IN THE FRONT YARD. 169 



PROPAGATION. 



It is liigHy important to know how to mnltiply these 

 vahiable flowers, for the process is slow at best. 



You buy a choice Syringa or Philadelphus, and you 

 can divide the roots and phnnt cuttings and increase 

 them very rapidly. You can, in a few years, run a 

 new kind of a fruit tree up into the millions, but you 

 cannot rush the Paeony. One of the best on the list 

 originated in 1835, and it is impossible now to sup- 

 ply the demand. If you raise from seed you never 

 reproduce the original, and it takes from five to eight 

 years to know what you are getting. But with care, 

 by root division alone, you can secure from one to two 

 thousand in ten years. There are three modes of prop- 

 agation,— by division, from roots and from seed. 



We have a different system, where we raise for roots, 

 than where we propagate for flowers. By the best of 

 care on the richest ground you can hurry them consid- 

 erably. But there is a great difference in them. L'Es- 

 perence and Victoria Tricolor multiply rapidly, while 

 J. Discaisne, though a glorious flower, wants about four 

 years to double itself. Others equally as good in bloom 

 are much more profitable. From Baroness Schoder, 

 • La Tulipe and Richardson's Rubra I have cut thirty 

 roots in four years from one. By dividing every two 

 or three years you have perfectly healthy and vigorous 

 roots. I have bought those that must have stood twelve 

 or fifteen years. The buds were partially decayed, and 

 they had great, club-like roots. There is no advan- 



