THE TREE PEONY 



of his household. On account of her loveliness 

 the request was granted. For days, contented 

 and happy, she joined in tending the treasured 

 peonies. During a terrible storm, a dark, mys- 

 terious stranger sought shelter in the house. On 

 seeing him the woman ran in fear. When the 

 scholar followed her she fell to the ground, appar- 

 ently in a swoon; he stooped to lift her, but she 

 faded before his very eyes and vanished. She 

 was the Spirit of the Peony. When next the 

 scholar went into the garden he found that all 

 his peonies had been destroyed by the rain. 



The Tree Peony in England 

 Although known in England in 1669 nothing 

 was done to import the tree peony into that coun- 

 try until the latter part of the Nineteenth Cen- 

 tury. From Chinese drawings and from praises 

 bestowed on the plant in books, an " ardent desire 

 was excited in Sir Joseph Banks — the head of 

 the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew — and others 

 to obtain some of the plants." In 1786 Sir Joseph 

 commissioned Mr. Duncan — " a medical gentle- 

 man attached to the East India Company's ser- 

 vice " — to procure a plant for Kew. This was 



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