July, 1918 
Obe Slower (Brower 
73 
THE PEONY 
IIIMIIIMIIIMIMIMIMIIIIIIIIIIimMIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIinnil 
Banish the Peony that 
Will Not Bloom. 
Almost every one of us has in his 
garden or on his lawn one or more 
Peony plants that never bloom. Some 
of them annually produce promising 
buds which invariably fail to develop 
fully, while others never make any at- 
tempt whatever toward flowering. We 
nurse and coddle them for a few years, 
then tolerate them for another term of 
years, ever hoping against hope that 
they will sometime reform and reward 
us by producing flowers. This hope 
springs from a knowledge that some 
varieties of Peonies require several 
years to mature sufficiently to begin 
flowering, but comparatively few re- 
quire more than two or three years at 
most from planting ; in fact, if strong 
divisions or heavy roots are planted, 
most varieties should begin to bloom 
the following spring. 
The persistent failure of a Peony to 
bear flowers may be caused by any one 
of several reasons, but it is generally 
incurable, and the plant that does not 
reward our efforts to make it bloom is 
not worth the room it takes and its 
place should be occupied by one that 
will. I know it requires strong forti- 
tude, backed by firm determination to 
get up sufficient courage to eliminate 
the slacker of the garden, but let us all 
make resolve, here and now, that we 
will give these delinquents but one 
more chance— if they do not flower this 
coming June, their doom is sealed, and 
on July first they go to the rubbish 
heap. 
Persons who have room for only a 
few Peonies usually want varieties that 
are sure bloomers, and fortunately, 
there are a considerable number that 
are especially noted for this quality. 
In making selection, if unacquainted 
with the merits of the different varie- 
ties, one had better seek the advice of 
an experienced friend or consult the 
catalogue of a reputable Peony spe- 
cialist, and select those that are recom- 
mended to be “reliable bloomers,” or 
“of good habit.” In most catalogues 
directions are given for proper plant- 
ing, and these directions may well be 
followed carefully, for it is a fact that 
many cases of failure may be traced 
to improper planting practices, such 
as planting too deeply, or planting in 
direct contact with manure, both of 
which the Peony resents. 
There are some varieties, and choice 
ones at that, which produce flowers 
more or less liberally on young plants, 
almost invariably flowering the follow- 
ing spring if planted in ' September. 
Umbellata Rosea, Asa Gray, Living- 
stone, Duchess de Nemours, Jeanne d’ 
Arc, Mad. Calot, Modele de Perfection, 
Mad. Emile Galle, E. G. Hill, Milton 
Hill and Eugenie Verdier are a few of 
many varieties of merit that will not 
disappoint the person who is looking 
for reliable bloomers that will give 
quick returns. Of course those two 
sterling varieties, Festiva Maxima and 
Mons. Jules Elie, should comprise the 
foundation of every collection, large or 
small, and it is taken for granted that 
every Peony lover already has them. 
H. G. Reading. 
Peony Bloom for Red Cross. 
The experience of one of our readers 
in Illinois in connection with the sale 
of Peony bloom for the benefit of the 
Red Cross will be helpful to others who 
are interested along this line. Our 
subscriber writes as follows : 
" We offered five hundred dozen 
Peonies to our local Red Cross to be 
sold for their benefit. They had three 
sales during the blooming period, which 
lasted about three weeks, and then in 
addition took orders for delivery on 
salesday. One of our local factories 
offered their automobile truck with 
two men and attended to all transpor- 
tation and deliveries. The first day of 
the sale Peonies were cut the night 
before and tied in bunches of twelve. 
The truck was sent for them about 
eight in the morning, taking 110 dozen 
and at 10 A. M. automobiles were 
at the house again for more as the sup- 
ply had been exhausted. The sale for 
that day was about 180 dozen at 50c. 
per dozen. 
" Another sale was held during the 
afternoon and evening from 4 to 10 
P. M. and the news of the sale having 
been advertised in various ways many 
people from out of town ordered in ad- 
vance or came to buy. The 500 dozen 
were sold at 50c. per dozen netting the 
total sum of $250 for the Red Cross. 
