July 21, 1917 



HOETICULT U RE 



63 



SCREENS FOR PAEONIES 



The varieties of paeonies desirable 

 in a small garden need screens for 

 several reasons: 



First. — At blossom time the atmos- 

 phere is in a disturbed condition, 

 violent rains are common and hail not 

 infrequent. Either ruin the flowers. 

 Rain makes them so heavy the stems 

 fail to support them, and browns the 

 petals. After a violent storm the 

 psBony garden is a heart-breaking 

 scene, unless screened. 



Second. — All the most lovely light 

 varieties fade quickly, many before 

 they are fully open if the sun is 

 bright. To preserve these delicate 

 tints, paeeonies are usually cut as buds 

 at evening, kept over night in a cool 

 dark place and placed in the vases in 

 the morning. This is the correct way 

 to treat them unless they are grown 

 under screens, but they never come to 

 their full beauty in this way, because 

 they have no nourishment beside 

 water. The finest blooms can only be 

 obtained by maturing on the plant. 

 Moreover though cut flowers are deco- 

 rative, the true gardener gets his 

 pleasure' from well-grown plants with 

 perfect flowers. Peeony shows will 

 never be artistic until the plants for 

 exhibition are grown in large tubs 

 sunk in the ground and lifted for the 

 occasion. Surely the king of flowers 

 is worthy of as much care as azaleas 

 or chrysanthemums. Usually the mis- 

 tress of the house decides upon the 

 arrangement of the house garden. If 

 she considers screens disfiguring, then 

 plant a little paeony garden in the 

 forest, especially for screened paeonies, 

 as shown in the illustrations. The 

 plants in the middle foreground are 

 Duff and Therese received from Shay- 

 lor in the Fall of 1915. They show 

 what to expect of well-grown roots 

 the second summer. The size can be 

 seen from the framework of the 

 screens. The uprights are four feet 

 above the ground, and about three 

 teet apart. 



The screen represented consists of 

 an iron frame and a cloth cover. A 

 frame has four uprights of cylindri- 

 cal iron, one-half inch in diameter, 

 five feet long for the majority of 

 pseonies, six feet for the tall growers. 

 The roof has four rafters of cylindri- 

 cal galvanized iron, one-quarter of an 

 inch in diameter, three feet three 

 inches long for the smaller plants, 

 four feet six inches for the wide 

 spreading varieties. The four rafters 

 are held together at the apex of the 

 roof by a cross-shaped bronze cast- 

 ing into which they are screwed. Each 

 at its outer end is screwed into a 

 bronze-eye. They are attached to the 

 uprights by bronze castings made 

 hollow to receive the tops of the up- 

 rights, to which they are fastened by 

 screws to admit of quick erecting or 

 removal. AVhere storage space is 

 available, the whole roof frame with 

 its attached sockets should be kept 

 as one piece when removed, and If 

 they are stacked one above the other, 

 fifty occupy but little floor space. 



The roof covering is made of cot- 

 ton drilling dyed of suitable tints to 

 more or less exclude the actinic rays 

 of the sun. At each corner is a srrom- 



met. To fasten the cover in place on 

 the frame, cords are passed through 

 the grommets and the eyes on the 

 ends of the rafters, and tied. To en- 

 sure driving the uprights in the cor- 

 rect positions to receive the roof sock- 

 ets, a form of wood in two pieces is 

 laid on the ground, which has a guide 

 slit at each corner, into which the end 

 of an upright is inserted and driven a 

 foot into the ground with a wooden 

 mallet. This sounds complicated but 

 only six minutes are required for the 

 complete erection of a screen. As the 

 pseony shows always make new con- 

 verts to pseony culture, it is a suitable 

 time to call the attention of those con- 

 templating planting this fall, to the 

 importance of screens, that they may 

 be made during the leisure hours of 

 winter. 



Boston. 



PEONIES AT THE MINNESOTA 

 SUMMER MEETING. 



This was a splendid success. Secre- 

 tary Latham some way has a knack of 

 keeping on the good side of the weath- 

 er man. For over twenty years the 

 great show has dodged all the storms 

 of the rainy season and we have had 

 on that occasion ideal weather. 



The exhibition was marvelous. Mr. 

