REMARKS ON THE MOUTAN PjEONY. 251 



lablished in pots, and in the spring, a bud, with a little wood attached 

 to it, may he joined to the root in the manner of a graft, a slice of 

 the root being taken off to receive the piece intended to be united to 

 it. When tbe fitting is completed it is to be covered with clay, ta- 

 king care to leave tbe eye exposed ; the pot must be kept covered 

 with a hand-glass. Trials have been made of a plan of grafting the 

 Moutan on roots of Herbaceous Pieonies, and I have heard that it 

 has sometimes succeeded, but not sufficiently to encourage tbe prac- 

 tice generally. I have not witnessed the operation, but have been 

 informed that it is performed by attaching a short slip of a branch of 

 a Moutan, on which there is a bud, to the succulent tuber of an 

 Herbaceous Paeony, binding them tightly together, sinking them 

 below the surface of the earth, and covering them with a glass ; the 

 tuber supports tbe graft until it emits roots sufficient to maintain it- 

 self independently. Ripe cuttings taken off in August or September, 

 with a small piece of the old wood at the end, and planted against the 

 sides of garden pots, in a mixture of loam, leaf mould, and sand well 

 drained, and protected from the air by glasses, will succeed. Tbe 

 pots must be kept secured from the frost in tbe winter, and shaded in 

 the summer; in the spring, the progress of the cuttings may be as- 

 sisted by being placed in a frame with a gentle bottom heat. But 

 the most general plan of multiplying Moutans is by layers, the shoots 

 for which purpose should be planted either in protecting pits, or, in 

 sheltered borders, which should be covered with mats spread over 

 hoops; the branches when laid down, require a longer time than is 

 usual with common shrubs to emit roots, and the largest are seldom 

 fit to be removed till they have remained two years attached to the 

 stool. The soil used for this operation is good rich loam, made light 

 by a considerable mixture of sand, with the addition of one-fourth 

 part of heath mould. The shoots when laid down require to have a 

 longitudinal slit, or tongue, made in the inner side of the bend ; and 

 this must be done with care, for, being brittle, the wood is liable to 

 break ; the tongOed part should be bedded in a mixture of loam and 

 sand. 



In addition to the above, it may be interesting to know the nature 

 of the methods of propagating the Moutan in use among the Chinese. 

 Upon this subject we have no information, except from the accounts 

 in the Memoircs sur les Chinois, before alluded to. According to 

 these, the modes of propagation, exclusive of that by seeds, are three- 

 fold, viz. by suckers, by splitting the stein, or by grafting. 



When suckers are produced by an old plant, the earth is carefully 

 removed from about its roots, which are laid bare till the whole of 



