not a good time to plant,
yet customers want them as late as May, and are disappointed if they
cannot get them.

It is very easy to keep them back. Instead of packing them in wet
moss, which would bring them forward immediately, keep them cool and
dry; even if wilted a little it will not hurt them. One spring I received
a lot from France. They came late, and were packed dry in an open
basket. They were badly wilted. Placing them in water a short time
revived them. They lived and grew, and some of them bloomed the
same season. Of course it is not necessary to keep them very dry.
They can be placed on a rack, like cannas or dahlias.

Cat* Blooming

If you wish to continue the flowering season into July, take large
roots with plenty of buds, and keep them partially dry, as noted above,
or in cold storage, and plant out from the middle of May till the first of
June. But there may be this trouble about July blooms. In Kansas
and Nebraska the sun gets very hot, and delicate flowers might have the
sun scald. I have seen this sometimes in the case of Madam Chaumy,
which is a large, late and very beautiful flower; also with Richardson's
Perfection. Where there is any danger, set up stakes and stretch gunny
sacking over them. It is well to plant those for late flowering in groups,
so they can be easily protected.

Pacony manual 21

Tn Planting, tlK Condition of the Bud must Be taken Tnto Account

This is very important. The Paeony usually goes into a dormant
condition about the middle of August. I have had excellent success in
planting at that time, for the buds that form for the next spring are
small and tough, and they can be handled without danger of injuring
them. As a general thing, however, September is the best time, for if
very hot in August it will not do to ship. If packed too moist they might
rot. When planted at this time little rootlets begin to grow and the
plant is all ready for its spring growth. You will notice that those left in
the ground and apparently dormant are making a fine growth of fibrous
rootlets, and the longer they are left the more numerous they will be.
The buds are growing too, and often old roots will have a net of rootlets
around them, and the buds will be much larger and more liable to dam-
age than if planted earlier. Of course Paeonys can be planted any time
from the first of September till the middle of the following May. But
we are speaking of the BEST TIME. I have often planted strong, left over
roots from the first to the middle of May, and if the ground is rich and
in the best condition, have cut good crops of flowers from them a few
weeks after planting.

There are various ways of lengthening the flowering season. A lady
had occasion to dig a cellar, and eighteen inches of dirt were thrown
over a strong clump. She supposed of course they were dead, but two
weeks after the rest were up these came on, blooming so much later than
the rest. It would not do to try this, save on strong, well established
clumps. I have heard that mowing off the tops when they are a few
inches high would retard them, but never wished to try it.

This plan works well: Suppose you have a row ten rods long. At
one end you have no mulching; then you put on a little, increasing it till
you put it on a foot deep at the farther end. The covering should be
put on when the ground is frozen solid. You will note quite a difference
in the same row in the time of blooming. On the other hand, up in Min-
nesota, some Paeonys that were not mulched were very late in coming
up, after a severe winter. What was the trouble"? One fall in that state
I had occasion to dig up a large clump, to transplant for a friend. The
previous winter had been bare of snow, and very cold. I found that the
exposed buds had all been killed. But the plants would not give up.
They had absolutely formed new buds, and of course that took time.
Though as far north as Manitoba they come out all right with just a snow
mulching, yet it is much safer to put on a covering, because some sea-
sons the snow may be light. When I can do so I mulch in this latitude.
It is not necessary for root protection, and yet a good coat of manure
pays. Many are at the trouble of using liquid manure. But if you have
plenty on the ground, every rain will do the work for you, and if it is
dry, irrigation will serve the same purpose.

C. s.

CHAPTER XI

non-Blooming Paccnys

The following is such a characteristic letter that I insert it here. It
is a sample of the scores of inquiries that come to me along the same line:

MR. HARRISON: — What is the matter with my Paeonys1? They will
not bloom. I surely paid enough for them, a dollar for six. I have had
them five years, and only one bloom all this time, and lhat a little, infe-
rior thing. I bought them for different kinds, but from the looks of the
foliage I believe they are all one kind, and I guess they are afraid to
bloom, because of the deception. The most aggravating thing is," my
neighbor has some of the most beautiful ones I ever saw. They are
loaded with the choicest flowers every season. I have had manure
spaded around mine, and have mulched them in winter, with no result
save great clumps of leaves. What shall I do, and what is the trouble?

MY DEAR WOMAN: — I am afraid you have been patronizing the
"bargain counter." If you paid only one dollar for six plants, you
could not expect to get good ones. You have what you bought, a cheap
lot. What will you do with them? Dig them up and throw them away.
Be sure you dig deep enough to get out all the roots, so you will not hear
from them again. You have probably been insisting that a "piny was a
piny," and that was all there was of it. Now you see your mistake.
The-re are thoroughbreds in flowers as well as in cattle. A. $15 scrub
cow bears no comparison with a choice, thoroughbred Jersey, which
costs ten times as much.

Think what economy there would have been in starting right. Had
you bought one glorious Festiva Maxima with your dollar you would
have had blooms worth while, and fifteen or twenty good roots by this
time. You might have bought the beautiful 1' Esperence or Andre
Laures for 50 cents each, and had early and late blooms, and a whole-
sale lot of them. Your experience was worth all you paid for your
worthless roots, and remember there are many dealers who keep just that
kind of stock for just such customers. It pays to get the best. We have
several that cost $2.50 a root, wholesale, in England, and some that cost
$5 a root. But it pays.

Is it not strange, that in fitting up a home, one is so lavish on the
furnishings and so parsimonious on the outside adornment? I have
known a man with large and beautiful grounds and a home that cost
thousands, to throw up his hands in horror at having to pay $40 for
choice trees, shrubs and flowers for the lawn. You build a costly house,
and the moment you enter it, it begins to depreciate in value. You fill
your yard with choice things, and they begin to increase. There is a
gold mine there. Work it, and you will be rich in the beauty it gives.
Don't be content with a single flower. Get masses of them. A lady
came for some phloxes. She wanted three for her town home, and

Paeony manual 23

three for the farm of 160 acres. Poor things! What a task those three
flowers had in brightening a large farm. Three hundred would have
been nearer the thing.

I look out on thousands of glorious columbines, mingling their
beauty; hundreds of the oriental poppies, that blaze in their splendor; a
host of gaillardias, that are always in bloom, from June till November;
and there are 5,000 phloxes vicing with each other. Why not be gener-
ous with yourself out of doors as well as in the house? If you were fur-
nishing a new home, you would not go to a second hand store and get
old rag carpets because they were cheap, and rickety chairs and other
furniture, with a lot of old bedsteads.

In fixing up your front yard, why not have the best, and plenty of it?
A 25 cent Paeony does not match that fine parlor set, and a lone flower
or two will look cheap compared with the $50 rug. It is much better to
put less in the house, and more on the outside, where it will grow in
value, while the house and everything in it begins to deteriorate as soon as
you enter it.

CHAPTER XII

Cut flowers

More and more choice flowers are growing in favor. It is amazing
how great the demand is for roses, carnations, lilies and others. The
Paeony stands among the best. Properly handled, it keeps a long time.
They should be cut in the evening, just as the buds begin to open. Use
a long stem. Strip off the lower leaves and put the stems in water over
night. They absorb moisture enough to feed the flowers and keep them
from wilting. These are carefully packed in a box and sent to their des-
tination. If there are too many in the box and the flowers are wet they
will heat in a few hours. In wet weather it is hard to get the remaining
blooms and leaves dry enough to ship any distance. We have found the
safest way is to put moss and oiled paper around bundles of twenty-
five, packing them as carefully as possible, and leaving the box a little
open. When the flowers reach their destination they are put in cold
storage, where they are kept dormant till needed. White flowers are
much used for weddings and funerals. When Mark Hanna's youngest
daughter was married the house was most beautifully decorated with
white Paeonys. There is a great difference in the keeping qualities of
these flowers. The single ones are much admired while growing in the
garden, but they are much more short-lived than the large double ones.
Then there are some that grow old gracefully, like La Tulipe, Baroness
and Festiva Maxima. Others are very dilapidated and ugly in their do-
tage. Richardson's Rubra Superba and Tecumseh are fine keepers. So
is Grandiflora Rubra. The former can be kept in cold storage a long
time.

Usually the first flowers of a plant are the best. If you wait for

24 €. S. garrison's

some to bloom, and then cut the buds of those that follow, you do not
get as good specimens. If you are shipping, watch them closely, and the
first harvest will prove to be the best.

This is the most popular of all the flowers for Decoration Day.
Some seasons they are then in their full glory. There is much call in our
northern cities for those raised further south. In most of our northern
states early bloomers can be secure 1. 1' Esperence, a lovely, fragrant,
French pink, is generally on time with great masses of bloom. Florists
should especially draw the attention of their customers to these flowers
for decoration, and create a demand by giving their names and charac-
teristics. I know of one florist who secured a fine lot from Europe, but
lost their names, and when he went to sell them he called them "pinys,"
which of course recalled the rank odors of childhood.

Let the florist keep the finest. What rose can put the Solftare to
blush, or shame the Thorbeckii, with its cinnamon fragrance, its sumpt-
uous beauty, grand in size with its rich coloring varnished into its petals?

Cutting from newly Planted Roots

Where you have strong roots, planted in the fall in very rich ground,
on some varieties there will be quite a crop of flowers. Some growers
carefully nip off all the buds the first year, thinking it will exhaust the
plant. Others will cut them close. We are to remember, however, that
it is impossible for a plant to do its best the first season. It takes three
and sometimes four years for some varieties to show what they can do.
I often receive pitiful letters from ladies who are so disappointed that
their Paeonys have not done better, when they had been planted but a
few months. One lady, hearing this Manual was to be published, has-
tened to secure it in the hope that it would throw some light on her trou-
ble. Inquiring what that was, she had planted some Paeonys a fe\\^
months before and the foliage was not as rank, or the flowers as large as
those of her neighbors. An excellent remedy in such cases is to wait.

CHAPTER XIII

Paeonys and insects

It is said truly that these plants have the fewest insect enemies and
diseases of any of our flowers. Yet complaints sometimes come in re-
garding ants. These often cover the bud, and sometimes, it is said, in-
jure the flower. What is the reason for this. I once forced some
Paeonys, and had a chance to watch them closely. I found the buds
exuded small drops of purest honey. Tasting it, I could not tell the dif-
ference between it and the genuine article. After that I noted that ants
and bees and all sweet-loving insects were very busy in blooming time.

ROSE PINK PAEONY. MADAM GEISSLER
By Kindness of W. A. Peterson

Paeon v manual 25

Perhaps it is not generally known that a field of Paeonys is one of the finest
of all bee pastures, and for weeks the air is filled with the hum and buzz
of honey gatherers. This honey is what the ants are after. They are in
evidence mostly before the buds open. Sometimes they invade the flower
for the nectar hidden there. The bee is busy then mixing the pollen,
so that we can have a larger variety. One remedy is to have more flow-
ers, so the insects will not concentrate on the lonely few. Those who
grow them in quantities are never troubled. Another remedy is to put
an old saucer at the base of your plant, with syrup mixed with a solu-
tion of arsenic. But as this is hardly fair for the bees, you had better
try the first remedy.

Perhaps in time people will learn to plant in masses. Have a few
choice ones, and then you can always get cheap ones that will flower,
too, for $6 to $10 per hundred. Flowers need company. They are so-
cial things.

Diseases

While remarkable for its robustness and health, yet sometimes when
it is very wet, the foliage will rust badly. This was the case in Nebras-
ka in 1903. The remedy is to spray with Bordeaux Mixture. I did not
do this. It is only a transient affair, and the next spring and summer I
never saw more vigorous foliage.

Recently there has come to us an account of what is called the
"drooping disease." A white mold forms on the diseased stem and
clings to the root over winter. The remedy is to remove the stems and
the earth and put fresh earth around the plant. Lime would probably
be of assistance. We know nothing of this in the west.

Che five Points of Excellence

A first-class Paeony should be: First, symmetrical and beautiful in
form: second, fragrant; third, a good keeper as a flower; fourth, a pro-
lific and ready bloomer; fifth, the plant, to be profitable, must be vigorous,
and propagate readily. We have many that score well on all these points.

mission of the Cops

It is a wise provision of Nature that the tops should fall down and
shelter the roots and buds in winter. They make a good covering in the
absence of other mulching. If they grow in the open the snow naturally
drifts in, detained by the fallen tops, and so you have a snow bank for
additional protection, and also spring irrigation when the snow thaws.
Yet in a visit to one of the finest Omaha cemeteries I found they mowed
off the tops, to have the surface uniform, and to prevent the snow drifts,
and the plants were blooming beautifully. This might do in our present
cycle of wet seasons, but when years of consecutive drouth return, it
would be better to leave the tops.

26 C. $. farrlson's

Trcaks

Though generally sedate, yet this flower is sometimes erratic. I
just received a severe censure from a man because his Rubra Triumph-
ans, blooming a few months after planting, came single instead of double.
He bought of me because he thought I would be reliable, and he didn't
buy any single Paeonys, and wanted the wrong righted. Now this flower,
as well as many others, is ambitious to show bloom as soon as possible,
and not having strength to produce a great, double flower, gives a single
one. Victoria Tricolor will bloom anyway. If the root is small and
out but a few months it is bound to bloom. That seems to be its mis-
sion. But it always cuts the coat according to the cloth. If it has ma-
terial to make a great, double flower, it will gladly make it. If, how-
ever, it is short of capital, it will do the best it can. Seedlings will
often bloom single for years, and then turn double. We have the record
of one that blossomed single for twenty years, and then bloomed double.
It is not wise to discard seedlings till fully tested. Absolutely the finest
crimson I ever saw was found in a lot of rejected seedlings. After a
hard freeze in spring some flowers will refuse to bloom at all, and others,
damaged in the bud, may have inferior blossoms. Others, like Floral
Treasure, will do their very best after the worst abuse. Very often the
last, out of season blooms, of our best double ones will be little, inferior,
single flowers.

