244 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



iniiiii 



Sanseveria Tealoriaca, four years old, grown 

 by H. Irwin, Westmount, Que. 



Sanseveria Tealoriaca 



H. Irwin, Westmount, Que. 



The accompanying illustration of a 

 sanseveria tealoriaca was secured when 

 the plant was four years old. I obtain- 

 ed a small plant from Dreer and plant- 

 ed it in good potting soil. When moved 

 into the house in the fail it began to 

 wilt and got worse on getting more 

 water. The roots were found to be 

 rotting. I cut them oE short and re- 

 potted the plant in a mixture of one 

 part gravel, sifted to size of peas, two 

 parts sandy potting soil, and put the 

 plant in the greenhouse during the 

 winter. Since then I have kept it in 

 the garden during the summer in a 

 shady , sheltered spot, and in the par- 

 lour during the winter. 



The flower seen in the illustration is 

 very sweet and gave eight or nine seeds, 

 from which six seedlings were raised in 

 the greenhouse. Its leaves are spread- 

 ing and have narrow, straight dark 

 green bars about an inch apart. Do 

 any readers of the Canadian Horticul- 

 turist know of seeds being raised in the 

 open, so far north? I now have two 

 plants in twelve inch tubs, each plant 

 four feet high. 



Are There Barren Paeonies ? 



By J. McPherson Ross, Toronto 



Every tulip bulb that i.<; planted should 

 b€ crisp and firm to touch. None that 

 are soft or that show any signs of de- 

 cay or discoloration should be planted. 

 — H. T. Gussow, C.E.F., Ottawa, Onl. 



IN my garden we had in cullivatiOTi 

 for seven or eight years at least 

 over a dozen paeony plants of the 

 Chinese type. They had grown into 

 great strong bushy plants. The soil 

 was clay, but kept heavily manured. 

 Every spring they made groat promise 

 of flowering, showing numerous buds, 

 and we were led to expect great masses 

 of bloom, but every year our hopes 

 were da.shed. The buds remained in a 

 stationary condition, and finally dried 

 up when the size of small marbles and 

 fell off. We attributed it to every 

 imaginable cause, as frost, too dry or 

 too wet weather, soil too poor, or the 

 reverse. We had abundant healthy 

 foliage^ — ^plenty of everything, except- 

 ing bloom. 



One day, while reading a horticul- 

 tural publication, we came across an 

 article describing flowerless paeonies. 

 It stated that this variety, one way or 

 another, had got largely distributed 

 over the country, to the great annoy- 

 ance of everyone. To the annoyance 

 we could bear testimony, as it takes 

 years before you can identify or prove 

 its character for not flowering. The ar- 

 ticle also stated that every method of 

 cultivation had been tried in numeroais 

 cases, and every reason but the right 

 one had been given before condemning 

 it as entirely worthless. Obviously, the 

 only thing to do was to dig them out 

 and throw them away. This statement 

 so entirely agreed and described the 

 experience I had had with mj plants 

 tliait I immediately condemned my 

 plants, dug them up and threw them 

 away. In conversation with many peo- 

 ple afterwards, relating their experi- 

 ence with their paeonies, I advised 

 them to destroy the plants they had and 

 procure new plants from growers who 

 had real blooming plants, and there the 

 matter rested. Ample evidence kept 

 turning up all the time that there was 

 no doubt of the practical existence of 

 the flowerless paeonies, and the only 

 difficulty was to advertise the fact and 

 let growers know of it, and thus get it 

 rooted out. 



A few weeks ago, when I was passing 

 a friend's garden, he hailed me Point- 

 ing to a group of paeonies, he asked, 

 "Do yon know anything about 

 paeonies?" I answered that I thought 

 I did. "Then," he said, "what is the 

 matter with them? They have not 

 flowered for years, if they have ever 

 flowered." "Oh," I said, "you have 

 that flowerless variety," and thereupon 

 I started to tell the experience I had 

 had with the variety, and advised him 

 to throw them out. "Hold on," he 

 said. "What you are saying I was go- 



ing to do a year ago. I had got tired 

 growing these big cumbersome plants 

 year after year without results. I had 

 just decided to root them up when an 

 old English gardener told me what w; 

 Che matter with them. He said, 'Th- 

 have all got tap-rooted, and want dig- 

 ging up. Divide and have the long tap- 

 roots cut hard back; replant and you 

 will have flowers.' I did so, and the 

 past summer they bloomed quite freely. 

 I only dug up half of them, leavii-- 

 those till this fall, when I propo.se doii 

 the same to them." 



As my informant is a careful and en- 

 thusiastic gardener, I know his experi- 

 ence is to be relied on. I take pleasure 

 in relating it, as I think the information 

 is valuable to paeony growers. So, be- 

 fore condemning plants that appear 

 barren or flowerless, try cutting off the 

 taproots, as aforesaid, and watch 

 results. 



October is a good time to transplant 

 paeonies. Take the trouble to prepare 

 the location well by trenching or sub- 

 soiling. See that it is well drained. Dig 

 in liberal quantities of well-rotted maii- 

 ure, or failing a supply of that at the 

 time, apply it liberally as a mulch when 

 the ground is frozen, forking it in in the 

 spring, and again mulch after the first 

 hoeing. 



All varieties are desirable and thrive, 

 preferably in beds or borders by them- 

 selves, with lots of sun and air. 



Objections are made to the barren ap- 

 pearance of such plantations when 

 flowers are over. This is remedied by 

 planting tall-growing annuals, as nico- 

 tines or cosmos, interspersed through 

 the beds of paeonies. A few shrubs of 

 the hydrangea pan. will also lighten 

 up the bed with bloom in the fall. 



It may be well to remind any who 

 hesitate to order bulbs on the ground 

 of expense, that it is really less extrava- 

 gant to purchase a dollar's worth of 

 bulbs than it is to lay out the same 

 amount every year on seeds. Bulbs 

 last for years, and go on multiplying. 

 It is, therefore, rather the reverse of 

 extravagance, but may be looked upon 

 as a profitable investment from a gar- 

 dener's point of view. 



When the tomato vines have been 

 killed by frost, pick off all green to- 

 matoes and put those that are turning 

 red or are whitish in appearance, in & 

 dry, sunny place to ripen. Those that 

 are very green will not be first class 

 when ripened in this way, so they 

 should be prepared for use green. 



