PLANTING AND CULTURAL DIRECTIONS 
IMPORTANT—Open your package of roots immediately 
when they arrive. Plant as soon as possible but if you 
have to wait a few days, either keep moist in open box 
in cool cellar, or better yet, bury in garden. 
Plant Ponies in good, well drained soil, in full sun if 
possible, and away from trees, buildings, ete. Do not plant 
where a peony has been before, unless all old soil is taken 
out and replaced with fresh. Plant 3 to 4 feet apart; set 
so that the eyes point upward and are 2 to 2 inches below 
the top of ground (very important). Give each root 2 
quarts of water when planted, and then make a 6 inch 
mound of dirt above ground level to prevent heaving, 
scrape mound away late next spring. 
Give each peony from ten to fifteen square feet of 
space. Do not crowd smaller perennials among them unless 
extra room is given, 
Cultivation—Only shallow cultivation is needed, to keep 
down weeds and grass. Use fertilizers sparingly, bone meal 
one year, hard wood ashes the next, two handfuls per large 
plant worked in topsoil six inches from the stems. The 
use of animal fertilizer is dangerous, as the bacteria of 
decay which makes it valuable, may also in time attack 
the Peony root and cause a damaging rot. The use of 
balanced commercial fertilizers is not recommended as a 
general practice, as they contain too much nitrogen. If soil 
is naturally very poor, sandy or gravelly, commercial fer- 
tilizer may be used sparingly, take care to apply it when 
ground is wet, and watering enough to prevent burning. 
Keep it away from the stems. 
Watering during dry summers, and just before blooming 
is beneficial. Give a thorough soaking with two gallons 
or more of water once every week or ten days, not oftener. 
Daily watering or sprinkling is injurious. After October 
Ist, cut off all foliage close to the ground, and burn at 
once. This is the best preventive measure against blight, 
and usually the only one necessary. Should blight appear 
in spring, before blooming, pinch out and burn all di- 
seased tissue at once, and spray with Bordeaux mixture 
three fourths the usual strength, wetting the ground also 
at base of plant. As a preventive, spray when plants are 
six inches tall, again at 15 inches. 
Blooms—To obtain large blooms, remove all side buds 
when they are the size of small hazelnuts. To obtain a fine 
cluster, pinch out the large center bud. Blooms cut before 
half open and brought indoors will show finer color and 
last longer than blooms left on the plant or cut when fully 
open. When cutting blooms, let two or three leaves remain 
on every stub of the stalks. Do not cut more than half 
or two-thirds of the blooms. To promote root growth cut 
no leaves on 1 and 2 year plants, but remove the flower 
head as soon as it dies. Color on young plants is often 
lighter than normal, due to shock of moving. 
Plant the healthy, fresh dug, Auten roots, follow above 
directions carefully, and you should have many years of 
pleasure from your Peonies. 
—EDWARD AUTEN, JR., Princeville, Ill. 
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