WEST NEWBURY, MASS. 
We must repeat again: do not expect too much the first year or you will be dis¬ 
appointed, hut take good care of your plants and in two or three years you will be 
disappointed the other way. 
Those who wish to increase the number of their Peonies can dig and divide the 
roots about once in three years, but those who wish a profusion of flowers should not 
disturb the plants for several years. We have in mind some very large plants that 
have been standing in grass for fifteen or twenty years and bloom abundantly every 
year. 
There is no class of plants so free from insects and diseases as the Peony. 
Small black ants are often seen in abundance on the flower buds but we have never 
known them to do any damage, as they are only after the honey that oozes from the 
buds. The rose-bug or rose chafer often appears in such numbers as to injure the 
flowers, especially the sweetest and most delicate ones. The best remedy is hand¬ 
picking; a small shallow pan containing a little kerosene is a good receptacle for them. 
This is the way we rid our rose bushes, etc., of these troublesome pests. These bugs 
do not often travel far when they once light upon a place, and one or two thorough 
pickings is generally enough. 
Sometimes on newly set plants, especially imported ones, a stalk or a few leaves 
will wilt when the plants are six or eight inches high in the spring. We have never 
done anything for this and seldom notice it the second year. Five or six years ago we 
imported a few high-priced Peonies from Lemoine, the famous French expert, and 
found, when we reset them two years later, that they had a small “ club-root” with 
scarcely any small roots. We unfortunately reset them on rich, moist land and they 
gradually grew worse, some even rotting and dying entirely. Last fall we took one 
variety that apparently had the “ nematodes” badly and set them on new, dry land 
and applied a good dressing of wood ashes. This year they revived and bore some 
of the finest flowers on the place. 
Nearly every year for the last twenty years we have been awarded medals and 
prizes for our Peonies, and this year at the Rose and Peony Show of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Horticultural Society in Boston we were awarded eight first prizes and two 
second prizes for our Peonies. All these flowers were cut from our thickly planted 
beds on high dry land and we think this speaks well for our method of cultivation. 
The Peonies we offer this year are all well grown, blooming plants; mostly those 
that were divided last fall and have been grown a year, the others, large divisions 
from older plants. Those who have been buying newly imported roots will notice the 
difference. 
For those who wish very large, three or four year old plants, we can furnish many 
of these varieties at higher prices. 
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