August, 1919 
Slower (Brower 
81 
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How to Make the Most Money 
Out of an Acre of Peonies. 
By Wm. A. Peterson, in Minnesota Horticulturist. 
I DO NOT propose to discuss isolated 
cases of extraordinary profits obtained by 
producing new varieties of Peonies or 
even by cornering the market on a rare sort. 
In fact stocking up heavily on some new 
“ queen bee” of a Peony Show frequently 
finds the grower five years later, offering the 
same at twenty per cent of the original cost. 
There may be a dozen American growers 
whose extensive catalogues and large ad- 
vertising of several hundred varieties make 
their profit on their acre of soil a bonanza. 
There are just two ways to make money 
out of Peonies— either by selling the roots 
or the flowers. 
Leading up to the subject of profits, let us 
consider the three contributing factors there- 
to ; first, the root; second, the soil; and 
third, the labor. 
The roots should be young and healthy. 
If divisions are used have them cut from 
plants not over four years old and remove all 
but two strong eyes to each piece of sound 
tuber. The use of one or two year old 
plants saves some time, but on a given in- 
vestment the divisions are more economical. 
Most people prefer blooms of solid colors, 
and mass together in lawn planting or in 
bouquets those of the same shade. The 
number of varieties carried, therefore, de- 
pends on the amount of land available, as 
one must cut enough blooms of a kind to 
make a shipment worth while, and furnish 
enough similar material to carry out a decor- 
ative color scheme. For example, a florist 
might want five hundred Eugenie Verdier, 
the famous “baby pink,” for a reception. 
The possible range of varieties comprise 
four very distinct colors; namely, white, 
light pink, deep pink, and red, which is the 
usual classification adopted for exhibitions 
and by the cut flower trade. 
In each of these four classes are three well 
defined blooming periods, the early, mid- 
season and late. This makes twelve sections 
to be represented, as the goal set before each 
grower in selecting his varieties, and testing 
out the sorts to finally grow. Ultimately 
one may find it necessary to carry two ab- 
solutely indispensable sorts in some sections. 
This building of a master list into which 
each tested variety must fight its way by 
sheer demonstrated worth is very absorbing. 
In comparing the painstaking records which 
we annually make, we sometimes find an 
outstanding variety, like Madame Forel, 
should be finally dropped, because other 
kinds have superseded it. In my personal 
study in order not to be too exacting and 
give new varieties every chance, I have 
really seven colors to divide the sorts 
into, viz: 1 1 ) paper white, (2) cream or yel- 
low, (3) blush or delicate flesh, (4) light or 
medium pink, (5) deep pink, and rose, (6) 
red, (7) crimson and deep red. In this way 
we have tried out some fourteen hundred 
varieties and at the present time are carrying 
less than eighty. 
Recommending varieties for other locali- 
ties is not a very safe proposition and I shall 
only give a few notes on how certain sorts 
conduct themselves at our nursery. We 
have discarded Meissonier because of its 
crooked stems ; Madame Emile Galle be- 
cause of having no low lateral leaves, which 
prevents cutting it with a long stem. Whereas 
Octavie Lemay, a dwarf-growing delicate 
pink, admits of cutting with a fairly good 
stem without injuring the plant, and is a 
wonder. So far with us the prize-winning 
PEONY 
Jubilee has a very weak stem. Golden 
Harvest is one of the mixed colored kinds 
that florists cannot send on a definite color 
order, unless the customer knows it by name. 
Madame Crousse is tender in our climate 
and often skips a season in blooming. Be- 
cause Richardson’s Rubra Superba has proven 
very shy, we no longer carry it; while Rich- 
ardson’s Grandijlora is all that its name 
implies and a very free bloomer besides. 
This is one of those unusual sorts that come 
into bloom over a long period, so one must 
have a good many plants to cut from to get 
a fair quantity of flowers at any given time. 
Adolphe Rousseau is a wonderful “black” 
but too loose and shows the yellow stamens 
too much. The greatly talked-of pink, Lady 
Alexandra Duff, is on the same order. 
Single blooming varieties attract some, 
but are not very suitable for shipping. 
La Tulipe is objectionable in bud as the 
florists call it a “ candy bud,” whereas the 
bud of Kelway’s Venus leaves nothing to 
wish for. 
No matter how fine a sort may ultimately 
develop on the plant, if in the early stages 
of opening it is likely to “ water-log ” like 
Charlemagne, it is not worth carrying. Prob- 
ably more Delicatissima are used at June 
weddings than any other light pink sort. 
The most popular selling red is Felix 
Crousse, with its perfect bomb shape and 
large guard petal which always indicates a 
good storage variety. 
Many will be surprised that we have finally 
dropped Edulis Superba. It does so well in 
many places, but on our records which we 
have kept annually since 1888, it is not nearly 
as dependable as M. Jules Elie and generally 
not more than a day earlier. In some quar- 
ters Madame Ducel is grown, but with us it 
is smaller and so similar in shade and time 
of blooming to M. Jules Elie, that we do not 
need it. 
