26 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



May 18, 1911. 



before delivoriiitr them. Jiaskets fillt'd 

 even a couiilo of weeks l)efore l)eiii^ 

 sent out <lt) not liavp the fi<'slil.v filh'tl 

 appearance iinideiital to ttiose just 

 mad«' up. and there are o;-iasioiial 

 stormy days, even in the busy iiiontli of 

 May, when this wiuk can he done. Line 

 the baskets well witli moss; eitiier 

 sphagnum or sheet moss will answer, 

 and use soil widl enriched witli old 

 rotted manure. Kememher the plants 

 liave only a limited sjiace in whicli to 

 root and if the soil is not jiood at the 

 start they will soon show siyns of 

 starvation. 



Almost any of the iiendi-ut plants 

 used ordinarily in window boxes are 

 .•idajitable i'oi' baskets, sndi as (.'.reeii 

 and v.ariecrated \inca-. nianr;i ndias. ojr 



(diomas, i-]ngiish ivy, liobelia gracilis, 

 some of the Ix^gonias, .\sparagus Spren- 

 geri, nasturtiums, i\\\- lea\ed geraniums 

 and others which might be named. As 

 paragiis Sprengeri answers iiic(dy by 

 itself where the location is somewhat 

 sliadeil and green effects are wanted. 

 lv\ geianiums also ]irefer a little sliade, 

 ■as do fu(disias, which ore excellent bas- 

 ket subjects. Anujiig the finest flower- 

 ing basket ]ilants wliere sonu'thing out 

 of the ordinary ami rather (dioiee is 

 )ieede<l, are tiie acdi'niines. These can be 

 planted all over the basket. Thoy must 

 have a shaded house to bring them 

 along and a fair amount of warmth, and 

 if gixcn a slHdtere<| place under the 

 pia/.za they make a beautiful show, no 

 iijiskel \vliate\er being \isible. 



PEONY CULTURE. 



1 .^ iiipi'i' li.v i:. .T. Sha.vliir. ■■l' W'clli'sli'.v nirni-i. 

 M:iss.. rcMil hcli.ir llic ( ;:ir(liii.'; -' :iii(l riufisls' 

 Clllh of ]!ip>l(PU, May IC. Uill. I 



The peony is a iiati\e nf cold conn 

 tries mostly, and is hardy. The ancients 

 used both tlie roots and seeds in ii nu' 

 dicinal way. It is related that in the 

 Tro.ian war one I'a-on used the roots to 

 lieal the si(dv and the wounded, and 

 from him the name was derived. 1 re 

 member v.aguely that in my (diildhood, 

 about sixty years ago, sonu> of my 

 neighl)ors obtained some mots to be 

 steeped for medicine; so its use tor sui-h 

 ljuri)Oses came nearly down to the pres- 

 ent. The roots, (lri(>d. weic worn .also 

 about the neck to ward off dise.ase. The 

 seeds were taken inwardly to shoo 

 away the nightmare. 



We are all acipiainted with a lieail 

 gardener of Widlesley, who, liearing a 

 workman complain of malaria, took 

 from his jiocket some peony seeds, and 

 lianding them to him in a .ioking way. 

 said, "Here, Tim. are sonu^ |)ills; try 

 them ajul maybe they will help you.'" 

 Sure enough, Tim took them regularly 

 for a few d.ays. until the head gardener 

 thought the ,ioke li.ad gone far enough, 

 and then be asked him how he was. Tim 

 said he was better, and gave the jiills 

 credit. Tlien the head ganlener told 

 Jiim what tliey were, 'i'o the ancients 

 it was dead earnest and no .joke. They 

 were cured, lu) doubt, by f.aith, a thing 

 v.hii h in our ■' tv I i-.- 'leen capitalized 

 ;;s a huge di\:'''til |:i\ii'.. jeligion. 



'""■^i^tui:,. 



'I he ]ilanTiig of peiuiics should be 

 d< ne with care. It s not enough sini 

 • Iv to dig a liole and put tliiMu in. 

 Treiudi tlie grouml deeply and work 

 in old numure. It does good to mix 

 in some bone iiua' fir hardwood .ashes, 

 or a potato fertilizer strong in pof.ash. 

 The most siu'cessful field planting I 

 ever made \vas done in this w.ay.- The 

 natch was new ground wlii(di had been 



grubbed oxer in summer. lu Septeni 

 ber furrows were dug to the de]ith of 

 tw(dve or fourteen iiu lies and the loam 

 was piled along the rows in ridges. 

 In the bott(Mn of the tren-iies old laa- 

 nuic was |iut and chopped into the soil 

 with the spade. ()n the ridges of loam 

 that la\' along the treiiclu's we scat- 

 t<'re(l sonu' air sl.aked linu' and some 

 pot.ato fertilizer. .\s the roots were 

 set, this loam was fillecl in, thus nii.xing 

 the lime and the fertilizer well with 

 the soil. The next spring, when the 

 jilants were just coming up, some bone 

 ini'al was scattt>red along one sido of 

 the rows, ami sotne of the same kind 

 (t\' ]iotato fertilizer along the other 

 side, ami these wer(> cultivated in with 

 a hand cultivator. This ]ilanting gave 

 the best results, both in blooms and 

 roots, that I e\<'r obtaiiu'd. 