" We expect to do the same thing 
each year and every member of the 
Red Cross watches the weather before 
blooming time fearing some harm may 
come to the Peonies.” 
[ Surely no better or more appropri- 
ate way of raising money for the Red 
Cross can be devised than the sale of 
flowers. Let us have the experience 
of others on this subject. — Ed.] 
Vegetables or Flowers ? 
“ The war garden,” sings the New York 
World, “ must flourish and bloom in that 
beauty which is service. Its richness must 
be vegetable not floral.” 
And that is true and right enough. It is 
the doctrine of the Agricultural Department, 
of food conservationists and war-winners of 
all sorts and affiliations. We may accept 
without argument the principle that it is 
vegetables rather than flowers that ought 
to be raised in this year of the war lord, in 
order that the lord of peace may come soon. 
The vegetable garden is to be preferred to 
the flower garden. Dietetic necessity wins 
over esthetic indulgence. 
But must we therefore have no flowers? 
Far be it from any community or any indi- 
vidual to swallow this food gospel with such 
grim literalness as to have no flowers about 
him this year save the dubious blooms of 
his vegetable beds. Man shall not live by 
bread alone, nor by beans, peas, tomatoes, 
carrots and turnips. Along with things to 
feed the body there must be also food for 
the soul. 
This year of all years, we need beauty and 
fragrance to soften the hard realities of life. 
The fierce struggle, the violence, the blood- 
shed, the primitive beastliness that war has 
revived on so vast a scale, need some anti- 
dote to make us remember that they are not 
the normal order of things. And what more 
potent antidote can we find for war’s ugli- 
ness than flowers ? 
Let us have some flowers, by all means. 
They are content to grow on the edges of 
vegetable beds, to get along with odd scraps 
of soil and stray bits of sunshine. 
Wood Ashes as Fertilizer. 
[ Written expressly for The Flower Grower.] 
The Ohio Experiment Station advises 
the use of from 400 to 500 lbs. per acre 
of a mixture cbnsisting of two parts 
wood ashes and one part acid phosphate 
or bone meal. Such a fertilizer may be 
used to advantage on most any crop 
and the lime contained in the wood 
ashes (about 40%) will have a beneficial 
effect on acid soils. The potash con- 
tained in the wood ashes does not give 
its full value unless used in connection 
with phosphorus in some form. 
The potash contained in unleached 
hard wood ashes, about 5%, is readily 
soluble in water and, therefore, ashes 
should not be stored out of doors un- 
protected from rains. As wood is be- 
ing burned now more largely during 
the coal shortage, it is important that 
care should be given to the ashes result- 
ing. Thousands of dollars are wasted 
annually by failure to properly store 
ashes as they accumulate. In fact, in 
many cases the ashes are simply thrown 
out in the road and their fertilizing value 
lost. They should be stored in a tight 
receptacle of metal as many fires have 
resulted from putting ashes with live 
coals in them into a barrel or other 
wooden package. 
Potash as a fertilizer is especially 
needed on sandy soils and as sandy 
soils are especially adapted to the 
growing of Gladioli we would urge 
Gladiolus growers especially to burn 
all the wood possible and secure all the 
wood ashes they can from other sources 
under present conditions. No potash 
is coming forward from the largest 
source of supply which is located in 
Germany and, therefore, wood ashes as 
a source of potash should be given spe- 
cial attention now. 
Wood ashes may be wasted by apply- 
ing in too large quantities. Four hun- 
dred to five hundred pounds per acre 
of the mixture above referred to is 
only about three pounds per square 
rod and one-fifth of an ounce per square 
foot. A plot of ground 10 ft. x 10 ft. 
would, therefore, receive only about lj 
pounds of the acid phosphate-wood 
ashes mixture. It might be suggested, 
however, that for garden purposes 
double this quantity would not be ex- 
cessive or even three times this quan- 
tity, but we should not advise using 
more than three times what the Ohio 
Experiment Station recommends. 
Madison Cooper. 
