224 
CHINESE TREE-PJSONIAS MODERN ELOWER-GARDENING. 
the moderate sized offsets will grow to full 
roots; all the small ones will have increased 
greatly in size, though not perhaps large 
enough to use. The beginning of the culture 
is the only time you have to buy, for your 
stock will increase almost beyond expectation. 
We have known a pound to produce eight 
pounds, though they were in very rich ground. 
CHINESE TREE-P^ONIAS. 
Among all the vegetables introduced from 
foreign countries, perhaps there are none 
more worthy than the arborescent Pgeonias 
of China of the eulogiums passed on them, 
whether as regards beauty of foliage, richness 
of flowers, earliness and brilliancy, their grate- 
ful odour, or the ease with which they may be 
cultivated. 
The Chinese Pteonia was discovered in the 
fourteenth century by a traveller of the celes- 
tial empire in the mountains of Ho-nou, who 
was so well pleased with it that he afterwards 
made a fresh search to procure it ; but it was 
only in the eighteenth century that this plant 
was appreciated in China, when the admira- 
tion of the Chinese foB it was so great that it 
ultimately came to be patronised by the em- 
peror himself. The price of it was so high 
that for some time it was known under the 
name of " one hundred ounces of gold." 
Subsequently the ceilings, the wainscots, 
the vases, and furniture of the Chinese were 
decorated with the figures of this plant, which 
even now attracts our admiration, as exhibited 
on the various articles which are imported 
from that country. It is customary with the 
Chinese, at the present day, to present their 
emperor at certain seasons with the tree 
Pasonia, which is cultivated by the people as 
the king of flowers, and consecrated with 
them by pompous inscriptions, in the places 
of honour in the imperial palace, as well as in 
the private houses. It is said by missionaries 
that this plant is frequently seen twenty-five 
feet high ; but that is scarcely probable. 
Trees from twelve to fifteen feet would indeed 
be very remarkable. The Chinese train them 
in the espalier form, and in this way, from 
their brilliancy, the flowers must present con- 
siderable effect. It is said they have two 
hundred and forty varieties, from the white 
to the black and the blue ; but there would 
be greater variety still were the mixed kinds 
not rejected. These mixed kinds are regarded 
as the produce of diseased trees, by the 
Chinese. 
The Ti-ee P^onia was brought to Europe 
about fifty years ago, and was accompanied 
by the Hortensia (Hydrangea -Ilortensia) ; 
The Pceonia Moutan is a shrub with tuberous, 
napiform, unique roots, and a woody stem ; 
growing in our gardens from two to four feet 
high. The leaves are petiolate, bi-ternate, 
the folioles being oblong-oval, green above, 
glaucous and pubescent beneath, entire or 
parted in three lobes. The flowers are bright 
red, pale or bright rose-colour, whitish, and 
violet, solitary at the summit of the branches, 
from nine to eleven inches broad, very hand- 
some, and having a fine odour. It flowers 
at the end of April or beginning of May. 
The Chinese PiEonia is grown either in a 
cool greenhouse, or in the open ground, with 
occasional shelter in severe weather. In 
China it is grown in the open ground, and 
from some prejudice, the Chinese believe it 
will not grow well in any other way, and that 
it may be transplanted into pots only with the 
greatest care, and when it is in bud. They 
shelter it under tents formed of reed with 
great skill, and spare no trouble to obtain 
large and well-flowered plants. It grows best 
in free light soil, mixed with some rotten 
dung and peat. It requires plenty of water 
when growing, and especially when in flower. 
It maybe grown in the open ground, in a 
situation exposed to the south, and shel- 
tered from the early frosts. In winter it is 
desirable to cover the trunk wdth dry leaves 
or straw ; this precaution induces it to flower 
early. It is also proper to shelter it from 
cold currents of wind. 
It is propagated by seed, and sometimes 
this process produces fine varieties ; also by 
the young tubers. Grafting and budding is 
likewise practised effectively, as also layering 
of the young branches, which are fixed in the 
soil by pegs, or in pots filled with good soil. 
It is also propagated by pinching or bruising 
the stems at the j unction of the old wood with 
the young. Varieties are obtained in the 
open ground, by crossing the different sorts. 
There is no end to the effects of this opera- 
tion. 
MODERN ELOWER-GARDENING. 
THE BEDDING-OUT SYSTEM. 
The term " bedding-out," as applied to 
flower-garden plants, has reference to the 
style, which is now prevalent, of planting the 
subjects in masses, each composerl of one kind. 
The object is to produce a mass of colour, 
and the subjects and flower-beds are, or should 
be, so arranged, that these separate masses of 
colour may tell one upon the other, producing 
contrasts or combinations, the effect of which, 
as a whole, is much more striking and beau- 
tiful than can ever be produced by a general 
and miscellaneous admixture of individual 
plants, however well they may be disposed. 
Hence it is that modern flower-gardens are 
