Ill 



not in rows, individual supports are required to be provided. Stakes 

 driven into the ground with a wire stapled to their tops furnish a 

 good and cheap device. Perhaps the best, though more expensive, 

 is a modification of Mr. Egan's device (Country Life in America, 

 Feb., 1903), described by Professor R. T. Jackson in 1904, as fol- 

 lows: "Three iron rods three feet long are made of heavy wire 

 one-quarter of an inch in diameter, an eyelet is bent in the top, and 

 the rods are galvanized after they are cut and bent. A circular 

 connecting wire of lighter weight, one-eighth of an inch in diameter 

 and six feet six inches long, is passed through the eyelets and made 

 secure by looping wire. Thus one can have the circular wire 

 of full size, or reduced to any smaller diameter desired, and 

 held in the reduced size by tying one end. Such supports are very 

 inconspicuous, being practically invisible in a well grown plant, 

 and have given satisfaction to several peony growers who have 

 tried them. 



Disbudding. — Disbudding is only necessary with the alhiRora 

 varieties, for it is only these which form more than one bud on a 

 shoot. They often bear more than one bud, and sometimes as 

 many as eight or ten on a shoot. With singles all are often left, 

 and produce the spray effect, but doubles should be disbudded early 

 before the side buds have had time to take much nourishment from 

 the terminal bud. For cut flowers to be sold on the city markets, 

 it is usually advisable to disbud. There is, however, a difference 

 among varieties, for even among the varieties of alhiflora we find 

 cases where only one bud is formed, or where the side buds remain 

 undeveloped. 



Remarks on color. — It is a well known fact that the color of 

 many kinds of peonies, when allowed to remain in the open, is 

 not stable. Pink varieties lose their delicate tints, fading to a white. 

 This defect may be remedied in two ways: by cutting in bud and 

 allowing the blooms to open in the house, or by erecting a cheese 

 cloth covering over them during the blooming season. Under a 

 cheese cloth covering, the color will remain comparatively un- 

 changed. This plan works well in raising specimen blooms, but for 

 the peonies in the open border exposed to the full sun in the front 

 grounds, the covering is very objectionable. It is therefore advis- 

 able in massing peonies in such conspicuous places, to select varie- 

 ties which do not tend to fade out. Good strong reds, such as 

 Richardson's Rubra Superba, and whites such as Festiva Maxima, 

 will give the best satisfaction in such positions. 