Xe\ er use any fresh nmnure. One 

 your i made a mist.ake and set some 

 rows of peonies so that the rows ran 

 through a |)I;icc where a ]iil(> of manure 

 had lain for six months. Th(>y were 

 set in the fall. The next spring J no- 

 ticed at once that the jieonies wliere 

 the manure pile had lain were in 

 trouble. I took them up ami scrubbed, 

 them off in a tub of water. Th(> strong 

 soil was eating them up. Thev wer(! 

 set out in another jilace and I saved 

 most of tliem. 1 have no iloulit that, if 

 they had been left where they W(M'e, 

 they would all ha\-e been lost. 



I5e sure that your jilace has good 

 ilrainage. If the soil beconu's sour or 

 soggv. gooil by to your roots; 1 don't 

 know why, only I know that it will 

 either kill them outiight or make them 

 worthl(>ss. After they are set out in 

 gi.od shape, do not forget that you 

 must .agitati' the hoe al)out them quite 

 (dten. (h'aii culture is the best trick 

 to I'lay in your garden. 



Diseases and Pests. 



Insects tiouble them soiiu'. The cut- 

 worm lik<'s them fill' bicakfast, (linner 



and supper, and for lunch between 

 meals. I have received letters asking, 

 "What shall I do to keep the anta 

 off the peony buds?" My answer is, 

 "Xothiug. " The sap that is in the 

 stalk is like a sweet syrup, and it 

 exudes at the top. The ants only 

 drink that. I presume the sweetness of 

 the stalk is the reason for the cut- 

 worms' partiality to them. The rose 

 bug comes about the time peonies are 

 ending, and they eat the jietals off the 

 blooms. Generally, however, peonies 

 are over before these conH> in numbers 

 sufficient to do much harm. 



Peonies have lieen considered iron- 

 clad, but my experience is that they 

 have their chills, the same as I have. 

 The black rot gets in and eats away 

 the roots. Air-slaked lime is the best 

 remedy I have found. Dig away the 

 loam, ]iut in sonu' lime ajid i)ut back 

 fresh loam. If you can move them to a 

 new place, then cut the rot .awa.y, dust 

 the roots with lime and reset them. I 

 think this is caused Mimetinu^s by 

 their being set entirely in the shade, 

 where dam|)iiess does it. If .vour place 

 is shad.v, then set the roots four feet 

 apart, so the air can circulate freely 

 about them. T do not recommend set- 

 ting ]ieonies in complete shade; they 

 sliouhi have half sun, an,vAvay. 



Club-foot or Knotty Root. 



There is also the club-foot or knotty 

 root, which affects jteony roots. I ha\e 

 not been able to nnistcM- this. Roots 

 have been sent to Professor Bessie at 

 Miami. Fla., one of the best govern- 

 nuMit experts; also to Andierst, in our 

 own state, and to Professor Whetzel, at 

 f'oriudl. and I ha\e not had an,v help 

 from any of them. Professor Bessie ad- 

 \ised soaking the roots in a solution 

 of fornuilin. This I did, but it did not 

 hel|) nu' any. I wrote to A. Dessert, 

 .ami he said he had some of these af- 

 fected roots, from the sanu' smirce from 

 which mine came, "for ten years and 

 they have never bloonuMl, a.nd I con- 

 sider them lost." T got out of patience 

 after keeping them 

 most of them on the 

 extreme cases, some 

 of these roots have grown out of it. 

 As for nu^, I have some now which I 

 have had for eight years and which 

 are failures. 



I am not sure but there is a lilight 

 that afTects the leaf and stem and 

 causes the root to rot — something in 

 the nature of the potato blight. Some 

 few roots seem to be affected in this 

 way. T have never been troubled with 

 it except in a small way, and have 

 paid no attention to it. It could, no 

 doubt, be controlled l)y s[traying with 

 Bordeaux mixture. 



Where the buds are blighted, it is 

 W(dl to cut them off and burn them 

 up. The stem-wilt is a fungous blight, 

 but it does not live over winter. Plants 

 affected one year nuiy be unaffected 

 the next. 



Japanese or Imperial Peonies. 



The varieties which are called .fap- 

 anese peonies, or imperial peonies b.v 

 the Englishmen, have their ups and 

 downs. They seem to go all to pieces 

 some years and do nothing at all. They 

 do not seem to be of good constitu- 

 tion. Peonies of this kind that are 

 grown from seed here in America may 

 be more vigorous. There are some 

 others, ailiong the regular peony roots, 

 whi(di go to pieces when they are 

 divided, Thev are weak. Most of 



with miiu', and, 

 five years, threw 

 dump. In some 



