1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



779 



down to 25 or 50 varieties with no great 

 loss. Some of the plants are quite valuable, 

 as a matter of course. 



Now, you need not all be in a hurry to go 

 into the peony speculation. It takes a year 

 for the seeds to come up, and few bloom 

 fully in less than three to eight years; but 

 you can buy roots at almost any season of 

 the year for a few cents that will give you 

 more or less bloom the second year. 



In the Mayflower for last November Mr. 

 Betscher wrote up peonies very thoroughly. 

 The article occupies six pages. The tree 

 peonies are earlier, as a rule, than the com- 

 mon kind, and the few he had were out of 

 bloom. Mr. Betscher's outyard was in full 

 bloom at the time of my visit, and it was 

 some days after my trip to Oberlin. As 

 soon as 1 reached home from Oberlin I sent 

 an order to Storrs & Harrison. They did 

 not fill this order, but their reply was char- 

 acteristic of that old and reliable institution. 

 They wrote me that the tree peony had 

 given satisfaction only in special favored 

 localities, and that they would not advise me 

 to invest in it unless I was willing to take 

 my chances. Mr. Betscher said substantially 

 the same thing; but after I saw how they 

 had succeeded in Oberlin I invested in three 

 plants, all different. They cost toward a 

 dollar each, and are very small at that, so 

 you see they are now somewhat expensive. 



There are many very desirable things 

 about the peony. The early varieties com- 

 mence blooming in May, and some are now 

 being developed that I think do not come 

 into bloom till July ; but they keep in 

 storage until August, giving fully three 

 months of bloom. For cut flowers to take 

 to church, for a wedding, or other enter- 

 tainments, I do not know of any thing more 

 handsome. Friend Betscher loaded me down 

 with a bouquet about as large as I could well 

 carry. I took it to the Sunday-school con- 

 vention, then astonished the neighbors with 

 it around home; then the third day after the 

 flowers were cut I took them to church, 

 astonishing every one there; then I delight- 

 ed the Sunday-school, then the Endeavor 

 Society; and the young people there took 

 them away to carry to the bedside of some 

 sick people in and around Medina; and I do 

 not know how long they held out after that. 

 They were gathered, I think, on Thursday, 

 and on Sunday evening they were still bright 

 and handsome. In order to have them hold 

 out in this way the flowers are plucked just 

 as they are opening. They can be shipped 

 by express long distances, and still hold 

 their beauty. But I must not forget to tell 

 you that on Saturday afternoon I carried 

 them around through the factory, and 

 enjoyed surprising the women-folks espe- 

 cially. It was toward night, and they were 

 most of them weary after the week's work, 

 and not looking particularly animated or 

 bright; but when I pushed my vase of flow- 

 ers near where they could get sight of them 

 you ought to have seen the transformation 

 in their faces. Up went their hands, and 

 wide open their eyes. It seemed as if the 



women-folks "caught on" to the good looks 

 of my beautiful flowers, as was evinced by 

 the joy, surprise, and animation on their 

 faces. Where there was a roomful of girls 

 they left their seats and gathered around 

 the beautiful blossoms, and it made me 

 think of the Italian bees on that tree peony 

 at the Oberlin waterworks. My friend, did 

 you ever see a woman who does not look 

 bright and happy when you surprise her 

 with some beautiful flowers? If so, she 

 must be an exception to the general rule. 

 If you wish to make your daughter or wife 

 (or sweetheart) look happy, show her some 

 beautiful flowers when she is not thinking 

 of it or expecting it. 



Now, right here I wish to say that I am 

 not much in favor of cut flowers; but if you 

 grow them in your own garden or green- 

 house it is well enough; but I do not believe 

 in paying out a lot of money for flowers, 

 that fade so soon. Buy a whole plant when 

 you wish to invest, and then you will have 

 perpetual beauty year after year; and a 

 whole plant, a good many times, does not 

 cost much more than the cut flowers. 



Now, if you have not got a peony in your 

 dooryard, set right about it and get one. 

 Give them plenty of good rich compost. If 

 you wish to see them do their best, dig down 

 two feet and work into the soil a lot of old 

 well-rotted manure. Perhaps old cow ma- 

 nure is the best. When your peony once 

 gets started it will take care of itself for a 

 hundred years for aught I know; but, of 

 course, they will make many more and much 

 larger blossoms if you dig about them and 

 manure the ground once in a while. The 

 plant has almost no insect enemies. 



There is another thing I forgot to men- 

 tion. The old-fashioned peonies do not have 

 any perfume. On the contrary, so far as I 

 recollect, the odor of the blossom is any thing 

 but pleasant. The new creations, however, 

 many of them, have as fine a perfume as 

 our choicest roses; and the variations, col- 

 ors, and markings are as well marked as 

 any thing you can imagine. 



Are some of you inquiring what all this 

 has to do with the text I started out with ? 

 Well, friends, it struck me in this way. I 

 looked at that tree at the Oberlin water- 

 works just after I had had a good drink of 

 that beautiful water; and it occurred to me 

 all at once that, like the water, the happi- 

 ness and refreshment we get from flowers 

 is free to all. ' ' Come ye to the waters and 

 drink." You can stand before these floral 

 treasures that God has given us, and drink 

 in to your full, and there is just as much 

 left after you are satisfied, for somebody 

 else, as there was before. The bouquet of 

 peonies that I carried home delighted and 

 made happy hundreds of people, and it 

 might just as well have been thousands. If 

 you put a pretty flower in front of your 

 dwelling or near where passersby can see it, 

 you are a public benefactor. Men and wo- 

 men are made better by the sight of flowers, 

 A baby will stop crying if you hold before it 

 a beautiful plant in full bloom. A bad boy 



