Show y 5 cika 1 SIv rubB it r their the i ir I 1 care eire and aal el A J 4 V 4 the beauty of flo flower aers for home decoration GROW CHINESE PEONIES by L M rr tho the old time piny was a rank looking evil smelling plant with ith a large roil red flower of stiff waxy appearance blooming generally in may it was as not beautiful but it n as hardy and pushed its way out of the ground in the spring as boon soon as the frost would permit peony Is the botanical name for this tills plant varying forms of tt it have lime been in cultivation in the celestial celet lal and flow ering kingdoms king doras of china and japan for a long period of time in china these farms have aten crossed und and re crossed thousands of V times the hybrids that are the of these centuries of crossing are the most beautiful flowers in the orld ihlae alle traveling in china several years ago I 1 had the rare good fortune to be la in the interior during the blooming season of these flowering plants and on I 1 was eo BID much impressed with them that I 1 purchased 1000 of the in most ost striking and popular colors for tha tia home test these arrived tn in good condition and were ere carefully planted on ruy fana farm in virginia they from the start I 1 readily eold sold blooms last year for 5 00 a dozen most of these went to new york and boston at this price for the flowers floers an acre of established plants would produce a spier did dicome the idea underlying the growing of these lowers Is to get the blooms early and ship them to cities north chere the demand for flowers in may ending decoration day may 80 30 Is eo so great ns as to exhaust tte entire output it Is the one season of the year when flo flowers iNers are scarce the peony Is lie la only flower of that blooms early enough o 0 in the sason and the one lower flower that defies hothouse culture it Is an out door plant and mil ull not succeed wh when put under glass and there therefore fere cannot easily be forced by artificial means finhen hen glinted pi anted on I lind ind that Is quick to respond to the first ras of the eun sun in the spring land eloping sloping to tho the south but made rich and powerful to produce a strong borod vegetable growth the peony will produce flower a to alp ship about may 18 at this season of tho the year there Is to not a flower of any variety to be seen in any northern market unless it cornea comes from further south the blooming season lasts about 15 days and Is generally at its height just before decoration dt day the plants never fall to bloom require but little care aej being lagura inous enrich the soil soll once in the ground there they remain for five years no other lower flower Is more deserving of popularity so easy to raise that the novice can raise it so par permanent manent that a dump clump has been known to bloom annually for half a century so go hardy that no protect protection lon Is in the bitterest of winters and so free from disease and fungus that one Is spared the labor of fighting disease I 1 J ar ak 1 l mm covton plants make fine house plan ts |