 Ruff of St. Paul was there with prob- 

 bly the finest display of imported peo- 

 ny varieties in the country. There was 

 the queenly La Cygne. in robes of 

 purest white. Brand was there with 

 his great collection. While some oth- 

 ers can equal or surpass him in whites, 

 I think he can challenge the world 

 with reds. When Brother Brand first 

 found that radiant immense red which 

 he named for his wife, Mary Brand, he 

 was so enchanted with it that he put 

 the price at $100 a root and actually 

 sold one at that figure, probably the 

 highest ever paid for one root. A more 

 recent introduction is Richard Carvel, 

 a brilliant, soft crimson, very fragrant 

 and very early. We have long needed 

 a fine red for Decoration Day to match 

 Umbelata Rosea and Edulis Superba, 

 and this radiant one comes in to fill 

 the bill. 



There were many visitors from 

 abroad, among them the genial Mr. 

 Good, of the Good & Reese Co., of 

 Springfield, Ohio. He fairly glowed 

 with delight at the marvelous exhibit. 



The soil and climate of Minnesota 

 are well adapted to the peony. They 

 love cool and moist weather. Up there 

 our old favorites grow about one-third 

 larger than in the hot dry climate of 

 Kansas and Nebraska. 



C. S. Harrison. 



HOLLAND PROSPECTS. 



A letter from a Holland nursery es- 

 tal)lishment, received a few days ago, 

 states that they have been informed 

 that the Holland steamers will be ex- 

 amined at Halifax, so that it will now 

 be po.ssible to make shipments from 

 Holland to the United States on Hol- 

 land boats. 



PURITY OF SWEET PEA SEED. 



Editor Hortictlture: 



Dear Sir: — In Horticulture of the 

 14th inst. you quote me as saying I 

 am very well pleased if I get 25 per 

 cent, of my varieties true to name, 

 this being in regard to sweet peas, 

 during the remarks made at the Con- 

 vention at Boston. I wish you would 

 correct this, as I feel just as Mr. Sim 

 does, that it would be time to give up 

 growing sweet peas if such was the 

 case. My remarks were in regard to 

 the purchase of Hercules Spencer 

 sweet peas made last fall which turned 

 out lOu per cent, untrue, as all were 

 Apple Blossom or Mrs. Cuthbertson 

 grandiflora except two and these two 

 were a flushed white grandiflora. 

 There is no excuse for this, except 

 carelessness in handling the seed 

 either by the grower or seed house. 

 In most cases the varieties come i)er- 

 fectly true or with one or two rogues, 

 which we naturally expect. 



Seed houses should be careful to 

 secure seed from only the best sources, 

 for, as in everything else there are 

 growers who pride themselves in do- 

 ing everything possible to keep stock 

 pure, and there are others who are 

 careless in this respect. In looking 

 over the eighteen varieties I grew 

 from seed sown this spring I find 

 sixteen of them absolutely true, one 

 with one rogue in thirty-six plants 

 and oncT-a new variety, "Hope," 

 bought in the originator's packets, 

 with three orange rogues in twenty- 

 four plants. Of the nine varieties 

 grown from seed sown last fall, with 

 the exception of Hercules mentioned, 

 only two rogues appeared in 17.5 

 plants of the other varieties. 



WiLLi.vM Gr.^y, Secy. 



Newport, U. I. 



BRONX PARK LECTURES. 



Free public lectures will be delivered 

 in the lecture hall of the Museum 

 building of the New York Botanical 

 Garden, Bronx Park, Saturday after- 

 noons, at four o'clock, as follows: 



.Inly 1-1 — "Plauts Grown by tbe American 

 Iiulians." liy A. B. Stout. Exbibition of 

 (lowers .Tilly 14 and 15. 



.July 21 — "Flowers for the Suiniiier Gar- 

 den." by G. V. Xasb. 



,Tuly 2S — "How the Introduction of 

 Foreign Plant Disease is Prevented," by 

 H. B. Shaw. 



August ■! — "Floral and Scenic Features of 

 Cuba." by Dr. M. A. Howe. 



August 11 — "Books on Gardening," by Dr. 

 J. II. Harnhart. 



August 18 — "Trees and Flowers of the 

 Yellowstone National Park, " by Dr. P. A. 

 Kyilberg. 



.August 2ri — "Insect Enemies of Plants," 

 by III-. 1'. .1. Seaver. Exhibition of gladioli, 

 .August i;:{-'-io. 



The lectures occupy an hour and 

 will be illustrated by lantern slides. 

 Doors will close at four o'clock. 



A CORRECTION. 



Editor IIorthi-lture: 



In my article on page 40 last issue 

 of HoHTK ri.TiRE, in the next to last 

 paragraph, two typographical errors 

 crept into my communication which 

 do not improve the reading, viz.: sec- 

 ond line, the word oxhiliitors should 

 be exhibitions. Third lino from last, 

 the word receptjon should be repeti- 

 tion. Very truly. 



.A. H. Fewkes. 



Newton Highlands, Mass. 