Do not sit in harsh judgment on flowers at their first blooming. You
can tell little about them except their color. A white one should not be
red or crimson. As to form and size, suspend judgment. There is such
a confusion in names. You buy a genuine Humei, an M. Valliant and a
Thorbeckii, and you have one and the same flower, jet one of our very
finest. You get Bryant's Humei, Andre Laures, Fragrans, Fragrant Rose
and Late Rose, and if you don't get the same thing every time, you come
very near it, and all the parties honest in it, too. Our Paeony society
is very busy getting the tangle out of all this confusion.

mill Anything Kill Paeonys?

They are called hardy as paving stones and as tough as Scotch this-
tles. Yes, it can be done if you know how. Plant them in low, wet
ground, where the water can stand on them, and you will succeed. Put
them in wet, undrained soil. Let the snow drift on them before the
ground freezes, and then it can be done. I have known some in grass
and weeds during three years of consecutive drouth to be absolutely
dried out and killed. It has been done by driving over them or tramp-
ing on them till the earth is like a brick bat. But they will stand all that
any plant can and offer patient and quiet resistance as long as possible,
and let go of life reluctantly.

The spring of 1903 gave them the hardest test I ever knew, and
showed the different degrees of hardiness. April had been prematurely
warm. There was a prospect of very early blooming. The stocks were
some of them two feet tall and the buds were swelling rapidly. Then
on the night of the 29th, there came a genuine, wintry, sleet storm, and

Paeony manual 27

the plants in that tender condition were frozen solid in a coat of ice for
two days. When they thawed out they all looked tired, drooping and
water soaked. But to our surprise a few days after they stood erect and
went right on with their preparation for blooming as though nothing had
happened. But I noticed that some varieties on low ground took such
treatment to heart. After the freeze came floods. Fifteen inches of rain
fell in May. Ground usually well drained became a quagmire. Some
kinds could not endure it. The Duke of Wellington could survive
Waterloo, but not such treatment. Why the name of a grim, old war-
rior should be given to such a flower I cannot understand. Little, deli-
cate Purity was too tender for such a world. Drop White dropped
white, and so did everything else. The loss was not heavy, just enough
to show that they could be killed.

Right beside the tender ones were La Tulipe, Thorbeckii, Alexan-
der Dumas, Model of Perfection, Baroness Schroder and fifty other sorts.
The main plantation was in a rich, well-drained valley, but the rail-
road built a bridge, which proved to be a dam, and this gave way, flood-
ing the field four feet deep. So you see what they had to go through.
Sleet storm when near blooming, a flood and three terrible hail storms,
and yet there was no loss of plants in that field, but a good crop of
flowers.

&

J\ Good Cist for Beginners

We often receive letters asking for advice on the best kind to plant,
something hardy and vigorous, that will increase rapidly and that will
bloom freely. Victoria Tricolor, Reine Victoria, Victoria Modesta,
Thorbeckii or Genuine Humei, 1'Esperence, Edulis Superba, Rubra Tri-
umphans, James Vick, Andre Laures, Late Rose, Grandiflora Alba,
Compte de Nantuel. These should be had at quite reasonable rates;
good, strong roots. One need not be entirely confined to this list.
There may be an abundance of others as good.

3*

UMat of tfte future in Paeony Growing?

Evidently the cheaper sorts will remain at about the same price, for
the number will be swelled by rejected new ones. The standard varieties
will remain about as they are, with a slight advance. The new or rare
sorts of especial merit will keep up at the present high rate, or even ad-
vance, for thousands of people will be found who will have the very best,
and the high priced ones will be as sure an investment as a poor man
can make. An invalid lady can engage with success in this industry. I
you go into carnations or roses you will need costly green houses. If
you wish to raise Paeonys, which will be just as profitable, the directions
of this Manual will give you just as good a chance as the millionaire has.
There is probably no industry so important and profitable that can be
carried on with such little expense as this. You may be poor, with only
a little home and a small garden. You have a baby girl, and you look
forward to the time when she will enter on womanhood, and shudder as
you think she will have nothing with which to begin life. Buy a genuine
Baroness Schroder, or Lady Alexander Duff, or Marguerite Gerard; one

28 €. $. garrison's

good, strong root, and let it grow, and take care of it. One thousand
in ten years. How many in twenty years? A thousand multiplied by a
thousand. You would in fifteen years have enough to retire on. This
is not counting chickens before they are hatched. . There are no broken
or addled eggs among them, and they will grow for the poor man as well
as the rich. "The business may be overdone in twenty years." Then
all the flower business will be done for, and there will be no more call
for carnations or roses. Festiva Maxima for more than half a century
has been on the market, and the market is hungry yet, and will be. If
you are a young man and have a little ground, and want to insure your
life, buy a Paeony, the best you can hear of, or take what you would re-
quire for your first payment and purchase several, and they would take
as good care of you as the insurance companies could. These compan-
ies live on lapses, and those securities don't lapse. Should you die, you
are sure of what you paid in, with compound growth, which means com-
pound interest.

The English say this is the flower for the "millions and the million-
aire." I think they would grow better for the poor man than for the
rich, for he would regard his bed of choice plants as his gold mine, and
would take the best of care of it. It takes years to learn a trade and
learn it well, a trade that will lay up money for old age. It takes a
good deal of cash to go into business which will bring in adequate re-
turns. But it takes but little time, or cash either, to get a few of these
choice plants, and then love them and care for them. A little capital
invested in this way can be kept sacred for the future, and insure com-
fort in old age. There are no doubtful and uncertain board of trade
complications about the business. Set a littlfc aside, and how much in-
cidental enjoyment you would reap from it. Those worshipful flowers
in queenly garments saluting you, and they are all your own, and their
numbers increasing as the years go by; an income from the blossoms and
a greater income in the way of princely enjoyment. And though poor
and hard working, your flowers will treat you ^as well as if you were roll-
ing in wealth, swelling with pride and riding in an automobile.

Confusion in names

As we go to press complaints pour in about spurious kinds, under
leading names. For instance, the Baroness Schroder, described in this
Manual, is the correct one. A description was given it by the writer sev-
eral years ago, and the whole available supply was bought up. We wrote
to England for more, and none could be had. But the call was so great
that the demand must be met, and so an English firm has been sending
over three different kinds for them, just as they have been sending spu-
rious kinds for Lady Alexander Duff.

One of our leading growers writes me that he has been importing
from Holland, and the same plan prevails there. There is a great de-
mand for fine leading sorts, and so the name will be attached to any
kind and sent over. It takes a year or two to find out the mistake, and
then the seller considers that the account has grown cold. These tricks
will have the tendency to send guaranteed, genuine kinds, held by Amer-

Paaony manual 29

lean growers, up soaring. A man would rather pay £5 for a certainty
than five cents for some cheap affair.

CHAPTER XIV

herbaceous Paecnys

Within the past ten years this magnificent section of hardy, herba-
ceous, flowering plants has been brought into very prominent notice be-
cause of the general improvement in varieties of comparatively recent
origin. In these newer sorts the flowers have attained immense propor-
tions, reaching in some instances the large size of seven to nine inches
in diameter and five to six inches in depth. The range of color is also
so varied that almost every tint of pink, white, red, crimson and even
yellow is comprised in the list. The vigor and habit of the plants have
been so improved that stems two and one-half to three feet in length, and
sufficiently strong to properly support the immense blooms, are now
grown. There is an element of practical, permanent value in the Paeony;
that is, the plants once purchased and planted in suitable soil, continue
to increase in size and profusion of bloom, and pay a generous annual
dividend in the way of an enormous crop of magnificent, deliciously fra-
grant blooms that are unsurpassed for decorative purposes. During the
past season the popular use of Paeonys for decorative purposes is amply
evidenced by the greatly increasing sale of the cut blooms in the large
cities, where thousands of splendid flowers found ready market at hand-
some prices. This increased demand may be accounted for by the in-
troduction of the more recent varieties, which are wonderful improve-
ments over the older sorts. The popular interest in the Paeony will re-
ceive an additional impetus from the organization of the American
Paeony Society, which comprises within its membership the majority of
the largest commercial Paeony growers, as well as many amateurs. The
interest in the Paeony is not, however, confined to the special society
above mentioned, as the Society of American Florists has recognized its
importance by the appointment of a Paeony ccmmittee, for the purpose
of gathering and collating information concerning it. The joint efforts
of these two florists' societies presage such an active presentation of its
merits as will result in an increased knowledge of its value and in largely
augmenting its use. — C. W. Ward, President of American Paeony Society.

It is surprising that so noble a flower, almost rivaling the rose in
brilliancy of color and perfection of bloom, and the Rhododendron in
stately growth, should be so neglected. Amateurs seem to have lost sight
of the many improved varieties introduced within the last few years, and
our finest gardens, perfect in other respects, are singularly deficient in

3o C. $. Garrison's

specimens of the newer kinds. The first point in their favor is hardiness.
It may be truly said of them that they are "hardy as an oak." In the
severest climate the plants require no other protection than that which
they afford themselves. Then their vigorous habit and healthy growth,
freedom from all diseases and insects, are important arguments in favor
of their cultivation Growers of roses know well that their flowers are
obtained by great vigilance and care. Not so with the Paeony, which,
when once planted, all is done. Each succeeding year adds to their
size and beauty. The foliage is rich and glossy and of a beautiful, deep
green color, thus rendering the plants very ornamental even when out of
flower. The newer varieties produce very large, handsome, regularly
formed cupped blossoms resembling large roses. No other flower is so
well adapted for large, showy bouquets. The Paeony may be planted
either singly on the lawn or in borders. Where the lawn is extensive a
large bed makes a grand show, surpassing a bed of Rhododendrons. It
is really a flower for the million. They blossom early in June. Our
collection has been made with great care and includes the best and most
distinct varieties. — Ellwanger & Barry, Rochester, N. Y.

and Cm Paconys

Very few of us who are along in years but can well remember the
old red Paeony of ou^ childhood. Paeonia Officinalis Rubra was prob-
ably brought by the earlier settlers from England and planted in nearly
every country dooryard and garden. It is often seen now in the eastern
states, growing within a few feet of the houses, and its first double, rich
crimson flowers are as much a delight to the youthful members of the
family as they were centuries ago. Later on double white and other va-
rieties were introduced, but it was not till within the memory of this gen-
eration that new varieties had increased by the score and hundred. . .
The varieties of the Herbaceous Paeony have of late years been im-
mensely improved, till one European nurseryman catalogues about 800
varieties. We have now all shades of color, from the most intense vio-
let purple to the purest white, from the size and shape of the half-opened
Jacqueminot rose to that of an immense water lily some seven or eight
inches in diameter. In many we have the most delicate and delightful
perfume, while none are in any way disagreeable. We have single as
well as double varieties, and the season of blooming, from the earliest
to the latest, extends over five or six weeks. The single varieties are
just as hardy as the double> generally among the earliest, and are very
beautiful in a cut state ..... Of the many enthusiastic cultiva-
tors of the Paeony in France, Germany and England, perhaps no one
did more to bring this valuable plant to the notice and appreciation of
the public than the late James Kelway, of Langport, England. With his
son William, after collecting the best varieties obtainable, he commenced
a regular system of hybridization and of raising new varieties from seeds.
Many of these seedlings in beauty of form, sweetness of perfume and
delicacy of coloring, are close rivals of the rose, the orchid and the water
lily. — T. C. Thurlow, in The American Florist, who sold his collection
a few years ago for $7,000.

Paeony manual 3i

Che herbaceous Paeony of Co-day

The development and increase of popularity of the Paeony have
been unparalleled among flowers. Fifty years ago the development had
begun, but the results of the experimenters were known to but few people
comparatively. In 1855 only twenty-four varieties were known in Eng-
land, although nearly two hundred were known on the continent. There
are now in the market probably 1,500 sorts, which have originated in
Japan, France, Holland, England and this country. The public has
been quick to note the improvements and appreciate, them, until now no
flower is more popular than the Paeony in June. Paeonys range in col-
or from purest white through the various shades of pink, lilac, rose and
red, to the deepest blood red and purplish carmine in every possible
combination of shade, form and size. Many are delightfully fragrant.
Paeonys, like most tuberous plants, when dormant, stand considerable
exposure, and can be shipped long distances with safety. They are never
attacked by any insect, animal or fungal disease, nor do the plants re-
quire any covering during the severest weather; in fact, they are among
the most hardy, showy and easily grown of all the garden flowers. —
W. A. Peterson, of Chicago, one of the most extensive growers, and one
of the directors of the Paeony Society.

Culture

Paeonys will thrive in all kinds of soil, but do best in a deep, rich
loam. They are gross feeders and demand a great quantity of water
during the blooming season. If grown in partial shade, the blooms will
last longer and be just as large and fine in every other way. They
should be planted with the eyes two inches below the surface, and the
ground pressed firmly about the roots. Though Paeonys may be safely
transplanted in the spring, the best time is early in the fall, beginning
September ist. There is then the least shock to the roots and the least
danger of losing a year's blooms. — W. A. Peterson.

