Ipeontes 
My peonies seem so grateful for a little "forced feeding." When 
they are having their spring hors-d'oeuvre of well-rotted cow manure 
and bone meal in the proportion of a spade full of bone meal to the 
wheelbarrow of manure, I give to each plant a trowel full of wood 
ashes to stiffen the stems and keep the flowers from being "noddy." 
When the buds form I disbud, leaving one to the stem and start feed- 
ing a quart of liquid manure to each plant twice a week with the 
result — peonies with 3-foot stems, stiff and splendid, and flowers 9 
inches in diameter. 
The liquid manure is made in an ordinary barrel painted inside 
and out and fitted in the bottom with a wire mesh division on feet keep- 
ing it one foot from the bottom of the barrel. This is to prevent the 
manure from getting into the spigot, which is the kind ordinarily used 
in a molasses barrel. I take the extra precaution, too, of putting the 
manure into an old sack or bag of any loosely woven material. 
Of cow or natural sheep manure I use a half bushel to the barrel 
of water and this liquid will have to be diluted about half with water 
when using, for it should not be darker in color than weak tea. 
Lawson Melich, 
Garden Club of Cincinnati. 
If last summer the foliage of your peonies became wilted and 
brown, with occasional black spots, which ate through the leaf, try this 
remedy in the autumn. 
"Some days ago I received the sample of diseased peony root and 
top. 
After a careful examination I am able to find only the Botrytis 
blight on some of the stems. I think there is no question but that this 
is the only trouble with your plants. The roots appear to be perfectly 
healthy. 
I would suggest that you cut them off very close to the ground 
and burn over them the diseased tops. A little straw added to the 
fire will make a greater heat. The tops should be thoroughly burned, 
together with all the debris around. The heat thus developed will not 
injure the buds, especially if the ground be moist. Sanitation is the 
only satisfactory method I can suggest for controlling this trouble." 
H. H. Whetzel, 
Professor. 
New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
A short list of charming and dependable peonies: 
La Rosiere, white; Albatre, white; M. du Pont, extra fine 
