112 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



ion regardingf these so-cailed diseased roots. I believe 

 it to be more a condition than a disease; a condition 

 brought on usually, as previously stated, by the excessive 

 use of -manure \vhen the roots are newly planted and 

 before they can properly assimilate the overdose. It is 

 manifested by distorted, undeveloped roots, covered with 

 lumpy knots' and nodules. An unusual number of eyes 

 are formed, sending up many stems of weak growth, 

 which do not mature flower buds. This condition can 

 also be produced by too deep planting, the use of large 

 divisions of old worn-out roots, or by planting in a sour, 

 pasty soil, or anything which seems to check a healthy 

 action of the roots. 



My remedy is to cut the infected roots into very 

 small divisions of one or two eyes, shorten the roots to 

 two to three inches, and replant in perfectly fresh soil 

 without any manure. This forces an entirely new system 

 of root growth, and so treated, the trouble usually disap- 

 pears in a year or two. Some varieties appear to be 

 more susceptible than others, and occasionally the trouble 

 persists for a number of years. If these happen to be 

 cheap kinds, it is usually better to discard them and start 

 new with clean roots ; with expensive varieties, however, 

 it pays to have a little patience with them. Practically 

 all the novelties from Europe that have come to us from 

 very old gardens, are affected when we first get them, 

 and if we are to reject them on this account, we would 

 have to forego such wonderful varieties as Le Cygne, 

 La France, Mont Blanc, etc. In fact, nearly all the fine 

 new I'^rench varieties are more or less affected when first 

 received, but after coming from old, worn out soil, soon 

 outgrow this trouble when planted in new ground here. 

 Remember, you can take the smoothest, healthiest roots 

 from one place, plant them in a sour soil over-saturated 

 with fresh manure, and get the most beautiful specimen 

 of club root the following year. Fortunately it is not 

 contagious as many have claimed, for you can plant 

 aiifccted roots in good soil side by side with healthy ones 

 and I have never known a single case where the healthy 

 roots were affected by them, which convinces me that 

 the sick plants are simply suffering from a cause similar 

 to what we would describe as an inactive liver or a bad 

 case of biliousness in our own system. 



To sum up, fungous attacks are local, due to weather 

 conditions, and only occasionally seriously destructive. 

 Clubroots are due to overfeeding, improper soil or plant- 

 ing, and are not contagious. Cut off and burn dead 

 foliage in the Fall and use hardwood ashes or lime as a 

 fertilizer for acid soil, applying manure as a top dressing 

 only until plants are in active growth. 



Succession of IJi.oom 



By including the various early-flowering species, hy- 

 brids and tree peonies in one's collection, the blooming 

 .season may be extended over a period of fully two 

 months. The tree peonies bloom (|uite a month ahead of 

 the CliiiicnsU, beginning early in May. As they do not 

 die to the ground each year, they form in time woody 

 shrubs four to five feet in height, their inmiense. strik- 

 ingly beautiful blooms sometimes a foot in diameter; 

 They are a wonderful sight. There are color schemes 

 among them never found in the herbaceous section, bril- 

 liant scarlets, dark maroons and rich wine colors, delicate 

 blush, pure pink, and art shades of mauve and violet. 

 Most of the varieties introduced by the iuiroiiean growers 

 are full-double, while a large number of tlt£ Japanese 

 sorts are semi-double and single, with a large cushion 

 of thick golden stamens in the center, which produces a 

 beautiful effect. 



Peony Lutca, a deep golden yellow single tree peony 

 was discovered a few years ago in the Mountains of 



Yunnan by the Abbe Delavay. Crosses from this were 

 made by Lemoine with other tree peonies. One of them, 

 La Lorraine, was exhibited by me at the American Peony 

 Show in Philadelphia in June, 1917, and was given a spe- 

 cial Award of Merit. Its blooms, six inches in diameter, 

 are fully dotible and are a deep yellow. A new Lutea 

 hybrid now introduced to the trade is Souvenir du 

 Maxime Cornu. a dee])er color with a shading similar to 

 that in the Mnie. Edward Herriot Rose. Lutea and its 

 hvbrids bloom later than the other tree peonies. 



The dainty femiel-leafed Peony, P. tcnuifoUa, follows 

 the tree peonies, and its dazzlingly brilliant scarlet flow- 

 ers always attract attention. It required careful cultiva- 

 tion and only grows about a foot high. Next in point 

 of interest and season of bloom are Lemoine's Wittman- 

 niana hybrids, produced by crossing the pale yellow 

 Peony W'ittmanniana, itself a rather difficult species to 

 grow, with P. Chinensis, resulting in types of strong, 

 vigorous growths, with handsome decorative foliage and 

 large single flowers. There are four of them : Avante 

 Garde, pale rose ; Le Printemps, creamy yellow ; Mai 

 Meuri, white shaded salmon : and Messagere, sulphur 

 white. 



The officinalis types begin to bloom almost invarialily 

 ten days before the Chinensis varieties. Officinalis rubra, 

 the brilliant early red of our grandmothers' gardens be- 

 longs to this species ; which is a native of Europe. There 

 is a white one. Officinalis alba plena, and a very beautiful 

 large flowered pink one. Rosea siiperba, besides a number 

 of named single and double ones not commonly seen." 

 Sabina, L'Oriflamme. Ourika, and La Brilliant are very 

 attractive. Most of the. other species are of little interest 

 to the average grower, but I have cut blooms of Tritcrnata 

 and Arictina in April, and of Rubra supcrba the 27tli of 

 June, a season of quite two months. 



A MARECHAL NIEL ROSE STORY 

 RICHARD VINCENT, JR. 



I N the Spring of 'iiS the writer happened in a florist's 

 store where the proprietor was unpacking a small box 

 of Alarechal Niel roses received that morning from a 

 grower. This rose being something wonderful at that 

 time, the receiver of the box was wonderfully pleased at 

 being able to obtain them for a special piece of work he 

 had on hand. In unpacking, one of the roses was broken 

 oft" at the stem, which with the others was very short and 

 they all required stemming previous to being used ; it, 

 of course, was not lost, as it could be wired and used. 



The florist having no use for the particular stem or 

 piece of wood the writer asked and received it for use, 

 and it was duly wrapped up and carried home. As the 

 wood was rather hard the store-keeper smiled somewhat 

 at the writer's request, saying, "you cannot get the stem 

 to grow," but he guessed w^rong. And why.-' Simply 

 that the writer had a source that he knew not of :ind that 

 was a healthy La Mar<|ue ])laiit with a vigorous young 

 shoot on it, two or three oi the small buds were cjuickly 

 inserted into it and one of them grew. Then the whole 

 l)lant was planted out in the centre of a 60 x 30 foot 

 greenhouse into solid bed of good soil. The way that 

 rose grew was astonishing. In a very short tinic the 

 entire roof was covered with well trained wood and it 

 was astonishing the amount of flowers cut from same. 

 There was scarcely any time when it w;is growin- but 

 that a few blooms couhl be cut. 



We generally checked its Summer growth about the 



time of the first hard frost by leaving the sash ojien .so 



that the frost would .stop the growth and then trim and 



start u|i for a Winter croj), which was always a good 



( Conlinuril on pai^c 124) 



