PEONY. ft 



tlicy now enumerate no less than two liundred and 

 forty species, as tliey call them, some of which are 

 said to be of delig^htful fram-ance. 



The Tree Peony sold for high prices when first 

 it got into the hands of the nurserymen in the vici- 

 nity of London, but it is already become moderate 

 in price, since it has proved of easy cultivation, and 

 a much hardier nature than was at first expected. 



When these plants were first known in France, 

 Monsieur Noisette, a nurseryman in Paris, sold 

 them at from one thousand five hundred francs, to 

 one hundred louis each. 



The Tree Peony is now found to be sufficiently 

 hardy to bear the cold of our climate ; but to have 

 it in all the splendour which it is capable of dis- 

 playing, the plant should be simply secured by a 

 glazed building, the aid of artificial heat being 

 unnecessary to its full development. 



When the different varieties of these magnificent 

 flowers are inoculated on the branches of a single 

 plant, it is hardly possible to conceive a more splen- 

 did effect than it presents, in its fine lobed foliage 

 and superb-sized flowers, whose colour varies from 

 the finest carmine to the most delicate blush of the 

 rose. The large petals, which are finely shaded 

 off from the centre to the edges, are placed with 

 the most graceful irregularity, and yet the whole 

 forms a group of perfect symmetry and beauty. 



