The planting season opens about the first of September in Minnesota—­probably the middle of the month is safer—­and it continues right up to the freeze-up in the fall and up to the middle of May in the spring.  We have lifted peonies that have grown a foot in the spring, packed them carefully, shipped them to middle Wisconsin, and in the fall had the shipment reported as having done splendidly.  September planted roots will bloom the following season.  After that there is little choice between fall and spring planting.

The peony root will stand lots of abuse after being thoroughly ripe, but still it is best to handle it with care.  Keep it fresh and plump until planted.  If accidentally it becomes shriveled, immerse for twenty-four hours in a pail of water.  This will revive it.  Remove from the water and plant immediately.  The roots should be planted with the tops of the buds from two to three inches below the surface—­not more than three inches at the most.

Many times you will notice that you have a nice, thrifty looking plant, but that it does not bloom.  Nine times out of ten if you examine into the matter you will find that your plant was set from six to eight inches deep—­and this is why it didn’t bloom.  Another cause of peonies not blooming is their being planted in lawns where the soil is impoverished by the roots of large trees.

The common method of propagation of established varieties is by division.  Grafting is resorted to by professionals in some instances, but that does not interest us here.

The peony will do well in any well drained soil, though a rich sandy loam is the best.  It will give splendid results in heavy clay if well cultivated and if at the blooming season in case of drouth the plants are well watered.

Of all soils a sandy one is the poorest for the production of bloom, although, on the contrary, for the rapid production of roots the lighter soils are ideal.  Such soils not only produce roots much more rapidly than the heavier soils, but produce a root that divides easier and to better advantage.  But it is with the cultivation of the plant that we are most interested.

As I have said before, no plant will stand more abuse than the peony and still give fairly good results, but if given a good soil and then good cultivation we have no flower that will give us more satisfaction for the care we give it.

When grown in large numbers peonies should be planted, if possible, so that the plants can be cultivated with a horse.  Deep cultivation seems to bring the best flowers.  Where we can give horse cultivation we start the cultivator just as early in the spring as we can.  As a rule we start by the middle of April and keep it going through the plants once a week at least, and oftener if necessary, right up to the time when the buds start to open.  Cultivation here ceases until the blooming season is over and is then resumed often enough to destroy all weeds up to the first of August.  We use one and two-horse cultivators and run the shovels to within three or four inches of the plants and two to three inches deep.