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June  20,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Paeonies. 
Our  gardens  would  be  poor  indeed  were  all  the  splendid  flowers 
aud  shrubs  which  have  been  gleaned  from  the  Celestial  Empire 
■withdrawn.  Tree  Paeonies  and  P.  officinalis  originally  came  from 
China  and  Japan,  brought  thither  by  Robert  Fortune  and  Von  Siebold. 
We  received  an  armful  of  these  magnificent  hardy  flowers  all  the 
shrubberies,  what  can  possibly  be  finer  than  massive  bush  plants  of 
such  varieties  as  Lady  Beresford,  with  its  deep  pink  outer  petals  aDd 
soft  creamy  centre  suffused  with  blush  ?  Or,  again,  what  more 
adorable  than  Portia,  with  dove-white,  full  double  flowers  ?  Barrymoor 
is  a  rich  crimson  mauve;  Duchess  of  Somerset  very  deep  rose  pink, 
strong  and  good  ;  Blanche  Fitzmaurice,  palest  straw  coloured  centre, 
with  a  few  of  the  petals  sinuously  edged  with  the  brightest  of 
crimson,  and  the  broad  outer  petals  flushed  pink,  are  all  exceedingly 
Tons  of  Flowers. — One  of  “Tit-Bits”  queries  recently  was: 
What  is  the  greatest  weight  of  flowers  sent  to  London  in  a  single 
rain  ?  ”  The  answer  is  given  Twenty-seven  tons  which  weight  of 
owers  was,  on  the  5th  of  March  this  year,  shipped  for  London  from 
he  flower  farm  in  the  Soilly  Islands,  and  as  each  package  weighs  on  y 
few  ounces,  some  idea  may  perhaps  he  formed  of  the  enormous  bulk 
Bpresented  in  27  tons.  A  steamship  brought  the  flowers  from  the 
cilly  Islands  flower  farm  to  Penzance,  where  the  huge  floral  consign. 
lent7  was  smartly  taken  in  hand  by  the  Great  Western  Railway 
fficials,  and  early  in  the  evening  a  special  express  train,  containing 
othing  but  flowers,  was  speeding  its  way  to  London.  It  is  said  that 
ver  £1.000.000  is  spent  by  Londoners  for  flowers  yearly. 
beautiful.  We  must  also  include  'the  variety 
Agnes  Mary  Kelway,  with  golden-cinnamon 
staminate  petals,  forming  a  large  attractive  disc, 
enclosed  by  a  stout,  smooth,  globular  corolla  of 
bright  rose-mauve  petals.  Lady  Romilly,  double, 
has  massive  blush-hued  biooms ;  Limosel,  expan¬ 
sive,  papery,  deep  pinky-rtd  double  flowers; 
Miss  Solway,  double,  has  white  petals  with  deep 
creamy  base  ;  and,  last  of  the  doubles,  is^Lady 
Alexander  Macduff,  having  enormous  Jwhite 
blooms,  suffused  pleasingly  with  pink  ;  the  outer 
base  of  some  of  the  petals  shows  a  tendency  to 
become  flaked  with  bright  crimson,  which  adds 
an  additional  attraction. 
The  Paeonia  represents  that  class  of  flowering 
plants  whose  flowers  when  double  are  not  lees 
lovely  than  single  varieties  of  the  same  genus. 
This  is,  of  course,  because  the  habit  and  build  ol 
the  blosscms  is  graceful,  presenting  rounded,  flowing  lines  that  meet 
approval  from  the  eyes  that  see  for  an  English  mind  ;  and  being 
beautiful,  we  will  cherish  and  liberally  cultivate  these  fine  double 
hybrid  Paeonies.  The  Messrs.  Kelway  also  enclosed  a  few  single  sorts 
with  the  others.  These  were  Lady  Annaley,  with  a  profusion  of 
golden  anthers,  and  two  circ  es  of  incurving,  violet-crimson  petals, 
rendering  the  flower  an  exceedingly  handsome  one.  Dons  has  much 
paler,  but  none  the  less  pleasing,  flowers  ;  and  Lady  Jeune  is  oi 
moderate  size,  white  suffused  with  deep  peach,  and  has  a  golden- 
yellow  centre.  The  herbaceous  Paeonies,  now  so  numerous  and  really 
fine,  are  from  hybrids  raised  by  hybridising  the  red  old-fashioned 
P.  cfficinalis,  found  in  all  cottage  gardens,  with  the  almost  equally 
well-known  double  white  species,  albiflora  (which,  however,  is 
European),  and  other  kindred  members.  Progress  is  assured. 
SOLANUM 
VENUSTUM. 
way  from  Langport  towards  the  end  of  last  week.  Their  fragrance 
permeated  the  editorial  sanctum,  and  brought  half  a  dozen  of  the 
assistants  from  the  other  rooms,  whose  sensitive  olfactory  organs  had 
been  sweetly  incited.  The  flowerB  in  themselves  were  beautiful 
beyond  praistf,  Btrong  and  fresh.  Bordering  the  outer  edges  of 