Cfte Paeony Root

Is a fusiform or spindle-shaped affair, hard and fleshy, in appearance
between a Dahlia and Rhubarb root; which fact, and the store of
juices contained in a well-matured piece, explains why Paeonys will
travel so safely and well to distant lands. Paeonys, however small the
plant, as long as there is an eye, will grow; it is difficult to kill them;
but they are impatient of removal, and should be left in situ until their
full glory has made itself apparent — and afterwards. They may be wat-
ered as much as desired, either with pure water or liquid manure, and
will delight in the luxury and repay the cultivator by the increased size
and rich coloring of the flowers; watering is not absolutely necessary,
but is very beneficial, and in very shallow soils should certainly not be
omitted. A mulch or a covering of manure or leaf litter, etc., is also to
be recommended; it will keep the ground moist in hot weather. The

32 €. $. garrison's

further apart — in reason— that Paeonys are planted the better; individ-
ual success governs the effect as a whole; but a good way for quick
effect in beds, etc., is to plant about 18 inches apart, and to move every
alternate plant either the first or second year; for 3 to 4 feet is not too
much between Paeonys which are eventually to become large clumps. —
Kelway.

Jf

Plants to Grow with Paconys

Many things can be planted actually between and amongst Paeonys,
many bulbs and dwarf Alpines, and, of course, in beds and borders
Paeonys plant well alternately with such subjects as Delphiniums, Gail-
lardias, Hardy Lobelias, Michaelmas Daises, etc., or in front of tall
growing subjects. Some of our customers are making interesting ex-
periments as to suitable companions for them. Gladioli, flowering
when the Paeonys are long past, Narcissi and Scillas, are among the
most admirable of consorts for them; and Shakespeare himself must have
noticed the suitability of the lily, for he speaks of "Thy banks with
paeonied and lilied brim" in the "Tempest." We have referred to the
beauty of the foliage of the Herbaceous Paeony; this should be left on
the plants as long as it is an ornament, unless it is required for
the house, and only be removed when dark decay has made headway.
—Kelway.

&

tributes from the Press

A GORGEOUS GIFT. — Business was suspended in the office of the
Northwestern Agriculturist for some time last week, while the employes
revelled in the huge box of Paeony blooms sent us by C. S. Harrison,
of York, Neb. Mr. Harrison is a Paeony enthusiast, and now has on
his place some 40,000 Paeonys in bloom, including 400 varieties. Such
a mass of flowers must seem like a sunset smashed to flinders and wreck-
ed on the ground. Even a two-bushel box of the gorgeous blossoms
caused one lady to exclaim in rapture, "Well, the good Lord did make
this beautiful world, indeed. "

PAEONY PERFUME. — The time for Paeony planting is now here.
They are very sweetly scented, some being redolent of purest attar of
roses, and others sweet and tonic at the same time, like violets and chrys-
anthemums in combination. Messrs. Kelway sent me a box of blooms
last spring, and I can truthfully tell you that I never saw such fine
flowers in my life. I filled a bow pot with them, and wasted all my time
in loafing round that beautiful bunch of Paeonys what time it lasted fresh
— about ten or twelve days. — Hearth and Home.

FRAGRANCE OF PAEONYS. — It is not customary to class the Herba-
ceous Paeony among sweet-scented flowers, but many of the varieties
are very much more fragrant than some roses and carnations. Some are
quite delicately perfumed, and it is curious that some of them almost ex-
actly mimic the queen of flowers in this respect. I gathered lately a
bloom from a light pink variety, the name of which I did not know, and

JUNO BELLE OF YORK GEN. LAWTON

CORONATION GENERAL GRANT

Paeony manual 33

the odor was so much like that of Gloire de Dijon Rose that with closed
eyes it was almost impossible to detect the difference. I think it doubt-
ful if the fragrance of this extremely showy and very hardy plant is gen-
erally appreciated. — The Garden.

Boston Record's Account of a Great Paeony Show

PAEONYS ATTRACT FLOWER LOVERS TO HORTICULTURAL HALL TO-
DAY. — Paeonys to-day claim the admiration of the public at Horticultural
Hall. The place is ablaze with the gorgeous coloring of these blossoms,
which seem to have reached the full extent of perfection and variety.
The public thronged the place at the noon hour. Slowly one old woman
climbed the long front stair. She held by the hand a chubby child who
took two steps to her one. As she reached the top and looked in at the
door she took a long breath with satisfaction, and said, "That's just the
way my grandma's garden smelt when I was a little girl like you." As
she passed in the hall and slowly walked around the tables, she exclaimed,
"Well, I never! Do you see those single Paeonys? I never saw one of
those before. They look like immense single roses." Those single
Paeonys, blushing pink with hearts of gold, are something entirely new,
and belong to T. C. Thurlow, of West Newbury. He is one of the larg-
est exhibitors in the country, and has some superb flowers. Most of his
flowers were from roots that came from England, and they were the
finest ever exhibited. He showed some perfect white varieties, some
wonderful double ones that looked more like chrysanthemums than any-
thing else.

PAEONYS FOR COLOR EFFECT. — The "wealth of globed Paeonys" has
during the present month produced such a glorious display of color in
gardens in which the varieties belonging to the herbaceous section are
adequately represented as to prove to demonstration their great value in
bold grouping, and to suggest that with their aid many gardens might be
made more beautiful in "leafy June" than is possible under existing con-
ditions. Their bold, spreading leafage and massive flowers render them
especially useful in the creation of striking color effects, and these char-.
acteristics in conjunction with their resplendent hues remove them so far
from other hardy-plants flowering in June that to institute comparison
would serve no useful purpose. The descendants of Paeony Albiflora,
which have for upwards of 300 years occupied a prominent position in
English gardens, form a group perfectly distinct from all other plants of
their season, and combine effectiveness and beauty in an eminent de-
gree. The range of color that has been obtained, as one of the results
of the long-continued efforts of the several raisers, is very wide, being
bounded on one side by the snowy whiteness of the flowers of the elegant
P, Whitleyi, and the rich sanguineous crimson of that old favorite, P.
Officinalis. Between these points there is a multiplicity of shades, which
in some instances so closely approach each other as to render it no easy
task to distinguish them. The diversity in the form of the flowers is not
less remarkable than is the range of coloring; not only are there single,
double, and anemone-like flowers, but the blooms of many of the varie-
ties in each section differ materially from each other, and add greatly to

5-

34 €. $. garrison's

the charm a representative collection is so well able to give to the gar-
den. Arranged in groups, each consisting of one variety; in the herba-
ceous border; and in beds on the grass in the less-frequented parts of the
pleasure grounds, they are singularly effective, but in no part of the gar-
den do they appear to greater advantage than when planted in masses in
the shrubbery border. The shrubs not only form an excellent back-
ground to the brilliant colors, but they shelter the flowers from storms of
wind and rain, and thereby in many seasons greatly prolong their beauty,
more particularly in the case of the singles. The value of the Herba-
ceous Paeonys is not limited to their attractiveness in the garden; their
flowers are exceedingly useful for indoor decorations, especially on fes-
tive occasions, when bold grouping and the association of plants and cut
flowers are desirable. — The Gardeners' Magazine.

Cbc Paeony a$ Seen by an flmatenr

In the acquisition and culture of the newer varieties of Paeonys, the
amateur has a great pleasure in store. Few of those who find the solace
of their leisure hours in floriculture have any conception of the improve-
ment which has been made in the Paeony. They are all accustomed to the
sturdy plants, which, resisting exposure, neglect and ill usage, stood in
the old fashioned garden, flaunting each spring their blossoms of white,
red and pink. Grand old plants these were, and worthy progenitors of
the exquisite creations of the modern hybridist, which are now first of-
fered to flower lovers; but the Paeony lover of a generation ago would
hardly recognize his favorite flower in the gorgeous blooms he will see at
the coming exhibition of the American Paeony Society. The most vivid
crimsons, the most satiny pinks, the most creamy whites, will feast his
eye in every gradation of shade and every variation of form and shape
that Nature, with her wealth of ingenuity, can devise.

But to meet the wants of the amateur, beauty of form and color is
not enough. These are often secured by care, skill and appliances which
are entirely beyond the reach of the ordinary person. The amateur
needs a plant whose culture is simple and whose needs he can supply,
and the Paeony in these respects is the typical flower for him. In his
garden and with his own hands he can produce as fine blossoms as the
expert who originated and produced the variety. Given a good, ordi-
nary soil, well fertilized with a shovelful of old manure, and a few
months' healthy exercise, and the amateur, in his limited space and with
his limited means and appliances, can set and start a plant which will
each year increase in size and beauty. I will say of the Paeony that I
believe it will be for the next decade the most planted and most popular
hardy flower.

Go to the coming exhibition, Mr. Amateur. See the flowers, buy
the roots and plant them, and see for yourself if my encomiums are not
warranted. — Frank B. Lown, in American Gardening

&

OK Paeony a$ a Decorative flower

The flowers should be cut with stems as long as possible, and the

Paeony manual 35

stems put in water in a cool cellar or ice box for ten or twelve hours be-
fore being used. For decorative work I prefer the single or semi-double
varieties of Herbaceous Paeonys. For large work, the Tree or Moutan
Paeony is very stunning.

Last June we decorated a reception room entirely with Paeonys. We
covered the entire ceilings and walls with strands of wire and hung the
small, single Japanese varieties irregularly over the entire ceiling. By this I
mean that some of the flowers hung six to twelve inches lower than oth-
ers, giving a shower effect. The sides of the room were done in panels
of the larger semi-double varieties on a background of asparagus plumo-
sus. The reception was at noon, and the following morning, when the
decorations were taken down, the Paeonys were in fairly good condition,
proving that under proper treatment the Paeony has lasting qualities as
a decorative flower.

As a cut flower on the breakfast, lunch or dinner table, we use one
color suitable to the room and the buyer, and only one variety, if we
have enough of it.

Some three years ago I used some fifty Tree Paeonys in pots in a
decoration. They were very much admired and it was a profitable in-
vestment, as I am still reaping the benefit of it, proving that the public
has only to see to buy. — J. H. Troy, in American Gardening.

The following regarding Mr. VV. A. Peterson's Paeonys is from The
Weekly Florists' Review: Alth™^ --

3

\

t

ii
tl
b

P

o:

ol

ri<

be

ed

tic
ro:

36 €. $. garrison's

the blooms are seven inches in diameter, when fully developed, and
about five inches deep.

The sale of plants and cut flowers has increased wonderfully in the
last few years, the Paeony enjoying an era of popularity heretofore un-
known to this flower. Of course large numbers of plants are moved in
the spring, but growers agree that it is very much to be desired that
planting be done in the fall, and Mr. Peterson recommends that all
planting be done in September. He says the plants divided and reset at
that time will make one-third more growth the next season than if plant-
ed so late that root action does not begin before frost. He thinks this
is a great drawback to European importations, as most of them arrive
so late that it is impossible to get them started well the same season, and
it takes two years to find out what they really can do.

Certain complaints about the failure of plants to bloom satisfactorily
have led Mr. Peterson to make some experiments which have convinced
him that the seed follicles should be removed from the plants after the
bloom has passed. Do not let them stay on and wither, or it will cut
down the amount of bloom the following season. This has been shown
by careful tests with plants growing side by side.

CHAPTER XV

tiow nohn mem to

Twelve years ago a family by the name of Skeels was living on a
broad, bleak prairie, fifty miles or so west of Yankton. There were
four children; the oldest was John. He was a noble fellow, full of push
and vim, and very ambitious. He was a good scholar and soon got as
far as he could in the common school. His dream day and night was to
go to Yankton college. He had heard the president speak, and he be-
came inspired with the idea of a full course. He had no great desire
for any profession. He thought there was no calling on earth as noble
as farming, and he wanted a place at the top. How to secure the means
was the question. He talked it over with father and mother, and there
seemed to be no way out. The house was small, and there was a mort-
gage on the farm, and wheat raising was uncertain. Some years there
would be a drouth or a flood, and a whole year wasted.

"Well, let me buy a heifer and raise stock from her."

"She would eat us out of the farm with her numerous progeny in
ten years, and you would have so much to do you couldn't help me.
You are my main dependence, and I cannot mortgage my farm to a herd
of cattle."

"Let me buy a pig, then."

"Well, there is the same objection. You might get fifty pigs and
fatten them and they would drain the farm, and when ready for market
all might die of cholera."

Johnnie saw the point, for one of the neighbors had met with a fear-
ful loss, and he saw fifty dead at one time.

About this time the mother visited the east, and on Decoration Day

25297,3

^cxn wv. acii cut uowersr

''Yes, as soon as you have enough to pay. Yankton will need some,
and often they will bloom for Decoration Day, when there is always a
great call for them."

"What will the roots cost?"

"About fifty cents each for the finer grade. We have cheaper ones,
but these would give the best of satisfaction I have some that cost me
$2.50 a root in England, and though it pays me, I would advise you to
take these at a more moderate price."

"This," says she, "solves a great problem. They will not eat a
farm up. They require but little room. A boy can care for them. I
saved $5.00 to buy a dress with. I will take ten roots of Paeonys and
pay you now, and send them next spring."

"No, I will send them in September. You plant them then, and
water thoroughly, if it is dry. Plant about two inches below the sur-
face, and in your cold country throw about four inches of coarse manure
over them just as the ground freezes You plant a Paeony in September,
and if you should take it up in November you would be amazed at the
growth of small roots all ready for a grand push in the spring. Get some
hen manure, a wheelbarrow load. Have it well mixed with the soil and
spaded two feet deep. Keep the ground wet, so that fertilizing will be
well incorporated by fall, for it might burn the roots to have it near them
in a raw state. We will send you ten roots by express."

When Mrs. Skeels went home she told what she had done, and un-
folded her plan. She told how those flowers were healthy and had no
disease or insect enemies, how fast they would probably increase; and
all went into the plans with great zest. You may believe that little plat

Pawny manual 39

of ground was well cared for, and if the parents had not restrained them
there would have been a wagon load of fertilizer gathered. But Johnnie
was persuaded not to kill his friends with kindness. I would say here
that this preparation is not always necessary. Other manure will answer.

