194 Tree FcBonics. 



witli these beautiful plants, we need not say that, for brilliancy and 

 varietv of color, they, with the herbaceous paeonies, excel all other 

 flowers of their season, and were they blotted out of existence, we know 

 not where, in the whole range of the floral kingdom, a substitute could 

 be found to produce an equal effect in the flower garden. The tree 

 pcEonv gains additional value by flowering some weeks in advance of 

 the herbaceous species, and when we consider its hardiness and adapta- 

 tion to a northern climate, we are impressed witli the importance of 

 extending its cultivation, and increasing the number of fine varieties. 

 It will flourish in any good, deep garden soil. 



New varieties are easily raised by cross fertilization. The stamens 

 of the variet}^ to be iinpregnated should be removed as soon as the 

 flower opens, and before its own anthers burst. As the pollen dries 

 soon after the anthers open, it is difficult to obtain it in a tresh state. I 

 have, therefore, resorted to the expedient of rubbing the anthers be- 

 between the thumb and fingers, when they readily burst, and yield an 

 abundance of pollen. This is transferred, with a camel's-hair pencil, to 

 the stigma of the plant from which we wish to produce seed, the 

 operation being repeated for several successive days, so as to be sure of 

 securing the stigma in the right condition. 



In this way plent}- of seed may be obtained, which should be sown 

 in a cold frame immediately after it becomes ripe. It seldom vegetates 

 the first year, most of it coming the next spring. The plants may 

 remain in the frame, with a slight covering of leaves in the winter, un- 

 til they are two or three years old, when they should be transplanted 

 into regular lines for proving. About the fourth or fifth year from 

 sowing they will come into bloom. As a general rule, they will con- 

 tinue to improve in excellence as the plant attains age. 



The flowering may be hastened by grafting the terminal shoots on 

 the roots of tlie herbaceous peeony, which method is also used for mul- 

 tiplving a new variety. The operation is performed by cleft grafting, 

 in August, as soon as the young shoots are sufficiently ripened at the 

 base ; but care should previously be taken to secure a stock of healthy 

 tubers, in a growing state, in pots, to engraft upon, selecting healthy 

 tubers, the size of a man's finger, with some fibres at the bottom. The 

 grafts must be tied in with strong bass matting, or, which is perhaps 

 better, narrow strips of cotton cloth, dipped in grafting wax. When 

 giafted, the pots should be placed in a cool pit, or a frame, so as to 

 sufficiently exclude the air until a union has taken place, when they 

 may be planted in the ground, taking special care to cover them in the 

 autumn from frost. This metliod is extensively practised with new 



