PURCHASING 



Quality is more important than quantity. It 

 is far cheaper in the end to purchase roots of finest 

 quality and after several years propagate them 

 than to buy cheap roots which may be poor stock 

 and possibly not true to name. In the first in- 

 stance one has roots of ever-increasing value : in 

 the second, after a few years of disappointment 

 the roots will probably be thrown away, entailing 

 a loss of time which, in peony growing, is of even 

 more importance than money. 



The ever-widening interest in the peony, and 

 a consequently large demand for it, together with 

 the fact that the peony increases slowly, will prob- 

 ably cause the inevitable law of supply and de- 

 mand to keep up the prices of the standard 

 varieties. 



Points to be Decided 



The decision as to where to buy may be arrived 

 at in one of several ways. It may be the result 

 of observation during visits to various nurseries 

 and gardens, or it may be made on the advice of 

 experienced friends, or, in the event that observa- 

 tion and advice are not available, a conclusion 

 may be reached by doing a little experimental 

 buying. Roots can be obtained from each of sev- 



9 129 