Next year there were flowers. Did you ever see such happy chil-
dren? The love of the beautiful which had lain in bud in their souls,
burst out in full bloom, like those glorious flowers, and no one supposed
before there could be so much delight in so small a piece of ground.
That ground became a sacred spot. Not a weed was allowed to grow,
and in dry weather was floode 1 with water. In the spring of the second
summer John commenced preparations for September planting. He was
curious to know how many he would get. The florist said he got five
from a root. Could he do as well? In September he asked his father
to dig up and count the roots, and there were fully fifty of them, besides
several roots without heads that fell off, and small buds without roots.
They had heard that even these buds would live. So they were planted,
and sure enough they came up,and in time made strong roots. The headless
roots were put thick in a pit, four inches below the surface, tops up, and
the next year many or these had formed heads, and they were planted
out. Some took two years to form buds, and some never came to a head.

The next spring a rather presuming neighbor came and said, "I
want to get a lot of your piny roots to plant out; I hear you have a lot
of them."

• Johnnie said, "We have none to sell."

"Well, I didn't expect to buy. My mother used to give them away,"
and away she went off in a huff, feathers all ruffled.

"As well ask us to give her a pig or a calf," said John. "Not
much We will not cheapen our treasures by giving them away."

At the same time he determined, when he had a stock, to give one
now and then to some poor mother, whose soul was sick with longing
for the beautiful, or some sickly girl, who would revel in the delight of
one of these flowers. But he preferred to send flowers rather than roots.

The fourth year there were 250, and two years after there were 1,250.
Then John concluded he could spare a few, so as to go to the academy.
He sold them for what he paid, fifty cents each. And people seeing
them were delighted with the chance to buy. This was not all. John's
Paeony garden became a Mecca for the lovers of the beautiful. Some
people drove twenty miles to see them, and there were excursions from
neighboring towns. Orders came in so that the boy's stock was threat-
ened. He saw and got some other kinds, the splendid Humei, a great
ball of beauty, with cinnamon-like fragrance, and satiny pink.

Suffice it to say John graduated, and commencement was made glo-
rious by the display of a load of those splendid flowers, and the eyes of
hundreds were opened to the possibilities of beauty on the bleak prairies
of Dakota. Mrs. Skeels' five dollars brought forth a thousand fold.

To John came the possibilities of a piece of Dakota land. He
bought forty acres. That was enough, and he soon had an income much
larger than many got from 160 acres. Besides he was a preacher of the
evangel of beauty. He found what trees and shrubs would grow, and
his place is an up-to-date, earthly paradise.

Yes, this story has a foundation in fact — a fact which can adorn the

40 C. $. garrison's

Dakota home with loveliness, and make the farm so attractive that boys
will love farming, and girls will feel that there is no other place so desir-
able as a home in the country, and people from the crowded cities, see-
ing how lovely the farm can be made, will gladly leave their dingy homes
for the pure air, the beautiful scenery, the health, comfort and joy of
the model country home.

CHAPTER XVI

Che Best Collections

We have written to leading growers regarding their choice for the
best twenty-five. Tastes differ. So do soil and climatic conditions.
Therefore we cannot expect uniformity.

KELWAY'S SELECTION, ENGLAND.

THE BEST Six DOUBLES. — Lady Alexandra Duff, Kelway's Queen,
Agnes Mary Kelway, Maria Kelway, Moonbeam, Joan Seaton.

THE BEST Six SINGLES. — Viscount Cross, Duchess of Sutherland,
Stanley, Bridesmaid, Lady Lilian Ogle, Emily.

THE BEST TWELVE PAEONYS. — The six doubles recommended, and
Lady Bramwell, Dr. Bonavia, Mrs Stubbs, Bridesmaid, single; Stanley,
single; Duchess of Sutherland, single.

THE BEST TWENTY-FIVE PAEONYS. — The above twelve, and Viscount
Cross, single; Lady Lilian Ogle, single; Glory of Somerset, Duke of
Cambridge, Lady Beresford, Duke of Clarence, Sir T. J. Lipton, Limo-
sel, Prince George, Duke of Devonshire; Dorothy and Hesperus, singles;
Lord Rosebery.

A*

LIST OF C. BETSCHER, OHIO.

White — Off. Alba Plena, the true white, a pure white; Festiva
Maxima, Marie Lemoine — Calots'; Alice De Julncourt XX, Diamond,
Alba Superba, Mt. Blanc, Marie Lemoine — Crousse'.

Pinks — Off. Rosea Superba, Floral Treasure, Jennie Lind, PEsper-
ence, B. D. Champs, Grandiflora, Model of Perfection, Humei, Dorches-
ter, Mary Hamilton.

Off. Rubra, Tenuifolia D., Rubra Triumphans, F. Ortegal, War-
wick, Bacillus, Grandiflora Rubra, Rubra Superba, M. Mac Mahon.

A*

LIST OF T. C. THURLOW, MASSACHUSETTS.

Artemise, Agnes Mary Kelway, Bridesmaid, Plutarch, Festiva Max-
ima, Brennus, Jeanne d'Arc, Lady Bramwell, Baroness Schroder, Pearl,
Eduard Andre, Perfection, Madame Chaumy, Venus, J. Discaisne, Henri
Demay, Rubra Superba, Louis Van Houtte, Thurlow's Double Rose,
Queen Victoria, Francois Ortegal, Lamartine, Gloire de Chenonceaux,
Grandiflora, Princess Beatrice, Helena.

ORIENTAL POPPY

A Perennial, with roots like a small Parsnip. Flowers of dazzling flame
like color. Often Seven inches accross

Pacony manual 4I

MY OWN LIST, NEBRASKA

(As I have watched them for several years.)

Baroness Schroder, Festiva Maxima, La Tulipe, Golden Harvest,
Sunbeam, Grizzel Muir, Excelsior, Terry's Carnation, Etta, Crimson
Queen, Golden Wedding, Grover Cleveland, Duke of Dorchester, Clara
Barton, Richardson's Rubra, Grandiflora, Ville d' Nancey, Red Jacket,
Floral Treasure, Grandiflora Rosea, Genuine Humei, Lady Bramwell,
Model d' Perfection, Alexander Dumas, Victor.

H. A. TERRY'S LIST, IOWA.

Festiva Maxima, Grover Cleveland, Commodore Dewey, Crown
Jewell, Reine des Francais, Louis Van Houtte, Queen Victoria, Ella
Adams, General Grant, Clara Barton, Crimson Queen, Excelsior, Belle
Hough, Esther, Mrs. Rudd, Alice Roosevelt, Admiral Schley, Pottsii,
Mrs. Pleas, Princeps, Sada Evans, Edulis Superba, Myrtle, Congress,
Humeii.

These lists show some difference of opinion, and also the fact that
the growers are not all confined to the same varieties.

CHAPTER XVII

J\ Cist of Some of the Ceading Sorts

In giving this list we have aimed to give some out of the 2,000
named, so the reader can have an idea of the marvelous variety in this
great family. The fragrant ones have not all been marked fragrant.
We have not always given the names of the originators. Most of these
we have tested ourselves; others we have taken from leading French,
English and American catalogues.

It may not be satisfactory to the connoiseur — probably will not.
The idea of this Manual is to introduce this flower to the masses.

I confess we have given some prominence to western productions,
because their merits have not hitherto been brought to light. Raising
them for years, side by side with imported ones, we feel they should
have a fuller recognition. All honor to Father Terry, now 78 years old,
who, in a quiet, patient way, for over 30 years, has been hard at work,
giving us the best results of his persistence and skill, from which, as yet,
he has reaped but little benefit.

Description of Owr 200 Choice Kinds

Admiral Dewey. Guard petals deep rose, with center of pink and

cream.

Alice. Blush rose, changing to white, center with straw shading;
fine flower.

Agnese Mary Kelway. Guard petals of light rose, yellow petaloids,

C. $. garrison's

with rose tuft. With me this is a lovely flower, though a shy bloomer.

Alexander Dumas. Mixed pink, double center, very double, quite
fragrant. This is every way satisfactory, scoring the five points, a prod-
igal bloomer, extremely vigorous and hardy.

Alice Crousse. Shaded pink, quilled center.

rsene Meuret. Deep pink, mixed with yellow stamens, free
bloomer: often many on a stem.

Alexandriana. Light pink, solid color, silver edges, early and
very fragrant.

Augusta Miellez. Guard petals pink, lemon center, early and fra-
grant.

Ambroise Verschaffelt. A rose.

Astrosanguinea. Dark red, tingedwith violet.

Artemise. Beautiful rose, of many tints.

Albaflora Plena. (Edulis Plena) white.

Anne Askew. Flesh colored, with narrow sulphur thread-like cen-
tral petals.

Baroness Schroder. In England this is called flesh-colored; in
Massachusetts it is sometimes grayish white; in Nebraska it is the purest,
softest white. In the central petals there is the faintest lingering of
golden tints. It is as sweet as the rose, and in form and grace of out-
line surpasses any of the rose family. Withal, it is so fluffy, sprite-like
and ethereal, it seems as if it might float away. It is vigorous, and a
ready bloomer. After it had grown two years I cut one root into eight,
and six of these bloomed the next spring. They are very scarce, and
spurious kinds are put on the market. This exquisitely beautiful flower
scores the five points easily.

Beauty's Queen. Is a large white; outer petals blush rose.

unch of Perfume. Full double, vivid rose, very sweetly scented.
This does not do as well in the west, probably, as in England.

Bioni. Guard petals light blush, with thread-like petals; not as
vigorous as we could wish, though a lovely flower.

Bicolor. Outer petals white, with rose tinge; cream center, fring-
ed; crimson blotch on center petals.

Beaute Francaise. Delicate pink, tipped blush white, full double.

Belle Hough. Large flower, light crimson, late and fine.
"Bertha. Brilliant crimson, full double and late; a very satisfactory
flower.

— -Bell of Crescent. Bright rose, free bloomer, large double, very
showy.
. Belle of York. Large, flesh-colored, a strong, robust flower, new.

Baron James de Rothschild. Semi-double pink.

Bridesmaid. Fine, semi-double, fragrant, white.

Barrymoor. One of Kelway's latest, cherry red and very handsome.
— Bayard. Beautiful, clear, bright violet.

Blushing Maid. One of Rosenfeld's latest, fine blush and sweetly
perfumed; not yet fully tested.

oronation. A very large, handsome flower, light pink at the
edges, the remainder a creamy flesh tint of a very delicate shade. The
center is chalice shaped, with golden anthers at the bottom of the cup.

Pacony manual 43

- Carnation. Bright crimson outside petals, broad inside finely fringed,
very fine. Grand, late bloomer. Very striking in appearance.
^^--Clara Barton. This is one of the earliest. It is of purest white,
like the spirit of its namesake. Its petals are delicate and almost trans-
parent in their tissue-like form, not quite full double, but exceedingly
attractive.

,. Crimson Queen. Both petals and petaloids are of the same deep
color. It is finely fringed, but the whole flower is of that solid, intense
coloring.

__^-~~ Commodore Dewey. Is deep, dark rose, of intense color. It is a
large and attractive flower, one of our finest new ones.

Col. Wilder. Is bright rose, very double, blooming in clusters.

Charles Verdier. Lilac carmine. Transparent, slate color reflec-
tions. A large flower.

Compte de Paris. A vigorous and imposing plant. Flower on strong
stem. Guard petals pink. Yellow center. A mingling of pink, cream
and gold with a dash of red.

Charlemagne Very large flowers, double flesh, white center, tint-
ed lilac and chamoise. This does not always sustain its reputation, be-
ing apparently sensitive to soil and climate.

ornucopia. Large and delicate, shaded pink, with a few golden
stamens mixed. Sometimes five blooms on a stock at once. Tall and
free bloomer.

Compte de Nantuil. Blush white, center tinged yellow. Having
tested this for years I can commend it for beauty of bloom and vigor of
plant.

Chrysanthemefolia. Rosy white guards, with a delicate chrysanthe-
mum folded in the center.

Comptesse de Montalivet. Flesh, fading to white. Fragrant.

ardinal Richelieu. Solid red, no stamens, large guard, very
fragrant.

Carnea Elegans. Large, variegated pink, rather light color, with
rose guard petals. A strong plant.

Duke of Devonshire. A very large flower of striking appearance,
crimson in color, with satiny finish. One of Kelway's best.

— Dean Hole. A very sweetly scented variety of a very bright and
clear salmon rose color. New.

Due de Wellington. Soft white, with pale, creamy white center.
Very lovely, fine form. Plant not strong and vigorous.

Delacheii. Fine, dark crimsom.

Drop White. Pure white, splashed with crimson, fragrant and full

double.

Daubenton. Purplish, lilac rose. Silver reflections, tufted center.

Duchess of Orleans. Pale rose, with salmon center.

Defiance. Brilliant crimson, tall and fine. Single.

Dr. Lindley. Large flower, tall and strong. Dark crimson.

Ella Adams. Light crimson. Very attractive.

Etta. Bright, satiny, light rose. Strong grower, late bloomer.

Euphemia. Flesh, colored with crimson blotches.

44 €. $.

— Excelsior. Dark crimson, large, fine, symmetrical flower, very strik-
ing in appearance.

, v Esther. Outside petals deep rose, inside white, rose tinted, a full

bloomer.

Edulis Superba. One of the standard varieties. Shell pink, large,
well formed, fragrant flower, and a very rapid multiplier.

Emperor of Russia A magnificent, deep crimson. Very handsome.
Edulis Plena, or Albiflora Plena. White.
Eclatante. Is deep rose.

