HISTORY OF THE PiEONY PLANT IN CHINA AND JAPAN. 
113 
Second Method ( Grafting on the Boot). — When the root of a Common Paeony has 
grown to the size of a Brassica Rapa root, it may be considered as fit to graft upon ; 
a branch of some desired improved sort should then be cut three-tenths to four-tenths of a 
foot (9 to 12 centimetres) in length, and at the lower end be cut of an axe-like shape ; the 
top part of the Common Paeony stem should then be split, and the axe-like shaped branch 
carefully brought between the splitted part ; the grafted part should afterwards be sur- 
rounded with a quantity of rich clay, and the operation is completed. This method is 
called tsugu mono. 
Third Method. — Bore a hole through the bulb of a Sato imo (root of 
Caladium esculentum) with a branch of Kutsi nasi, Gardenia florida; put 
a branch of the Paeony to be propagated through this hole, leaving a part of 
the lower end 6 to 7 bun (nearly 2 centimetres), out, in the manner shown 
in the adjoining figure ; the bulb as well as the underpart of the branch 
should then be covered with well-prepared soil, and thus left during the whole 
of the following summer. 
Propagation by the Roots.-—' The improved Paeonies may also be propa- 
gated by cutting the roots in pieces, and laying them in pots covered slightly 
with good garden soil ; after a little time they easily form new shoots. 
Time of Flowering. — At the ninety-ninth day (2nd of May), the improved 
Paeony generally begins blooming ; the more common sorts, however, bloom about 
ten days earlier ; the time of flowering also depends upon the situation of the 
country and the province where they grow. Between our capital Miyako and its 
environs, we already find a difference of two days, and the provinces Setsu (Ohosaka) and 
Halima, are two days earlier than Miyako. 
Also at Ise and Owari the blooming time is earlier, commencing usually at the eighty- 
eighth night (30th of April to the 1st of May). At the environs of Suruga (the southerly 
declivity of the Vulcan Fusi), the blooming time falls six or seven days earlier than at 
Miyako ; and the country of Tsikuzen and Tsikugo, on the isle Kiusiu, are five days before 
the capital. At Nara, again, in the mountainous district Yamato, it also takes place five days 
earlier; and at the upper part of the provinces Kaga and Yetsigen five to seven days 
earlier than at Miyako. 
When in spring the flower-buds begin to swell, it is soon to be observed that three to 
four in ten shall not develope to blooms ; these weak-looking ones should immediately be cut 
away, in order that the remaining buds may not be weakened by their presence, and in that 
way every individual branch should be prevented from being overloaded with buds. After 
the blooming season has passed by, the flower-stems should be cut down, that the formation 
of seed may be prevented, and consequently an early exhaustion of the plants. 
The Colours of the Pceonies. — White, red, and purple are the principal colours among 
the improved Paeonies ; the varieties of which are, however, so very numerous, that 
several hundred sorts are thus formed. 
The sorts known by the names of Kinden,“ golden-fields,” and Do-sja, bearing half- 
yellow-coloured flowers, are produced of that colour by manuring the white-blooming 
sort with Bjaks juts. This manure (being the roots of Atractylis chinensis is to be burned 
to a powder, of which a quantity of one Chinese pound (90 gros) should be strewed about 
the fibres of the Paeony plants, and such to be repeated five to seven times. This artificial 
prescript has been extracted from some old book, from which we also learn that, although 
Nature does not produce yellow-coloured Paeony flowers, yet they may be made of that 
colour by enveloping the flowers of white Paeonies twice a-day with a piece of paper con- 
taining some yellow-coloured dye ; * this performance should be continued until the buds 
commence opening. 
Pure yellow-coloured Paeony flowers are, according to the Chinese work “ Woo tsa tsoof f 
not to be found, and plain blood-red are also most difficult to procure. A most remarkable 
fact is, that black-coloured Paeony flowers are also met with ; and that blue-coloured flowers 
* Our Author calls this paint Hwang yen , or “ Yellow Ape.” 
f According to a note in the Jap. Encyclopedia. 
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VOL. I.— NO IV. 
