6 ALPINES AND BOG-PLANTS 



memorable horror, 'Les Jardin des Supplices.' And, where 

 they, Lords of the World in matters of art, permit the 

 advantages of the blossom to outweigh all the disadvan- 

 tages of the plant, we need not be ashamed or afraid to 

 follow their example. 



They have even, with their deep skill, trained the growth 

 to their wish ; on how many old plates of Famille rose or 

 Famille verte will you not see the gorgeous peony, ancient, 

 gnarled, and bossy in growth, flaunting the ardent satin 

 of its flowers from some fretted hollowed rock of a Chinese 

 composition ? Perhaps we may never hope so to domi- 

 nate the Tree-Paeony ; remains the untutored loveliness of 

 its bloom for us to enjoy. And so, if your space be large 

 enough, surrender one rich corner against a cliflT for one 

 great specimen of Moutan. Around and underneath 

 plant Helleborus Niger to fill the autumn, and perhaps 

 daffodils for the early hours of the spring. And so, in 

 flowering time, you will understand the Japanese sacred 

 passion for beauty which impels a whole nation to make 

 pilgrimage, in due season, to Iris Kaempferi at Horikiri, 

 to the Cherries at Mukojima, to Wistaria multifuga at 

 Kameido, to Paeonia Moutan at Daikonshima — there to 

 spend whole hours and days in adoration, writing little 

 psalms of praise and worship to the flowers. 



But, remember, only the Japanese and Chinese Tree- 

 Paeony can claim the true Japanese ecstasy of aff'ection. 

 Where the West has touched the products of the East a 

 disastrous degradation has resulted ; and Europe now 

 swarms with truly horrible European Tree-Paeonies — 

 lumpish, double, semi-double, in tones of washy lilac and 

 magenta. Of these Western creations let us hear no 

 more; away with all the Mrs. Erasmus Potters, the 

 Madame Hector de Telle-Quelles, the Frau Oberhof- 

 gaerterin Schlagenbuschenheims. What can you expect 

 of creatures named like this ? The Tree-Paeony of the 