Fragrans. There are three that bear this name, one named by Kel-
way, a light purple; another is solid pink, with rather full petaloids, all
the same color, and yet another, which is the late rose Paeony, nearly,
if not quite, identical with Andre Laures.

Francoise Ortegal. A striking French crimson. One of the popu-
lar old sorts.

Fulgida Is another purplish crimson.

Formosa Alba. White, with cream center. Very fragrant, and one
of our fine ones.

Faust. Is rosy white, large and full double. An exceedingly at-
tractive flower.

Festiva Maxima. Is the queen of all. Almost without exception it is
placed at the head of the list. It has every point of excellence. The
plant is one of the most robust. You can usually tell the genuine by the
shape of the large leaves. This, we understand, was introduced from
Belgium in 1835, and all this lime it has been propagated, and it is im-
possible to supply the demand. The Joliet Paeony farm, one of the
largest in the world, wholesales them atli.oo each, or $60 per 100. I
am informed that the flowers bring $2.00 per dozen, wholesale, in Chi-
cago. The flower combines great size with wondrous beauty. I have
raised them seven inches across, a glorious form of purest white, flecked
here and there with crimson, which seems to bring out the white in clear-
er relief. This flower seems to have reached the ultimate, beyond which
we cannot go. It is so full double it seldom, if ever, produces seed.
Nature all along the line seems intent on reproduction, but in a case like
this she seems to say, "I can go no further." This is a good pattern to
work by. Feed this grand flower. Let it do its best. And the re-
splendent form of beauty seems to say, "Beat this if you can." Men
have tried for seventy years, yet we will keep on trying.

Festiva. Is fragrant, pure white, globular in form. A beautiful
flower.

Floral Treasure. This is one of Rosenfield's, and it reveals the fact
that we need not always go to Europe for choice ones. It was first put
on the market for $12.00 per 100, but as soon as people found out its
merits it shot up to $50.00 per 100, and the supply was short. It is a
splendid hemisphere of fragrant loveliness, a good keeper, and has a
long, strong stem to uphold the splendid bloom, which will sometimes be
nearly seven inches across.

-Fairy Queen. Is one of Terry's. Outside petals broad, inside
fringed, full double, large flower, regarded by Mr. Terry as one of his
best.

Pacony manual 45

Felix Crousse. Enormous, perfect flower. A brilliant and dazzling
red.

Grandure. A very fine, large, semi double lilac rose, fragrant. We
have had this several years. It has peculiar tints and shadings, which
add materially to the attractions of a general collection.

Grizzel Muir. This is among Kelway's best. Pure white, good
form and very fragrant. We are well pleased with it.

Geraldine. Described as lovely flower. Composed of one shell-
like outer row of petals of pretty pink surrounding short, yellow central
filaments, the pink forming a charming setting for the creamy yellow
center. Sweetly perfumed.

Glory of Somerset. Soft pink, large and beautiful, also very
fragrant.

Grandiflora Nivea Plena. Opens flesh colored, fading to white. A
splendid flower.

— Grandiflora. There are several wearing this name, of different col-
ors. The most striking among them is a late, immense, full double
flower, blush in color, very solid and compact, with a stem not strong
enough to hold the immense weight of beauty. These should be planted
in a mass and should be sheltered with a screen from the burning sun.
This is probably one of Richardson's.

Glori de Doual. Deep crimson, semi-double.

General Jacqueminot. Color like the Jack Rose. Large flower,
fragrant and a good keeper.

reneral Grant. One of Terry's fine ones. An immense flower of
dazzling red. The only trouble is it does not furnish stem strong enough
for the flower.

General Sherman. Another of Terry's. A strong, vigorous grower,
rose color, tinged with purple. Late bloomer.

Grover Cleveland (Tecumseh). This is another of Terry's. It is
a little freaky. One year it was described as follows: "It is a system
of deep colored, rich flowers, packed and pressed together into a shapely
ball of dazzling red, the solidest of all. You could almost stone a dog
with it. It is one of the best keepers we have." Cut while the bud is
opening, it retains its beauty a long time. Sometimes it is more open in
form, but always a splendid flower. Another season it will open with a
broader bloom, but whatever form it assumes, it is fine.

Grandiflora Carnea Plena. This is one of our best, and hard to de-
scribe. It has pink guard petals, with a mingling of many tints in the
center. It is fragrant; globular and compact in form. It gives a long
succession of bloom, and the flowers are fine keepers. The early ones
grow lighter with age, and new ones come on, clothed in their showy
tints, so that a single row gives such a variety of shadings that one might
think there were several kinds in one fine blend of loveliness.

Golden Harvest. Rosenfield's. The more you see of this the bet-
ter you like it. It is a free bloomer. You can depend on flowers the
first spring after planting, even in six weeks after spring planting. At
that stage of development it shows a center of pure gold. The next year
it shows the same, only more. In the center is a miniature, snowy white
flower, like a condensed Festiva Maxima, with dashes of carmine. The

46 C. $. fiarrison's

next year the whole plant seems to break from all antecedents and give
you a wild, rollicking prodigality of beauty, in blush and white, in cream
and gold. The flowers are large and almost smother the plant, so great
is their profusion. The bloom may not keep as long as some others,
yet it will score all the points, as it is very fragrant withal. This and
Floral Treasure are Rosenfield's advance guard. He has fifty to one
hundred more in the procession, and we can take off our hats as they
pass by and cheer for beauty and Nebraska.

rolden Wedding. We have long been looking for a pure golden
flower, and here we have it. It is fragrant, semi-double, with extremely
delicate bloom, and a very attractive flower. It is a very vigorous plant.
Singles and semi-doubles do net keep as long as full doubles. This is
the only drawback to this lovely flower.

Giganthea. Thus described by Ward: This is the finest early pink
Paeony we have cut for flower purposes. It is one of the earliest to
bloom, produces an enormous flower, six inches in diameter, on a long
stem, deliciously fragrant, and fully as effective for decorative purposes
as the finest chrysanthemum. This variety, with Festiva Maxima and
Mont Blanc, bring the highest prices of any Paeony flowers in the New
York market.

General Cavignac. Very fragrant, rose pink, of solid color, com-
pact head, imbricated with a deeper shade, like a carnation.

reneral Lawton (Pleas). Bright rose pink, edged with white, often
triple headed, which gives it a massive appearance. It is very robust,
flowers large and slightly fragrant. Mostly held by W. A. Peterson, Rose
Hill, 111., who secured the stock from the originator.

Globosa Grandiflora. Large, globe-shaped, white and very fragrant.

Grandiflora Rosea. Is a host in itself. The outer and center pet-
als are red. It is slightly fragrant. It is a very prolific bloomer, robust
and vigorous. The flowers turn lighter in a few days, and remain on the
stem a long time. Looking at the bed you would say there were several
kinds. In this respect it is much like the "Seven Sisters" among the
roses.

Grandiflora Alba. There are several kinds that bear this name, but
the best is a strong, vigorous plant, with a good stem, and a large, fra-
grant flower. Pink guard petals, sulphur center, splashed often with
crimson, the whole changing to snowy white in a short time. It is a
good keeper and a prolific bloomer. These have been sold by the thous-
and, innocently too, by some of the best firms, for Festiva Maxima, which
in full bloom they closely resemble.

Humea Alba. A very fine and rare variety. It has the beautiful
blush of the morning. The guard petals are light pink. The center
has a thread like collar of light flesh petals. It has a delicious fragrance.
There are two Paeonys which bear this name.

Humei Carnea. There has been an infinite amount of confusion
regarding this Paeony. At least six kinds have been sent out under this
name. Many of our leading growers are at fault, and some writers also.
Andre Laures has been sent out for it, and other varieties entirely at va-
riance, and a recent work on Bulbs is entirely at fault. Yet it is one of
the most distinct types of all. It has a foliage peculiar to itself. The

Pacony manual 47

color is a rose pink. The petals look as if the color was varnished into
them. It is a large, compact, solid, glorious flower, of symmetrical form
and cinnamon scented. It ranks among the best, and scores the full five
points. This is often confounded with the large M. Valliant. It should
probably be called Thorbeckii.

_- Halseus. Is a French white. It first opens with a pinkish flush,

gradually growing lighter.
, Hesperides. Is white, with flesh guard petals.

Henri Demay. Is a striking and beautiful flower. Light crimson,
fine form and symmetrical.

Hercules (Terry's). Is tall, light rose, tipped white.

Herman (Terry's). Is a tall, strong grower. Petals broad. Pale,
purplish rose, inside straw-tinted.

Irma. Soft rose, flesh tinted. I secured this from France, and am
well pleased with it.

Illion. Has white guard petals, and also narrow white center ones.

Insignis. Described in French catalogue as a grand flower, of bril-
liant carmine.

Jeanne d'Arc. Had a slight mention in former bulletin. We now
hasten to do her justice. Some plants do best when the stools have had
three or four years in which to become established. Then they burst
forth in a very splendor of loveliness. Thus did our Jeanne. The flow-
er opens light pink, but gradually grows white as the soul of the war
maiden. The center of the flower rises like a crown, and the pure white-
ness seems sprinkled with drops of blood, symbolic of the cruel death
she suffered. It was a delight to visit those fragrant and lovely flowers
and linger over them and drink in their sweetness.

Jennie Lind. Has suddenly sprung into prominence and value.
Clear, rose pink, long stem, fragrant and good keeper.
- Jugurtha. Is a dwarf, bright pink.

James Kelway. Very fine, white, beautifully scented.
~-\Toan Seatoh. Double, bright, cherry, rose, each petal edged with
lighter color. A rose-shaped flower, showing anthers among the petals.

Juno. Is fiery, flashing crimson.

Jupiter. Is large, full double crimson, tipped light.

Kelway's Queen. Light pink, a most delicate and lovely sort.
Very fragrant.

^ — - Kitty Green. Rosy lavander, large flower. Fragrant.
^^-— La Reine. Terry's. Delicate blush, changing to snowy white.
Center light yellow, sometimes touched with crimson. We are well
pleased with this fine, fragrant flower.

> — x Lucretia. Light blush, good size, shapely, with a sort of twilight
lingering in its petals.

Lady Curzon. We are favorably impressed with this flower. White
guard petals, with cream colored inner petals, a faint blush permeating
the whole flower at first. It is of good size, and delicately perfumed.
Every way worthy of the lady whose name it bears.

Lady Alexander Duff. This flower has been spoken of as the very
queen of the whole family. It is described by Kelway as lovely French

48 C. S. garrison's

white, one of the largest and grandest in existence, tall, robust and high-
ly perfumed. What more could we ask for? They cost $5.00 a root.
What of it? We must have them. I had been informed by eastern grow-
ers that the firm was getting a little careless of late and was sending
out mixed lots, so when I sent for some I included two of these famous
plants, specifying if they had not the genuine article, that they return
the money. They sent the roots labeled all right. I planted them with
the greatest care, and fairly hovered over them. Never were plants
more royally treated. I told my friends, "Now, we will see some-
thing worth while." Well, they opened. The stems were about a foot
high, and the flowers were little, single, ten cent affairs. I found myself
rapidly filling up with remarks, and the men to whom the remarks be-
longed were safely hidden behind the Atlantic ocean. I then addressed
a few withering words to the insignificant little things that were posing
like stupid donkeys in the place of prancing, high- stepping, thorough-
bred steeds. Whether it was what I said, or because it was their nature,
in two days they dropped their petals and went out of the business, and
Lady Alexander Duff is on the other side of the sea.

Lady Bramwell is silvery rose. A most charming flower, perfect in
form, compact, symmetrical and exceedingly fragrant. It is one of our
fine ones. It wears well on a long acquaintance. There are hardly
enough to keep up with the demand.

Lady Beresford. Described as a large-flowered variety of soft blush
shade, delicate and beautiful. The petals are tipped in carmine. I sent
for two of these. One was an inferior, little, single one, and the other
a small pink.

Lyde. Is rose color, with pink center.

La Coquette. Is on the diamond list of Paillet, of France. Cen-
ter and guard petals pink, balance salmon. A fine, large flower and a
good keeper.

La Tulipe. I know of no flower so attractive in the bud as this.
First a ball interlaced with green, red and light. As it grows, these in-
terlacings are more pronounced. There is no bloom whose unfoldings
you watch with greater interest. Men, women and children gather
around it in delight. Finally it opens, a solid ball of softest blush, with
streaks of carmine. There it sits in all its beauty, a glorious flower in a
chalice of veined marble, emitting a delightful perfume. Gradually it
fades to purest white, looking much like Festiva Maxima. It is a splen-
did keeper and scores the five points to perfection.

L'Esperence. Said to be almost, if not quite, identical with Duch-
ess de Nemours. This is an excellent variety. In the first place it is a
pink rose in form and fragrance. It is especially valuable in the north-
ern states, as it is a strong, hardy and robust plant, and often is on time
for Decoration Day. It is a good keeper. It is on the diamond list of
the leading French dealer. It scores the five points.

Limosel. Very bright, clear lilac rose. A large flower, full double,

with broad guard petals and narrower ones in the center. Very fragrant.

Having had these for several years they stand up well to the description.

~ Lottie. Terry's. Large flower. Bright rose, full double, and a late

bloomer.

eTHODERN PAEONYS
By Courtesy of Jas. Kelway CSk Sons

Pacony manual

49

Mars. Terry's. Is a fine, purplish crimson, fiery and imposing in
appearance.

Maud S. Is a fine, light crimson flower.

Morning Star. Is one of the most dainty of the whole family.
Though exceedingly delicate, yet the plant is hardy. It is well named.
Starry rays radiate from its heart of gold.

Mrs. Fletcher. Terry's. Is an attractive flower of deep, dark rose
color. We have found it very fine.

