205 



THE MOTJTAIN', OE TEEE P.EONY. 



COEEESPONDENT has asked for some directions for 

 the cultivation of these magnificent plants, and it seems 

 better to deal with the subject at some length than to 

 dispose of it in a small paragraph. I do not suppose 

 it to be needful to say a word respecting their beauty, 

 for that is renowned, and there are folks living who would not mind 

 paying a liberal fee for a sight of a good collection in flower. But 

 they are not inelegant when out of flower, and at any time when 

 their leaves are green they may be classed as ornamental plants, of 

 by no means common-place or uninteresting appearance. Until 

 within the past few years they have been very costly ; so much so 

 that it is but a short time since one of the beds of tree pa^onies at 

 the Crystal Palace was valued at £1000, and I do not think £250 

 would be an extravagant valuation for one of the beds of Banksii 

 there which I saw in bloom in the spring of this year. I see in 

 Mr. John Eraser's catalogue plants of Banksii, Papaveracea, and 

 Eosea odorata oftered at 5s. each, so the first cost of the plants need 

 not now be an obstacle to their cultivation anywhere. Having 

 grown them many years, and having successfully incorporated them 

 into my " plunging system,"* I trust I shall be enabled to offer a 

 i'ew remarks on the treatment they require, which may be useful to 

 our readers. 



Moi'TANS IN Beds. — The moutan pasonies have been very badly 

 treated, and very much misrepresented. They have been put in 

 heat, which soon kills them ; they have been grown in fanciful 

 composts, which cause them to grow weakly, become infested with 

 vermin, and produce but few or none of their splendid flowers. 

 They must be treated in a simple manner, or they are of no use at 

 all. The first requisite is a stift' soil, abundantly manured, and well 

 drained. They do better planted out in compartments if the climate 

 suits them, but where the climate is unfavourable they can be grown 

 in pots. It must not be supposed that a warm climate is requisite ; 

 in fact, a warm climate, if moist, is decidedly unfavourable to their 

 well-doing, for it promotes a late growth, and results in imperfectly 

 ripened wood, which the next season starts into growth prematurely, 

 so that the flower buds — if any appear — are liable to be destroyed 

 by frost. In the rather bleak position and the decidedly stift' soil 

 they have at Sydenham, they thrive amazingly. I have seen the beds 

 there completely smothered with their gorgeous flowers, averaging 

 five or six inches each in diameter. They do not, however, need 

 sun so much as most other shrubs ; in fact, just such an amount of 

 shade as rhododendrons delight in suits the pajony, and they need 

 shelter also from high winds. If I could pick my place for them, I 

 would choose a western slope on a clay soil, with a belt of evergreens 

 to give shelter from north and east, and a few large trees to give 

 shade from the south, but otherwise open and breezy, and lying 



See Floral World, 1864 and 1865, passim. 



