6 ; ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 
memorable horror, ‘Les Jardin des Supplices.”. And, where 
they, Lords of the World in matters of art, permit the 
advantages of the blossom to outweigh all the disadvan- 
tages of the plant, we need not be ashamed or afraid to 
follow their example. 
They have even, with their deep skill, trained the growth 
to their wish; on how many old plates of Famille rose or 
Famille verte will you not see the gorgeous peony, ancient, 
gnarled, and bossy in growth, flaunting the ardent satin 
of its flowers from some fretted hollowed rock of a Chinese 
composition? Perhaps we may never hope so to domi- 
nate the 'I'ree-Paeony ; remains the untutored loveliness of 
its bloom for us to enjoy. And so, if your space be large 
enough, surrender one rich corner against a cliff for one 
great specimen of Mowtan. Around and underneath 
plant Helleborus Niger to fill the autumn, and perhaps 
daffodils for the early hours of the spring. And so, in 
flowering time, you will understand the Japanese sacred 
passion for beauty which impels a whole nation to make 
pilgrimage, in due season, to Iris Kaempferi at Horikiri, 
to the Cherries at Mukojima, to Wistaria multyuga at 
Kameido, to Paeonia Moutan at Daikonshima—there to 
spend whole hours and days in adoration, writing little 
psalms of praise and worship to the flowers. 
But, remember, only the Japanese and Chinese ‘l'ree- 
Paeony can claim the true Japanese ecstasy of affection. 
Where the West has touched the products of the Kast a 
disastrous degradation has resulted; and Europe now 
swarms with truly horrible European 'Tree-Paeonies— 
lumpish, double, semi-double, in tones of washy lilac and 
magenta. Of these Western creations let us hear no 
more; away with all the Mrs. Erasmus Potters, the 
Madame Hector de Telle-Quelles, the Frau Oberhof- 
gaerterin Schlagenbuschenheims. What can you expect 
of creatures named like this? ‘The Tree-Paeony of the 
