Some Remarks on the Tree Pceony. 375 



should have them in both situations, certainly in the latter. A 

 good method to flower the flowers in perfection would be to give 

 the plants a good soil and an open situation, and erect over them 

 a temporary light frame: this could be covered with glass at the 

 period of their blooming, and their splendor preserved for a great 

 length of time. 



The plants are propagated by several different methods, viz: — 

 by seeds, suckers, layers, division of the stem, cuttings and 

 grafting. Their increase was attended with considerable diffi- 

 culty when they were first introduced; and this, as we have 

 stated, has been one cause of their high price; but this difiiculty 

 has been much lessened by experience. By seeds they are only 

 produced for obtaining new varieties, as the ^^.lants are longer at- 

 taining a flowering state than by any of the other modes: the 

 j9apaveracea and var. Banksia, by impregnating one with the 

 other, or either with any of the varieties, will probably produce 

 plants different from their parents. Of the systems of jiropagation 

 we shall speak of each separately; first, 



By Seeds. — We have never read any account of the method 

 of raising the plants from seed: but we presume they may be 

 sown in the same manner as cameUia seeds; that is, to plant them 

 in the fall of the year, just after they are ripe, in small pots, which 

 should remain in the green-house or frame until spring; they may 

 be then placed in a hot-bed, when, perhaps, some of them will 

 come up; such may be taken out and potted when they have 

 made one growth, and the pots allowed to stand till the remainder 

 vegetate. 



Suckers. — These may be often found growing from old 

 plants, especially when they are standing in the open border; in 

 this situation, however, they are not so easily detached as when 

 the plants are in pots: in the border the operation should be per- 

 formed by taking away the soil carefully from the roots, and, 

 with a sharp knife, cutting the sucker off", with a portion of the 

 root: the wound should be rubbed over with some dry earth, and 

 the plant immediately potted in a soil composed of loam, peat and 

 sand. When the suckers spring from plants in pots, the balls 

 should be turned out and be divided carefully, leaving a piece of 

 the old root attached to each sucker; these should be potted as 

 just mentioned. Keep the plants in a shady place for a few 

 weeks: the best season for performing the operation is in the 

 month of September. 



Layers. — The method of propagating by layers is very simple; 

 the plants should be standing in the border. In the spring of the 

 year, when the buds begin to start, bend down the outer shoots 

 into the soil, and, with a wooden peg or hook, fasten them into 

 it; before doing this, a tongue, or longitudinal split, should be 