We notice an increasing emphasis laid on 
the desirability of the fragrant varieties. 
Having settled what roots to carry we will 
now discuss the best soil conditions. The 
soil should be rich, deep, well drained and 
with plenty of sunshine. For root propaga- 
tion a loose loam makes the tubers admit 
of better dividing, but the heavier soil, with 
even clay subsoil, produces the best blooms. 
Not only plenty of well rotted manure before 
planting should be plowed in but also an 
annual mulch thereafter in the fall, but not 
covering the top of the crown or touching 
the stem. Pigeon, sheep or cow manure 
and even some hard-wood ashes make the 
best fertilizer for our prairie soil. Peonies 
are such gross feeders that a large quantity 
of fertilizer if worked in thoroughly can be 
well taken care of, but no manure should 
ever touch the roots. For most favorable 
results there should be plenty of water dur- 
ing the blooming period, and toward the 
end of August to make large eyes for the 
next season. Some of the foregoing remarks 
might be classified as labor rather than soil. 
Labor. — The planting should be done dur- 
ing the early part of September, in rows 
three feet apart by a foot between plants 
down the row. In two years’ time if the bed 
is to stand for blooming, every other plant 
should be lifted, divided and planted elsewhere. 
If there is any question of the plants hav- 
ing any stem disease, during the month of 
September, cut off the old leaf tops level 
with the ground and burn them up. The 
surest method of keeping the roots free 
from disease is to dig out and destroy every 
large plant among blooming ones that has 
no flowers. In fact we have made it a prac- 
tice for years, in all our standard sorts, of 
destroying June first every Peony plant two 
or more years old that has no buds. This 
avoids the possible spread of disease, and 
also prevents the perpetuating of shy bloom- 
ing strains of Peonies. As long as plants 
bloom we need not worry. 
The young shoots as they push up in the 
spring are quite beautiful and differ de- 
cidedly. At this stage of their development 
we go over our fields and dig out and throw 
away every plant differing in appearance 
from others in the same variety. This gets 
rid of any possible mixtures and is the last 
check in our system of keeping every plant 
true. I may be pardoned in mentioning 
here our ten-year old, unique guarantee of 
giving three for one for every plant bloom- 
ing untrue to description. 
Every three weeks from May to September 
we run a horse cultivator down every row 
and just before freezing up a “V” shaped 
potato plow to trench a furrow to draw the 
water away from the crown. Sufficient hand- 
hoeing during the summer must be done to 
keep the land free from weeds. 
The labor of marketing the roots is mostly 
done in September, which is the proper 
time to move Peonies. It is preferable for 
customers to do their own dividing as then 
the cut surfaces are fresh and wither less 
when put into the ground. 
However, many purchasers do not know 
how, and for that matter we ourselves are 
often surprised at the poorly cut plants we 
sometimes receive. 
After digging, the tops are at once cut off, 
which prevents the roots withering and in 
this dormant condition they can travel safely 
for several months. In all handling of the 
roots great care should be taken to not in- 
jure or break off any of the eyes. 
Regarding the marketing of Peony blooms. 
Long, straight stems are essential but the 
cutting must leave the plant to grow the 
balance of the summer with at least one, 
and better two lateral leaves on each stalk 
left standing. Where every stalk has a bud 
it is a good plan when disbudding the side 
buds for the cut flower trade, to also roll off 
a terminal bud on one or two of the weakest 
stalks, and thus give the plant more leaf 
area with which to breathe. The disbud- 
ding of all lateral buds, when the size of a 
pea, makes the terminal bloom develop 
larger. 
Just at what stage of unfolding to cut a 
bud depends on the variety and how soon it 
is expected to open. Several carloads of 
Peony blooms come annually to Chicago be- 
fore Decoration Day from points fully six 
hundred miles away. 
As soon as the stalks are cut and most of 
the lateral leaves stripped off in order to 
give more of the sap remaining in the stem 
to the bud, they are gathered together in 
bundles of thirteen of the same variety and 
size of bud. In units of thirteen they can 
be sold either by the dozen or the hundred. 
The buds cut when the dew is on them 
carry better but if they are to be wrapped 
in paraffin or other paper, the petals must 
be thoroughly dry. 
If possible it is a good plan after the 
bundles are tied up to stand the stems in 
water for an hour before shipping in boxes. 
For the benefit of those who want Peony 
blooms much later than their normal season, 
and really one of the recent developments of 
this industry, it has been found that certain 
varieties of Peonies when cut in bud will 
keep in cold storage for six to ten weeks, 
and upon their being taken out will unfold 
in all their usual glory. 
Owing to cool and wet weather early 
and extremely hot weather since June 
first, Gladiolus stems are more crooked 
than usual having been developed un- 
der conditions much similar to forcing 
in the greenhouse. 
