IN THE FRONT YARD. 213 



it has material to make a great, double flower, it will 

 gladly make it. If, however, it is short of capital, it 

 will do the best it can. Seedlings will often bloom single 

 for years, and then turn double. We have the record 

 of one that blossomed single for twenty years, and then 

 bloomed double. It is not wise to discard seedlings till- 

 fully tested. Absolutely the finest crimson I ever saw 

 was found in a lot of rejected seedlings. After a hard 

 freeze in spring some floAvers will refuse to bloom at 

 all, and others, damaged in the bud, may have inferior 

 blossoms. Others, like Floral Treasure, will do their 

 very best after the worst abuse. Very often the last, 

 out of season blooms of our best double ones will be 

 little, inferior, single flowers. 



Do not sit in harsh judgment on flowers at their flrst 

 blooming. You can tell little about them except their 

 color. A white one should not be red or 'crimson. As 

 to form and size, suspend judgment. There is such a 

 confusion in names. You buy a genuine Humei, an 

 M. Valliant and a Thorbeckii, and you have one and 

 the same flower, yet one of our very finest. You get 

 Bryant's Ilumei, Andre Laures, Fragrans, Fragrant 

 Rose and Late Rose, and if you don't get the same thing 

 every time, you come very near it, and all the parties 

 honest in it, too. Our Paeony society is very busy 

 getting the tangle out of all this confusion. 



AVILL ANYTHIXG KILL PAEONIES ? 



They are called hardy as paving stones and as tough 

 as Scotch thistles. Yes, it can be done if you know 



