274 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1913 



New Books 



The New Gardening 



By WALTER P. WRIGHT 



Author of "The Perfect Garden," "The Garden Week by Week," etc. 



This work brings the most recent developments in gardening into the scope of a single 

 inexpensive volume. It does not, however, touch them in a perfunctory way, but gives 

 copious cultural and practical details as to designing and planting gardens, etc. 



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The American Flower Garden b x 



NELTJE BLANCHAN 



New Popular Edition 



This volume shows the purpose of each different kind of garden, how to lay it out, what 

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On the Court and Off 



By ANTHONY F. WILDING 



In this book the author, who has been tennis champion of England for two successive 

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For Sale at all bookshops and at our rfwn in the Pennsylvania Station, New York City 



Pete Crowther says: 



"Salesmanship is getting people to buy quality goods." 



"When a man buys a cheap article he feels good when 



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uses it, and he thinks about the quality long after he forgets about 



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From 



Pete Crowther: Salesman 



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'T^HIS is not a technical book on salesmanship, but it presents the humorous and interesting exped- 

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The book contains a practical programme of success in any sphere of work. It not only makes 



salesmanship look good, but it makes life look good. It will cause you to laugh and think at the 



same time. 



JUST OUT ILLUSTRATED NET $1.10 



Doubleday, Page & Company 



Garden City New York 



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How to Exhibit Peonies 



"T^OR amateurs: $25.00 for the best collection 

 ■T of not less than 25 kinds." So read the pre- 

 mium list of the American Peony Society's annual 

 show. It touched us to the usual excitement. We 

 were not altogether novices, though our only 

 chances to exhibit had been the Society's visits to 

 Ithaca, N. Y., because all the other places of meet- 

 ing were so far south of our village, and ahead of it 

 in season, that our blooms were rarely showing 

 more than hard green buds when the shows came 

 round. This show was to be in Ithaca again and 

 that gave us our chance. The Neighbor Gardener 

 was also excited. She had never exhibited, and 

 it was the pleasure and fun of helping her to pre- 

 pare and "stage" her blooms, and the sense of how 

 recently we, too, had been simply venturing at the 

 game, that suggested to me that other amateurs 

 also might like to know how easy it is to show, and 

 how fascinating, and above all, how deeply excit- 

 ing! The culture of flowers would come on twice 

 as fast among us if we had more frequent shows ■ — ■ 

 chances to learn of the new kinds, to see perfect 

 specimens of bloom, and to take part ourselves in 

 the fun and excitement of the contest. Roses 

 and sweet peas have their shows, though far too few, 

 but a monthly show in a little community, of every- 

 thing good that any flower lover has in bloom — 

 think how fast we should all learn, how envious we 

 should all be; and in consequence, how speedily 

 our own plant growing would improve. 



But to come back to the peony show. To show 

 25 kinds in really good condition, one ought to have 

 at least 50 to choose from. The Neighbor Gardener 

 had but 32, and some were so early as to be already 

 dropping their petals; some not nearly ready, 

 the small, hard, round buds defying all coaxing. 

 So her 25 "different sorts" had to be gathered with- 

 out applying as strict a selection as would be nec- 

 essary to win in a large show. 



We had plenty of kinds to choose from and no 

 motive for keeping down to our twenty-five sorts. 

 We had been preparing for the show some weeks 

 before, by going about among the peonies (it is a 

 matter of hours, not of minutes, if you have many 

 plants), staking each plant with three stout bamboo 

 stakes and tying strong garden twine around the 

 plant and stakes together. This saves stem and 

 consequently bloom, in heavy wind and rain. And, 

 too, for the beauty of the garden, the erectness and 

 stature of the plants add almost as much as the 

 loveliness of the flowers. 



HOW TO DISBUD 



At about the time that the staking was done, we 

 also, with the show in view, disbudded from four to 

 six stems of every plant. This should be done 

 when the buds are about the size of peas. All the 

 buds on a stem, except the upper central bud, are 

 rubbed off. This leaves the strength of the whole 

 stem to be carried into the one top flower. Half a 

 dozen on each plant is ample, and we try to choose 

 some stems that look as though they would come 

 some early and some late; for one can never tell, as 

 to the date of a show, whether the blooms will have 

 to be hurried on for it or held back as long as pos- 

 sible. It all depends on the weather; a cold, moist 

 week or a sudden burst of heat will make days of 

 difference in the time of best blooming. But, of 

 course, the weather is always the chief excitement 

 of the game of gardening. 



After the staking and disbudding, there is not 

 much to do but count the buds every morning to 

 see if there are as many as there were the night 

 before; until about a week before the show date. 

 At this time, if the flowers are coming on too fast, 

 cut very young, promising blooms and keep them 

 in a dark cool cellar. There they will open and 

 develop much more slowly than in the sun, and will 

 keep their beautiful delicacy of color, which in a 

 hot season fades out of them often in a day. Indeed 

 even when the blooms do not need to be retarded, 

 you will want to cut most of them for the show at 

 least a day or two in advance, before they are quite 

 out, and let them open in the cellar in the dark, 

 that their complete color may be preserved. 



Take two or three blooms of each sort, if you have 

 them; often an accident happens to one or two, and 

 by the time you reach the show you may be very 

 glad to have a choice to select from. We have 



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