December 30, 1916. 



HORTICULTURE 



873 



Important Experiments With Peonies 



Our dry, hot summers are hard on peonies. These 

 plants require plenty of water and a good drainage. 

 Under favorable conditions they should double every 

 two years, and in addition furnish planters for as large 

 an area as they occupied. Very often in our hot, dry 

 climate they took four years to double, and then often the 

 roots would seem to lack \igor. 



I determined to remedy this so I bought two lots near 

 the heart of the city, giving me ground 100 x 120 feet. 

 I planted in rows 18 inches apart and about seven inches 

 apart in the row. following somewhat the intensive meth- 

 ods of France and Holland. I put a hydrant in the cen- 

 irr which furnished abundance of water when needed. I 

 had enriched the giound well with rotted manure and 

 mulched with coarse manure. Tlie land had been plowed 

 deep and summer fallowed. The iirst year they made a 

 fine growth and many of them had doubled. 



Tlie next year you never saw such a sight. The foliage 

 was so rampant you could hardly tell where the rows 

 were and there was such a glon,- of bloom, it was the 

 wonder of the town and people came miles to see them 

 The summer was hot and dry and we poured an abun- 

 dance of water on them. We found they had doubled, 

 and often more than that, furnishing enough small roots 

 to replant the ground. 



We found quite a difference in multiplying. Um- 

 belata Rosea proved the most prolific of all; sometimes 

 we got three or four divisions from one. Marie Lemoinc 

 was the slowest of all to increase. 



The Three to Five-eye Test 



This is a very unsatisfactory one. There is a trick 

 about it. By cutting your plant up small you develop 

 buds — too many of them. They make too large a drain 

 on the roots. There is another trick. Dig your plants 

 early, bury in a warm place and if your roots have a 

 good-cleavage like Queen Victoria or Edulis Superba you 

 can pull off roots like fingers from your hand without 

 a bud on them, and if well watered they will throw out 



buds galore and you can take tiny roots with three to 



eight eyes if you are satisfied with that test, from roots 

 without a bud when buried. I much prefer a good 

 strong root regardless of the buds. If the root is vigor- 

 ous it will give you buds enough. If you have too many 

 buds you have small flowers. The experiment showed 

 that you could raise both flowers and roots. The second 

 year my lots were a carpet of bloom — great large flowers. 

 But you must take them up every two years or they will 

 crowd each other. By spading deep and pulverizing well, 

 if you are careful not to replant in the same row, you 

 can replant your ground once, but never twice. I would 

 make but one change in this system of intensive culti- 

 vation — the rows should be two feet apart instead of 18 

 inches, then you can hoc and spade between. Mine were 

 so thick I could not cultivate in the second year. 



If you watch closely you will find about the last of 

 August the earlier sorts have formed their buds, and 

 commenced to throw out tiny roots for the next year. So 

 your transplanting should be done early in September. 

 If you have a dry fall your plants should be thoroughly 

 watered so they can throw out an abundance of those 

 tiny fall roots. I noticed in spots not well soaked the 

 roots soon dried and withered in the ground, and that 

 condition would prevent flowering in the spring. Close 

 watching ishowed that plants plan a year ahead for 

 fruits and flowers and we should help them carry out 

 their plans. 



I give these notes because people with only a small 

 plot of ground can raise an immense amount. To test 

 I ran in debt on my two lots and also ran in debt $600 

 for peony roots. I raised more than enough to pay for 

 both in two years, and now have as many as I started 



with. 



(^ S lt€i/^ 1 V4.W 



Ynii-. Xehr. 



$i.oo 



$i.oo 



For Only One Dollar 



Fifty-two Issues of the Best Horticultural Journal 

 published on the American Continent. 

 If you are interested in Roses, Carnations, Florists' 

 Flowers and Plants, Garden Perennials, Ornamental 

 Shrubbery, Trees, Seeds, Societies, Exhibitions and 

 the progress of American Horticulture generally, 



Subscribe for "Horticulture." 



$i.oo 



$1.0O 



