The Canadian Horticulturist. 215 



superba and Velutina purpurea. These should be pruned so as to assist the 

 development of strong shoots by cutting the summer growth as soon as the frost 

 has disfigured them. 



Clematises grow freely in most garden soils which are of good texture, but 

 where it can be provided, a rich loamy soil is the best, and if this can be mixed 

 with chalk or lime it is generally found beneficial. Thorough drainage is abso- 

 lutely necessary to grow good healthy plants, and their strength should be main- 

 tained by manuring with horse or cow manure at least once a year. For 

 planting, the spring and autumn are undoubtedly the most suitable times. 



The uses to which the clematis may be applied are numerous. They may 

 be trained up verandas, walls, or trellis work ; made to climb up poles, forming 

 pillar plants ; festooned, run over masses of rockwork or rootwork, or trained 

 over iron supports as specimens for lawns. The summer and autumn flowering 

 varieties are also used as bedding plants, the young shoots being pegged down 

 before they get entangled. The best effect is obtained by raising the surface of 

 the bed, or using hooped rods, to display the flowers better, and edging the bed 

 with white or yellowish foliaged plants. The beds should be well manured and 

 trenched before plantings and I should recommend, where it is possible, to plant 

 the clematis permanently, so that they should not be disturbed, as each year 

 they would get stronger, and flower even more profusely. 



PdBOnies. — To succeed with paeonies, the plants must be well cared for ; 

 they require direct full sunshine, and a deep, heavy soil. Yet they may do fairly 

 well in a light soil. In either case the soil must be worked well and often. We 

 frequently find a clump in dense shade and so completely covered with grass 

 that the plant is scarcely visible. Is it a wonder that we are told the pceony is 

 running out, that it does not flower as it did twenty years ago ? Of course not. 

 How can it thrive when the trees and grass have robbed it of food, sun and air? 

 In the nursery where it has a chance to breathe, and is cultivated with care, it is 

 the same generous, magnificent old bloomer that was everybody's favorite fifty 

 years ago. When once well planted it need not be disturbed for many years, 

 hut every autumn it should be given a liberal mulching to protect it against hard 

 frosts. This mulch should be carefully worked into the soil as soon as growth 

 commences in spring, and if grass and weeds are not allowed to intrude, one of 

 the most beautiful objects that ever decorated a garden will be the result. The 

 old herbaceous paeonies are too well known to require description, but there are 

 one or two species \;iot generally known, which are entitled to a place in every 

 garden. One is P. tenuifolia, the fern-leaved pseony, a native of Russia. The 

 fine, fern-like foliage of this species renders the plant a beautiful object inde- 

 pendent of the beautiful crimson flowers, which are the first of its class to appear 

 in spring. The flowers of the original species are single. There is a double 

 variety of it, which is much used by florists for forcing, and it is a very attractive 

 plant. For the border it is equally desirable. — American Agriculturist. 

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