172 THE GOLD MINE 



should be prepared in the summer. It should be spad- 

 ed two or three feet deep. Plant in rows four feet 

 apart and three feet in the row, so you can cultivate 

 with the horse, if necessary. Sometimes I have pre- 

 pared ground in this way: On an eighth of an acre 

 there were scattered eight loads of hen manure, and 

 a strong team plowed it two furrows deep and too^ 

 the whole day for it. This thorough preparation is 

 necessary for the best results and the largest blooms. 

 Of course you do not have to be at such expense. They 

 will grow, thrive and bloom on good corn ground. By 

 this process you are raising roots as well as flowers, 

 and at the end of ten years you will have an enormous 

 crop of the former, but they will be large and not so 

 easy to handle. 



In planting to raise flowers, be sure to take good, 

 strong roots. Such will come into bearing much soon- 

 er than small ones. I should not plant clumps, but 

 heavy ones, and they will make the clumps soon enough. 



I have gone into detail because I deem the Paeony 

 the queen of flowers, and it should have the best pos- 

 sible chance. 



RAISING FEOM ROOTS. 



I have watched this process closely for years, and 

 have found one thing, perhaps not discovered by oth- 

 ers. The root is small where it joins at the top; it 

 swells in the center and then tapers. ^Row if a root 

 is broken at the center, the lower portion never can 

 form a head. It will try hard. A callous will be formed 