- Mrs. Rudd. Outside petals broad and white, inside straw color,
petals finely fringed.

Nigra. Is one of the darkest crimson, full double.

Marie Crousse Very large, full, globular bloom; soft salmon pink,
shaded with glossy lilac, very fresh color.

Marie Stuart. Beautiful anemone-shaped flower, with collar of
bright, clear, pink petals; center sulphur white.

Madam Chaumy. Is a large, symmetrical, solid pink flower, fra-
grant and very charming. In form and color much like Lady Bramwell,
only it is much later and larger.

Mme. Camille Bancel. Described by Ward: Very fiull, enormous,
globular flower, color lively blush lilac pink, with center shaded with
salmon.

Madam Geissler. Is light purplish rose, solid color, massive and
very fragrant. One of Mr. Peterson's favorites.

Marguerite Gerard Described by Ward: Immense flower, with
very large, well formed petals; color clear flesh, fading to tender, creamy
white. Center creamy white, with petals occasionally spotted and tipped
with carmine. Ward & Shaylor place this high on the list. It is one of
the more recent French productions.

Modeste Guerin. Large, anemone-shaped flower; color uniform,
bright carmine. Very attractive, standing well up on the list.

Mons. Jules Elie. Described by Ward: Very large, full, globular
flower, with broad, imbricated petalage. Color glossy pink, deepening
at the base of the petals; reflex silvery pink; flower of nice form, and
quite fragrant.

Mons. Paillet. Probably named from the noted French florist. It
is a very large flower, light pink, shading to white, with pond lily fra-
grance.

Madam Muyssart. Fine, shaded pink rose, solid color; large, late
and very fragrant.

Model de Perfection. Described by Peterson: Far superior to the
sort generally sold under this name. A solid, clear pink, with crimpled
center, set on large guard petals, forming immense globular buds and
flowers on strong stems. Years ago we secured some of these from Mr.
Peterson. They are eminently satisfactory. Hardy, full bloomers, fra-
grant and good keepers.

Marie Lemoine. The Lemoines are noted florists, but their names
are a little too numerous. We have several among the Lilacs, also among
the Philadelphus, and here the name is stretched to cover two entirely
distinct varieties. One fathered by Calot is lovely, ivory white, an early
bloomer, emitting a delicious fragrance, with a root tangled and twisted,
and hard to separate. The other, fostered by Crousse, has a large, full

50 C. $. garrison's

double bloom; color sulphur white; center petals lightly edged with pink.
Very late and one of the very best.

Mrs. Frederic Davidson. Guard petals faint apple blossom tint,
rest of the flower creamy white. One of Kelway's latest.

-Mrs. Gwyn Lewis. Is another, described as a lovely, dwarf-growing,
white flower, highly fragrant and of great merit.

Maria Kelway. Very fine, blush guard petals, yellow petaloids,
with blush tuft, sweetly scented.

Madam Breon. There are two flowers bearing this name. One,
outer petals rosy pink; pale yellow center, changing to white; and the
other is fine, shapely, solid crimson. This latter was sent out by T. C.
Thurlow.

Magnifica. Described by Kelway as delicate pink, turning to blush
white: large, full and free. That usually sent under this name is nearer
red, turning to pink.

-Magnificent. Is a medium sized flower and fragrant. It is rf the
pink, cream and gold order, with drops of carmine. Much like Triumph
de Paris, only smaller.

Madonna. Outer petals rose, center creamy chamois.
-Moonbeam. Is one of Kelway's newer ones. Large, white, tufted
in the center.

Maud Wild. Rosy pink, showing golden stamens.

Monsieur Deschamps. Is light purple.

-Mme. Schmidt. One of Paillet's; is rosy, lightly tinted white,
large flower; does well in Nebraska.

Marie. Is white, in light rose tints.

Maxima. Is white, with short petals.

Nymph. New. It opens a single flower, with white petals. It has
a pond lily fragrance. In the center are incurved snow-white petals and
these are dotted with crimson, making it a most attractive flower. Later,
the inner petals expand, forming another perfect flower sitting in the
lap of the first, separated by several rows of stamens. It continues in
bloom a long time, and it is a delight to watch its varying forms of love-
liness.

Noblissima. Is a fine flower of rosy lilac; very attractive.

Ne Plus Ultra. Is a fine flower, peach-color, edged with white.

Nivalis. Is pure white.

Princess Ellen. Opens delicate flesh, changing to white ; large
lower and a good keeper; very desirable.

Princess of Wales. Terry's. Large, white, mottled with rose; a fine
flower.

Prince of Wales. Terry's. Purple, edged silver, large, full double,
often in clusters.

Prince of Wales Kelway's. Soft lilac rose; large flower, rather
shy bloomer.

Princess Beatrice. Pink guard petals, inner petals yellow and pink;
a fine variety and free bloomer.

Peter the Great. Is deep, rosy purple. Sunburns badly in Ne-
braska; needs shelter.

Pacony manual Si

Plutarch. A satin crimson, exceedingly brilliant and striking, with

pond liiy fragrance; a very choice flower.

Pulcherima. Light, satiny rose, center blush white.

Pulcherima Odorata. Shaded pink, with yellow center and fra-
grant; very fine.

Pottsii. Purple crimson, with thread-like petals; a very conspicu-
ous flower and in great demand.

Queen Victoria. Formerly Whitleyi, or the two are nearly alike.
Described by Peterson as a full, strong, white flower, with yellowish-
tinted center; a very popular variety among florists on account of good
shipping and keeping qualities.

~~- Red Jacket. As several deep crimson, new Paeonys have come
into the writer's possession, he has named them after Indian chiefs. One
is King Philip, a tall, robust plant; one is Red Cloud; one named Sha-
bona; an extremely fine one is Pocahontas, and a dainty little single is
called Pappoose. Red Jacket is a finely formed flower, deep rich color
and very fragrant, which is a little unusual in deep crimson. I think it
much surpasses, both in form and fragrance, the new Bunch of Perfume.
The only drawback is, it may be a tardy bearer.

Sunbeam. New. Fragrant; radiant silver; ethereally beautiful;
very striking.

Sainfoin. Kelway. Described as the most striking of all. The
flowers full, large and brilliant self rose.

Snowy Coles. Blush white, with narrow, thread-like petals; very
sweet.

Souvenir de la Exposition. Blush outside petals, with white, nar-
row central petals. A fine, large, imposing blossom.

Splendida. Light lilac, edged white

Sada Evans. Terry's. Outside petals broad, delicate rose, inside
fringed and straw-colored, the whole melting into a beautiful white.

Stephania. Considered by Terry as one of his finest. Pale rose,
nearly white; center pure white with crimson stripes.

The Bride. Is a charming white flower.

Thomas Meehan. Terry's Light rose, silver tipped; large double
flower, worthy of the noble man whose name it bears.

The Amazon. New. If you wish size and show and a good deal
of it, this is the flower. There is nothing refined or delicate about it.
It is exceedingly prolific and robust, and bears an enormous burden of
great, rose colored flowers. It is full, free, hearty and generous, and a
good one for beginners.

Victor. Terry's Deep red; a fine, fragrant, solid flower, and a good
keeper. Very desirable.

Virgo Maria. Pure, snowy white.

Victoria Tricolor. Is one of the most vigorous and prolific bloom-
ers we have. The first year it will put out small blooms, according to
the material it has. The next year they will be larger, and the third
year the plant will be fairly deluged with bloom. It is also fragrant.
Though the flower cannot rank among the finest, yet it is very desirable.

Victoria Modesta. Is a very fragrant flower, borne on a long, strong
stem; outer petals pink, inner ones white.

Reine Victoria. Is a fragrant pink. These three Victorias, while

C. s. Garrison's

not ranking among the very best, yet on account of their fragrance and
vigor, should not be omitted.

Zenobia. Terry's. Is rosy crimson, full double. A fine flower.

Zoe Callot. Is a Grandiflora Rosea, on a smaller scale. Outside
and inner petals solid pale pink.

SINGLE PAEONYS.

These are very beautiful in the bed, but not so desirable as cut flow-
ers. They are not as long-lived, and have a tendency to fold their petals
at night, yet some of them are of marvelous beauty. They are not as
popular in the west as in the east. I name a few of the leading ones from
Kelway's list.

Bridesmaid. Single, white.
- -Captain Holford. Clear rose.
'Countess Cadogan. Lovely flesh color.

Countess of Warwick. Delicate, soft flesh.

Doris. Bright rose.

Duchess of Sutherland. Large, flesh pink; a lovely flower.

Earl of Morley. Light purple.

Earl of Powis. Cherry rose.

Earl of Onslow. A good purple.

Flag of Truce. Pure white.

Flag of War. Deep, blood-crimson.

Ideality. Deep rose; grand.

Kimberly. A very pretty, rosy pink.

Lady Helen Vincent. White; tinged flesh; very beautiful.
, Ladyjeune. Blush white; very delicate.
.-Lord Annaly. Deep crimson; a fine, rich shade.

Meteor. Bright, dazzling crimson.

Modesty. Delicate blush pink.

Mrs. F. J. Clark. A beautiful white.

Mrs. Richmond. A fine rose color; grand.

Mrs. Vernon Harcourt. Beautiful flesh color.

Millais. Maroon. First-class certificate, R. B. S.

Purity. A kind of purest whiteness.

Sir Angus Holden. Cherry color.

Sir Comer Petheram. Fine crimson.

Sir Edward Lawson. Pure rose.

-Sir Robert Gresly. Rich maroon.

Stanley. A gorgeous variety of the richest and deepest rnaroon-
crimson, with pure gold color stamens. First-class certificate, R. B. S.,
and Award of Merit, R. H. S.

Scotia. Deep rose. Very lovely.

Snowflake. Of snowy whiteness.

-Victoria. Bright rose.

Defiance. Terry. Brilliant crimson; tall and fine.

Full Moon. New. This is one of the most striking, immense crim-
son, with strong outer petals and a full moon of golden stamens. A hearty,
open-faced flower.

Terry. Is a sort of lilac rose, very rich color.

Pacony manual 53

— >St. Sophia. Terry's. Is deep rose, and has the longest succession
of bloom of any of the single family.

"» Wild Rose. Pleas. Is a fine, open-faced crimson flower, with a
large, golden cushion.

May Davidson. Is a large pink, striped with silver.
The Queen. Terry's Large white, with cushion of pure gold.
We have several others on the way, whose merits are not fully estab-
lished.

THE JAPANESE PAEONYS.

These are a distinct family by themselves, single and semi-double,
with very pronounced golden centers. They are prodigal bloomers, of-
ten covered with a profusion of beauty. They are very hardy. Some
of us are endeavoring to raise a new race from seed, and here there is a
vast field. The nomenclature of this whole family is in a chaotic state,
and the Paeony Society is hard at work naming and classifying them. I
have in all some thirty kinds. I append Henry Dreers" list:

Apollo. Deep pink, shading lighter toward the edges.

Diana. Blush, with creamy white center.

Exquisite. White, with yellow stamens.

Fabiola. Delicate blush.

Neptune. A fine shell pink.

Ophir. Dark carmine.

Saturn. Rosy pink, with yellow stamens.

Souvenir. Flesh pink; creamy white center.

Titian. Soft, delicate pink.

Vesta. Purplish red.

Topaz. Deep rose, shading lighter at the margin.
— Undine. Bright pink, with darker shading.

CHAPTER XVIII

Perennial flowers

The great west, at least, lies at the busy end of the world. When
spring comes there is so much to be done we cannot stop to plant annu-
als. We want something that will stay planted. The time is not far off
when farmers will pay much more attention to home adornment. Already
country girls send to cities for flowers on festive occasions, as do their
town cousins.

The other day a farmer asked a nursery agent what he had that
would do for cut flowers. "We must raise our own," he said. "The
girls send away to the florist's, and it costs, and we have to stop a team
and go to town for them. We must raise our own." And he was ready
to give a good order for Paeonys, Lilies, Gaillardias, Phloxes and choice
white Dahlias. The man was right. His family needed flowers as well
as others. There was no reason why they should not have them, and it

54 €. $. garrison's

was much cheaper to grow than to buy them.

After years of testing, we have now many hardy things. Tulips,
Pansies ana Columbines come "early. Gaillardias are a numerous fam-
ily, and they work hard all summer. Phloxes bloom from June until
November, and Lilies come along in the procession of beauty., What a
wonderful family! All of them are easily cared for, and most of them
do better with some mulching in winter.

The sweet little Tenuifolia Lily, from Siberia, is hardy up there, be-
cause it grows in the woods and is covered with deep snow all winter.
It is tender in Illinois and Nebraska, because it lacks that snow mantle.
So with many things. Give them a good mulching after the ground
freezes, and you will succeed.

Many annuals come to their blooming in the middle or last of sum-
mer. They are not as well rooted as the perennials, and cannot as well
endure the hot suns and winds as those deeper rooted. Again, most
flower seeds are small, and it is very hard to make them germinate, for
the ground will dry out before they can come up, and if this happens as
they are sprouting there is a dead loss all around.

Most flowers of this class multiply by strong clumps, growing larger
each year, and occasionally these can be divided and replanted, so that
from small beginnings one can soon have an abundance at little expense.

Columbines

It is strange that such attractive and hardy flowers, so radiantly
beautiful, should receive so little attention. They are easily grown, re-
quire but little attention, and repay all care and labor needed a hundred
fold. Light itself has been dissolved, and all its prismatic rays have
been woven into their bloom. I think one trouble has been they have
not been planted on a scale large enough and in generous masses, so
that their charms could be seen to advantage. People persist in getting
a lonely flower and giving it the task of enlivening dreary surroundings.
And the poor thing cannot show to advantage. Then no single one,
beautiful as it may be, can represent them all.

