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counties where the Tree-Poppies may 

 not be flowered. In the loams of the 

 eastern counties, upon chalk in the south 

 and south-west, or in the light warm 

 soils of Surrey and the Isle of Wight, 

 they may be grown in perfection when 

 the first difficulties have been overcome. 



The common White Tree 

 Poppy [Romneya Coulter 7) 

 is the largest of its family, save the 

 Oriental Poppy. It isnowfound inmost 

 nurseries, and this is the best way of 

 getting a stock, for cuttings root with 

 difficulty and seed is slow and uncertain, 

 often lying dormant for more than a 

 year. When seed is used it should be 

 sown in pans and not in single pots as 

 so often advised , for pots need such con- 

 stant watering that the soil becomes 

 rank long before growth begins. The 

 seed may be sown at any time from 

 spring to autumn (but the fresher the 

 better), and should be covered with 

 glass and put in a dark place until the 

 young plants appear, which is often not 

 before the following spring. For the first 

 shift, which needs great care, the best 

 way is to slip a sharp wooden wedge 

 down one side, raising the plant slightly , 

 but leaving it undisturbed at the other 

 side. After a few days the side first dis- 

 turbed recovers sufficiently to ensure 

 success in moving. The young plants 

 having been wintered under glass and 

 planted out in April or May in a shel- 

 tered spot, such as the foot of a wall 

 or a sunny border, the large fragrant 

 flowers, nearly 6 inches across and of 

 finely waved petals, appear from the end 

 of June until October, or even later in a 

 fine season, lasting longer than others 



of the Poppy tribe and keeping several 

 days in water. Young plants are 3 or 4 

 feet high, but strong old bushes often 

 reach more than double this, spreading 

 on all sides also by suckers. The plant 

 risks less from frost than from the spade, 

 and should take its chance when pro- 

 tected at the root by ashes, cocoa-fibre, 

 pine-needles, or other porous litter, 

 with perhaps a bell-jar raised upon 

 bricks to keep off excessive rain. Pro- 

 tected in this way plants have done well 

 as far north as Cheshire. The shoots are 

 often cut to the ground by frost, and 

 even when this is not the case it is best 

 to shorten them well in order to force 

 new growths from the woody base, as 

 these bear the finest flowers. In moving 

 an established plant it should be cut 

 down awhile beforehand and moved 

 while dormant, but even then loss often 

 follows injury to the tap root; at the 

 same time young plants often grow from 

 stray bits of the old root. In cold dis- 

 tricts a plant will do well in acool house, 

 keeping green through the winter, and 

 flowering freely in a sunny place. Plants 

 should be put under glass in gardens 

 where (though hardy) they fail to bloom 

 well. Some foreign growers have ob- 

 tained blooms from pot-grown Rom- 

 neyas by leaving them exposed to the 

 first white frosts of autumn, after which 

 the buds opened beautifully under glass. 

 The Romneya rarely seeds in this coun- 

 try, but may be raised from root-cut- 

 tings or suckers cut well back, and 

 moved with a good ball of earth, but 

 seedlings are best. It needs a dry rich 

 soil and plenty of it, refusing altogether 

 to grow in cold heavy soils, and is best 