Before my window as I write there is a large bed of them. Does
one realize what a great family they are, over fifty native species? I
have at least as many sorts. No flowers hybridize more readily. You
secure seeds from a large variety, and then sow seeds from these, and
you have a marvelous permutation of beauty. No two flowers of this
second crop will be entirely alike. The bumble bees especially delight
in their nectar. They seem almost intoxicated as they revel in it. Of
course they carry the pollen from one flower to another, and the result is
something new. There is an intense fascination in watching the various
changes wrought, and to see the bewitching loveliness of some of the
new arrivals. If one could sort out some of these and name and de-
scribe them, he could give some rare treasures to the floral world. By
this process you would have the pleasure of forming new acquaintances
whom no one else has yet met.

Let us take a look at some of these before us. That tall one, so
striking in appearance, is the Chrysantha, the golden. The color is yel-

Pacony manual 55

low, and not only that, there is a good deal of it. It is intense as though
the flower had secured all it could and had packed and pressed it to-
gether in the most lovely form imaginable. What long and delicate
spurs it has! We saw it growing wild in the Yellowstone National Park.
There it was small and comparatively insignificant. But translated to our
rich prairie soil, with good cultivation, it gives grateful response to our
kindly attention. A flower does not blush as well unseen, while it "wastes
its fragrance on the desert air," as when there are admirers to appreciate
its beauty. Many a flower, comparatively unattractive in its wild state,
will bloom in a prodigality of loveliness under the influence of cultiva-
tion and where it can be seen and enjoyed. The Picea Pungens, the
king of beauty among the conifers, nowhere in all the mountains does
as well as when transplanted in the rich soil of the prairie, or the eastern
states, and receives the attention it deserves Then the needles are
longer and the sheen is far brighter and more radiant than in its own
habitat.

Here is ano'her of attractive appearance, with long and delicate
spurs. The petals are snowy white and intense blue It seems a photo-
graph of the sapphire of the sky and the fleecy clouds. This is the Coe-
relia of the Rockies, and the state flower of Colorado. We often see
these in masses at an altitude of eight or nine hundred feet. In many
places they grow to great size, as some localities seem better adapted to
their development than others. When taken down to the plains they
need some shelter from the burning sun and hot winds. This variety
readily hybridizes with others, and its motherhood is seen in many types
in recent years. So readily does it cross that though the original plants
will be all right, yet the progeny varies so readily and to such an extent
that pure seed must be secured from the mountains if you would be sure.
I keep a remote nook in the further corner of the nursery, as far removed
as possible from the others, for their exclusive use; and even here there
is some danger that the bees may find them, and I cannot be absolutely
sure of all those grown from them, so I make it a practice to secure fresh
seed every year or two.

There is one of deepest, darkest blue, so much so it is almost black.
It is a large, solid flower. It has no spurs whatever. It is quilled like
the Dahlia. Another is salmon pink lined with white, a gorgeous flower,
and the blooms hang like lamps in a chandelier around the parent stem.
Here is one that is a large, compact, snowy white. It is a full and prod-
igal bloomer, and near it is a single white, well spurred. In close prox-
imity is one of deep blue, a single flower, with long, slender spurs, much
like the Coerelia, to which it probably owes its parentage. In the cross-
ing it doubtless got enough of the blue from one of those of deep azure
to eliminate the white.

Yonder is a double maroon on a strong stem, and its color blends
well with the garments of its neighbors. Here is a large, double pink
of curious form, shaped like a tiny barrel. One is lilac color and semi-
double. In short in color there are samples of the shades of almost all
known to us. There is a tall, independent one, a sort of a blend of blue
and maroon, lilac and rose color, showing that the pollen of several dif-
ferent ones had entered into combination to form one so fresh and rare.

56 C. $. garrison's

Time would fail to describe them all. The Golden is less liable
than others to enter into crosses. One reason is that it is so much later,
and yet there are several that show its influence, and many of the golden
ones have been somewhat swerved from their distinct form. These flow-
ers commence blooming with the Tulips, and continue to flower for two
months, while the Chrysantha will break out now and then all summer.
Imagine if you can a blend of these charming colors in a mass of several
hundred, some early, others late, some single and many double, many of
them tall and others dwarfs. In color from purest white to deepest pur-
ple.

There is a Columbine Society at Boston, hard at work to have these
adopted as the national flower. They are Aquilegia, related to our bird
of freedom. They are Columbines, which sounds something like our
own Columbia. Then we have quite a number of native varieties. So
the society is making a strong plea. Many designs in decorations are
taken from these flowers. And as one of the states has adopted one of
the family as its own flower, this may be the beginning, and perhaps ul-
timately the Union may follow one of our richest states.

HOW TO GROW THEM.

Get a quantity of mixed seed and sow early in the spring. The
seeds are small, and of course must be planted shallow. But here is the
trouble, especially in the west — the ground dries before the seed can
germinate. Contrive some way to keep the surface wet all the while, day
and night, till they come up. But you had better trust to experts, who
make it their business, and buy the plants, which can be had at very
reasonable rates, three to ten dollars a hundred, and thus save a good
deal of care and vexation and a year's growth, as they will bloom some
the first season. Put in rows eighteen to twenty-four inches apart, and
twelve to eighteen inches in the row, and they will soon stool out and
cover the ground. It is best to mulch well with coarse manure after the
ground freezes, and in the spring rake it between the rows. I do not al-
ways take this trouble, for they are very hardy. If the season is wet,
some of the seeds, as they fall, may grow, and thus extend the area.
The seeds have great vitality. Some sow them in 'he fall. Columbines
are used a good deal for cut flowers, though they are not as good keep-
ers as Paeonys. They are in season on the nation's great flower day,
when we decorate the graves of our dead. Some late springs they are
about the only out door flower we can use, as was the case in 1904, when
they were in the full glory of their bloom in great masses.

So plant Columbines. There should be a flower procession from
the opening of the Tulips to the hard frosts of autumn, and these should
have a prominent place. The more you have of them the more you will
admire them, and when you get well acquainted with them you could not
get along without them.

Delphiniums

In our search for hardy perennials we have found this among the
most showy and beautiful. If you travel in the Rockies you will meet
these flowers in all their glory. In the rich valleys you often see them

PINK PAEONY. MODEL de PERFECTION
By Kindness of W. A. Peterson

GAILLARDIA GRANDIFORA

Pawny manual

57

six or seven feet high, and the tall, strong stem lined with a covering of
flowers of deepest blue.

This flower, sometimes called the Larkspur, has been much im-
proved. In the Boston flower shows I have seen gorgeous specimens of
grand, radiant flowers which seemed at great remove from our native
plants. These tall ones are clothed with the splendor of sapphire, and
so intense is the color it would seem as though all the shadings and tint-
ing which could be extracted were there in a marvelous blending. I have
some very rich specimens, which draw the attention of visitors. They
are about six feet tall. Some are like great posts frescoed with bloom;
others are branching, and all are grand. They follow hard after the
Paeonys, and bridge the chasm between them and the Phloxes.

Over in England they have made great improvements in these flow-
ers. By careful selection and hybridizing they have secured a race far
superior to our native sorts. But though these choice strains may do
well in the milder climate of that country, they do not winter well with
us. But we have such a rich variety there is no reason why we also can-
not improve, and thus secure hardiness with beauty.

»

I give the following as an English tribute to this flower:

DELPHINIUMS. — As permanent subjects in the hardy flower garden
we have few plants more worthy of special attention than the Del-
phiniums. For producing a striking display over a long season they are
probably unique. For general effect in groups or beds they are extreme-
ly valuable as a whole, but one is easily carried away on closer inspec-
tion by the exquisite beauty of their flowers, particularly those with clear,
sky-blue shades. Indeed, they have many points of excellence, any one
of which alone should entitle them to popularity. But to appreciate
their beauty one must see them growing, for it is almost impossible to
convey anything like an adequate idea of their worth by mere descrip-
tion, and it is equally impossible to place their towering and densely-
flowered spikes before the public at the summer exhibitions in a manner
worthy of them. Those who have not the opportunity of seeing these
plants in flower, or a collection of them well established, may form some
idea of a group with the flower spikes five to eight feet high, and densely
clothed for about half their length with exquisitely beautiful blooms. Of
course the plants do not reach such perfection in the first year, but in the
second year they certainly constitute the grandest possible display.
While making the garden gay for a long season, they are in the greatest
perfection in June and July, but a judicious selection of them may some-
what extend that period. Where seed is not required the plants should
be cut down as soon as flowering is over, and in the late summer months
many of them will yield another set of spikes, not so fine, of course, as
the first ones. The shades of blue, both light and dark, are very numer-
ous; others, again, have flowers of the deepest indigo and violet, while
less numerous are those with bronzy and metallic hues combined with
other shades. — Gardening Illustrated.

&

I here give place for an excellent article from E. Hemming, in
Florists' Exchange of July 9, 1904:

58 €. $. garrison's

Among hardy perennials the Delphinium, or Perennial Larkspur,
has held front place for the past two weeks. Closely following the late
varieties of Paeonys, they stand out as the most showy border plants
blooming at the present time. A good, large collection of these plants
is a sight to be remembered, especially when well grown and cared for.
The exquisite shades of blue have'to be seen to be appreciated While
the named kinds grown so extensively in England soon die out and re-
quire great care to perpetuate them in this country, they are so easily
grown from seed, and so invariably give good results if a good strain of
seed is procured, that they should be better known among florists. A
visit among the gardens along the Hudson revealed the fact that they
grow exceptionally well in that locality, and spikes towering up to eight
and nine feet high were not at all uncommon.

Delphinium Elatum, or Exalatum, is a native of North America.
This is supposed to be the origin of the tall garden varieties, of ten called
English Delphiniums, that have been so much improved by Kelway and
other nurserymen.

Delphinium Formosum is of more branching habit, seldom exceed-
ing the height of three feet, but a prime favorite, owing to its beautiful
color, which is a combination of indigo, violet and sky blue.

D. Grandiflorum, or Chinense, as it is often called, is a very fine
cut-leaved kind, having several varieties.

All the above are good, and well worth growing, being useful for
cutting and attractive in every way, and the same treatment will suit them
all.

Of course it is necessary to propagate named kinds by division or
cuttings. This should be done in the very early spring. Growing them
from seed, however, is the most satisfactory way. D Formosum and
D. Grandiflorum come fairly true from seed, producing very few poor
forms if the seed is procured from a reliable source. The seed should
be fresh, as it seems to lose its germinating power very rapidly. Sown
in early spring, it will produce plants that will flower the first year. Of
course the flower spikes are not very large, but sufficiently so to select
the best to plant out in the position they are wanted to fill. When in a
young state care should be taken to keep a sharp lookout for snails, as
these pests seem passionately fond of the plants, and will make sad havoc
of them in a short time.

Quite a percentage of Kelway's hybrids will come double from seed,
but it is an open question if the double forms are superior to the single
ones.

As regards the after treatment, or when they are planted in the open
ground, deep, generous cultivation and good, rich soil is what they like;
and, when planting, see that the crowns are well below the surface of the
soil; one and a half to two inches is not too much. As soon as the
plants have done flowering, unless they are wanted for seed, the flower
stems should be cut down. This will induce a second crop of flowers.
While perhaps not equal to the first crop, they will be found to be well
worth looking after.

Jf

The seeds of this plant are quite small, and it is very difficult to

Paeon v manual 59

germinate them, as the ground dries up while they are sprouting. It is
perhaps as well to get the plants in the spring and give them the best of
care. They will bloom in good season.

Intense blue among flowers is a striking color, and is needed to
cover the range of beauty. Many of our choicest families, like the
Paeony and Rose, avoid that color altogether. But when you see the
Delphinium in all its glory, with those rich tints, and all the delicate pen-
ciling and tracing done with nature's most skillful touch, you will feel
that you have the link you need in the chain of beauty.

The signification is flame, on account of the brilliancy of the flow-
ers. In the early days of Illinois, we used to see great fields of these
plants in the fulness of their beauty. Along in the fifties I used to ride
over the vast prairies of Minnesota, where there would be great flower
gardens of thousands of acres, which filled the air with their fragrance;
and the tonic of the fresh air laden with perfume, and the immense fields
of growing beauty would bring a new zest to life.

In the Yellowstone Park there is a beautiful creeping Phlox, which
blooms in spite of the frosts. It spreads out in clusters, often covering
the rocks. It is flesh, or light pink, in color, and a very attractive
flower.

The Phlox is a native of North America. It was taken to Europe,
and in the hands of florists there, it has shown variations of form and
color that are amazing. Its cultivation has great possibilities for the
amateur. The family is so large and the variations so extensive that hy-
bridization is yet going on. Securing some of the finest foreign ones, I
find the seed from them will often produce new varieties as choice as
many of those imported. Their improvement and development has
reached that stage where, with a little care, we can have a marvelous di-
versity in form and color. Plant the choice varieties by themselves;
save the seed, planting it under a screen in the fall, and you stand a
chance of securing the same. Of course if you raise for the market you
should wait till they flower, and eliminate everything not up to the pa-
rental pattern.

The Paniculata. Is a strong growing native variety.

The Maculata. Is of a more dwarfish habit. These two have been
hybridized by European florists, till now we have perhaps a hundred
choice kinds.

The Divaricata. Is yet another variety of our natives.

Phlox Drummondi. Was found growing in Texas by a botanical
collector, Mr. Drummond. He sent the seed home, but soon after died
of the fever, so this variety, which is an annual, was named from him.
This has been greatly improved, and it is claimed that some of the finest
perennials have a strain of the Drummondi. The plants should have the
best of care. They need water in hot, dry weather. I have known them
to stand up well under no in the shade, with the hot wind raging, pro-
vided they had plenty of water.

You have the time of blooming under absolute control, if you have

60 C. $. garrison's

a large bed. When they are six inches to a foot high mow off a portion.
This retards them, and you can vary this method to fit the time you wish
them to flower. Again, you may have a bed a year old. These, if un-
disturbed, will bloom early. Then will come the fall planted ones, a
little later in blooming. Then those planted in the spring. Lastly those
grown from seed will take the remainder of the season, till the hard
frosts of autumn.

The ground should be rich and well cultivated. The last of Octo-
ber is perhaps the best time. They should be well mulched for the win-
ter. They should not stand more than two or three years before divid-
ing and replanting. The heads have a curious formation. One set of
flowers bloom and fall, and then another set, like reserves in an
army, push out and take their places, and thus this relay comes on for
weeks, keeping up a fresh, imposing mass of bloom.

SOME OF THE VARIETIES. - THE WHITE.

Independence. Is a full, snowy white, one of the early ones. It is
a free bloomer and quite attractive.

Jeanne d' Arc. Is massive, fine and late, a great mass of purity.

The Pearl. Is another very fine one.

But the grandest of all is Fraulein G. Von Lessburg. This is far
in advance of any white one yet produced. The flowers are of glowing,
sheeny whiteness, and are of immense size, sometimes measuring nearly
two inches in diameter. These are very rare, and so are quite expensive.
But in this superb variety you have the very triumph of horticulture,
showing the wide contrast between this new creation and the original
stock.

Coquelicot. Is French for poppy. This is flaming, bright, orange
scarlet, almost the color of the brilliant oriental poppy. They are the
brightest of all, but our hot suns are most too much for them. They
should have some shelter from the fierce heat of July.

Crepuscule. Has a flower larger than a silver dollar. It has a
compact, massive head, as though it was one large blossom. The blooms
are white, with violet shade, and a large, bright, carmine purple eye.

Huxley. Is violet purple, with a large center of pure white.

Esperence. Has a lovely shade of light lavender pink, with great
lustrous eyes of white; compact, a free bloomer, and very beautiful.
The head is like a great, solid, symmetrical cone of beautiful shadings.

Cross of Honor. This is not a large flower, but is very peculiar,
on account of each petal having a clearly defined cross.

Eclaireur. Has flowers of immense size. They are bright violet
purple, dazzling in their splendor. In the center are marks and stars.
This, by some, is considered the finest of all. It is one of the earliest.
The stem is dwarf, but not the flower.

Che Gaillardia

This perennial is beginning to receive much attention, and with rea-
son. There is no plant so susceptible of improvement. In England the
Kelways have made marvelous success as regards size and color. They

Pacony manual 61

have produced some five inches across. A bed of them presents a very
lively and brilliant appearance. They are marvelous bloomers. I doubt
if there is any flower which can give such an abundance of continuous
bloom as these. Commencing in June, they are clothed in beauty until
the hard frosts of Autumn. They endure dry weather well, and seem
hardy every way. As cut flowers they are brilliant and showy and among
the longest keepers.

Unlike most perennials, which require two years to come into flower,
these, if sown in early spring, are clothed with a mantle of bloom in July.
They need heavy mulching with coarse manure when the ground freezes.
It would be as well to leave the tops on and throw the mulching on them,
thus giving ventilation as well as protection. The seeds grow readily.
A portion can be started in the house and then set out after danger of
frost is over. Of course it is better to get the plants, but the roots are
small, compared to the upper growth, and seem insignificant. Seed
sown in the open germinates readily, and the plants become very vigor-
ous and commence to bloom as soon as large enough. These flowers
you can depend on. Others, like Roses, Paeonys and Lilies, have their
season and pass on. But the Gaillardias take all the season, and when
others fail, you can count on them. Though new to most people, I find
they take well when ordinary floral displays are needed.

We have a Gaillardia growing wild in the valley of the Republican
River. I have some growing, but they are not in bloom.

The Grandiflora. Is a fine, large flower. In color it is madder,
maroon and gold, often with other tints. Some will have very open
faces and others will have petals compressed at the base and expanded
in the outer rim. It is easy to see how, with such a variety of form and
color, selections can be made, and they can be increased in size. The
English have pushed things so far that the most highly developed ones
are not hardy. I think perhaps if these gorgeous ones were crossed
with our own natives, we might have some of hardier strains. Should
you ever get imported ones, I would advise you to take up the roots in
the fall and store in boxes of earth till spring. I had quite a quantity,
and even heavy mulching did not save them.

The Amblydon Gaillardia. Is an open-faced single one of deep,
blood red. This seems quite vigorous. I have had seed sown in the
open to make plants that bloomed well in July. Their brilliant color
makes them very attractive.

The Picta Lorenziana. Is a double flower with a full cushion, rich-
ly variegated, and the intermingling of colors makes it very effective. As
a cut flower it is a very long keeper.

Aurora Borealis. Has rays of gold, crimson and white, making it
very showy.

Coccinea. Is scarlet

These are the varieties which we mostly use. Plant in masses,
either mixed or otherwise. Never depend on a single plant to cheer up
a whole yard. I do not know of any flower which will give such bounti-
ful returns for the labor bestowed, or that will produce more cheer of
such long duration. In your collection, don't leave this out. I often
have blooms of the Grandiflora over three inches across, and as no two

62 c. s. garrison's

plants have flowers exactly alike in form and color, you have a charm-
ing diversity in both form and tints.

As you look over a bed of these different kinds, you note striking
variations, both in form and color. For instance, in the double ones,
some will be dark, some lighter, and some golden. By saving and plant-
ing seeds of these various types, you will soon have distinct strains.

Among the Grandiflora some are large and some small. By sowing
the seed of the largest, you can soon increase the size. The process can
be hurried, for you can raise two crops a year. For instance, those you
carry over winter will seed so early that you can raise another set of
plants, under screen, the same year. Even these raised from seed in
the spring-time will produce seed in July, which can be sown, and these
will make nice plants for the following year. So, by watching them
closely, you can increase them rapidly, and soon have a wide variation
in form and color. And there is certainly an intense fascination in this
calling of new forms out of the unknown.

CDC City

There are about fifty species of this glorious flower, ranging in size
from the attractive little Tenuifolium to the immense Giganteum, which
must have five years to complete bulb, which throws up a stem six inches
through and ten feet high.

There is also a wide range in the time of flowering, which covers a
good portion of the summer. It is not practical to secure the whole of
this family, but enough of the leading kinds can be planted to have a
cheering variety.

One trouble has been in understanding them — their nature and
needs. Siberian lilies are covered deep with snow in winter, so are
those of the Rockies, and the natives of Minnesota and the North.
There are fine ones growing in the woods of Canada. All these are
carefully covered up with the snow mantle in winter, and this is the best
covering ever devised yet. Now, take these same plants from their own
habitat and plant them on the open, bleak prairies of the West and many
of them will perish. The bare ground freezes deep. They are often
planted shallow, and so they die for want of protection. Many are so
hardy they will endure anything.

This is true of the Hemorocallis family and some others.

Generally, the soil is not prepared thoroughly enough, and they are
not planted deep enough. Some dig a trench, put manure in the bot-
tom, then some fine earth, then plant a foot deep, and cover with sand
or light earth, so the plant can readily push its way up.

C. L. Allen, in a recent work, gives the following directions: "To
prepare a proper home for the Lily the soil should be thrown out to the
depth of two feet. Then, in the bottom of the trench, put six inches
of cow manure; then put on twelve inches of well rotted sod; on this
put two inches of clean sand; then plant the bulbs and cover with fine
earth. But for the western prairies this is not deep enough." From my
own experieuce, I think a depth of eight to twelve inches is preferable
Only be careful of the kind of earth with which you cover them. If you

Pacony manual 63

put on stiff clay it will be hard for them to bore their way through.
Light earth, mixed with old and thoroughly pulverized manure, should
be used. In no case allow the bulbs to touch fresh manure. Then,
when winter comes, put on about six inches of coarse manure. In this
way you will obtain protection for your bulbs, and, though the ground
may freeze, they will not be near enough to "all out of doors" to hurt
them. The bulb, like that of the Paeony, carries the life and sustenance
of the plant.

Cared for in the way described, the lilies will retain their vigor,- and
all up and down the stem new bulbs will form. Never plant them on wet
ground. Though trey need water in a dry time, they cannot endure wet feet.

I think there is no soil better for their propagation than our rich,
light, prairie loam. Here they bloom gloriously, and propagate freely.

THE TIME TO PLANT.

The Candidum, or Annunciation Lily, with its bloom of purest white,
should be planted in its dormant condition, which is the last of August and
the first of September. After a brief period of rest it begins to grow, and
produces quite a tuft of foliage before winter sets in. We cannot
speak to o highly of this exquisitely beautiful flower. It is often used for
forcing, to produce flowers for Easter. Its purity of whiteness and de-
lightful fragrance make it a favorite. It does not seem to be a hard
plant to raise. I have planted them, when badly grown, as late as Oc-
tober, and they did well, in spite of the shock of moving at the wrong
time.

The Lily should not remain out of ground long before planting, and
must never be allowed to dry. There is a great advantage in securing
home-grown instead of imported ones, for, unless properly packed, they
must suffer for being so long out of ground.

Some kinds do best with partial shade, while others flourish in the
open. I have a grand one from the North Carolina mountains, sent out
by Fred Kelsey. It does not do well in the open; it does not grow so
tall or flower so freely as those under partial screen and good surround-
ing shelter. These grow to be seven feet high, with glorious clusters of
freckled yellow flowers. They have a rich, soft coloring, and give them
forest or native conditions, with plenty of water in a dry time, and they
will be all you can ask for.

The beautiful Golden Funkai, or Day Lily, is an early one. It has
a -clear, yellow color. There is a another, much taller and later, which
is very satisfactory.

One of the hardiest, most showy, as well as attractive, is the Ele-
gans. It blooms along with the Paeonys, and goes into the wholesale
business, covering the whole plant with a mantle of bloom. These prop-
agate readily; the stem underground has a string of bulblets on it. Dig
up the whole; plant the larger ones for next year's flowering, and the
small ones for another year's growth.

Then come the double and single Tiger Lilies. These are very
robust, hardy and prolific of bloom. Up and down the stem tiny' bulbs
are attached, about the size of blackberries. Do you wish to multi-
ply them as rapidly as possible? Then cut off these stems as carefully
as possible, so as not to shatter off the tiny bulblets, and plant them in
good, light soil, covering about two or three inches deep. The embryo

64 €. $. garrison's

bulbs seem to feed on the stem, and in the spring they come up good
and strong. It takes a couple or years or so for them to be large enough
to flower.

The Pardanthus Chinensis or Leopard Flower rather belongs to the
Iris family, yet it is called the Blackberry Lily. It is rather late, blos-
soming in mid-summer. It has a very pretty little flower, and when that
is gone a blackberry takes its place, continuing the attraction of he
plant. These berries hang on a long time. If you wish for moreof
these flowers, plant the blackberries in the spring, and they will grow
readily.

The Plantain Lily. Grows to have very large stools of beautiful
foliage. They have snowy white blossoms, very much like the Candidum.
They bloom in August.

The Homerocallis. Are strong plants. These do not have bulb-
ous roots, but are propagated by root separation, and also by seeds.

The Tenuifolia. Is the sweetest and daintiest of all. Charming
blooms hang like chandeliers around the stem. These roots are edible,
and the traveler in the woods of Siberia finds a plant with a charming
flower at one end and a potato at the other.

Many kinds do not multiply rapidly, though the root makes it up
by producing seed, which can be planted in the spring, care being taken
not to allow them to dry during germination.

I. Wilkinson Elliot, of Pittsburg, Pa., gives this description of a
garden of Lilies:

A correspondent complains that we have told him too often of the
lawyer's garden; but it is still the best garden in this vicinity, and a good
garden cannot be told about too often.

Our friend, the lawyer, has a garden of Lilies. Many other things
he has in his garden — great banks of Mollis and Ghent Azaleas that are
worth a long journey to see; an entire hillside is covered with hybrid
Rhododendrons and Kalmia Latifolia; Tulips, Daffodils and Crocuses
are everywhere in the spring, and the glorious show of Japanese Irises
in June is a sight not easily to be forgotten — but he has Lilies by the
hundred and by the thousand, and in so many varieties that from June
until November there is always a fine display of Lily flowers. Such a
garden! By daylight it is splendid, by moonlight it is fairyland, and the
air is filled with fragrance. Such a garden to visit, as we do visit it, and
travel forty miies a dozen times a year, and come away with our arms
filled with great stalks of Lily bloom. For this is a garden in which
there are always flowers to cut and to spare. It is not the miserable
garden of bedding plants in which its owner finds it difficult to cut a lit-
tle nosegay to give to a friend. We wish you who are content to grow
such commonplace things of so little beauty as Cannas, Geraniums, Co-
leus and Alternantheras, could visit this garden of Lilies, and then say
what excuse you have to offer for your poor taste. Not that of cost,
for Lily bulbs are to be had for as little money as bedding plants, and as
Lilies are hardy, their first cost is their only cost, while bedding plants
must be bought every season.

We are to remember this was written of the east, and that Azalias
and Kalmias will not grow in the west.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES

THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below

RE<TD WC. OR,

-
SEP 12 1967!

Form L-9-15r»,-7,'35

UNIVERSITY of

LC

LIBRARY

SB

__413__jiarrlsor3

^HF~A~ial^r

— on-t^e-

__
^cultivation of

; SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY

A 001 100 276 3

S£>

Mb
"?V^^