But few of us can cultivate in this way.  Field cultivating methods are hard to apply to the lawn and garden.  But we may get the same results in other ways.  Clumps of peonies on the lawn should be so planted that a cultivated space encircling the plant at least a foot wide is left.  This space should be covered in the fall with a mulch of well rotted barnyard manure which should be forked or spaded into the soil in the spring.  And the soil about the plant should be thoroughly forked over, to a depth of two to four inches, three or four times before the blooming season.

Where the plants are planted in borders and beds in the garden, mulch and cultivate in the same way, stirring the soil all about and between the plants.  Care should be taken in applying the manure mulch not to get it directly over the plant if the tops have been cut back.  The stems are hollow as they die out in the fall, and thawing snow and occasional rains of winter leach the strength out of the manure, and this filters down through these hollow stems and comes in contact with the roots and rots them.

For the sake of protection the peony needs no winter mulch.  For this latitude it is perfectly hardy.

After the blooming season cut all the blossom stems back to the leaves for looks.  Do not cut the leaf stalk back until about the middle of September.  By that time the plant is dormant, and all top growth can be removed with perfect safety.

Most of us are willing to spend this time and labor if we get results and to get the best results with peonies we must have good varieties.  Of named peonies there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 varieties.  Large collections now catalogue all the way from 250 to 500 sorts.  From such collections it is hard for those not thoroughly familiar with the merits of the varieties to make an intelligent selection of moderate priced peonies for a small planting.  For people so situated I make the following suggestion of varieties: 

White:  Candissima, Festiva Maxima, Duchess de Nemours, Duke of Wellington, Couronne d’Or, Queen Victoria, Avalanche, Madam de Verneville, Mons Dupont, Marie Lemoine.

Pink:  Edulis Superba, Model de Perfection, Monsieur Jules Elie, Livingston, Mathilde de Roseneck, Alexander Dumas.

Light Pink:  Eugene Verdier, Delicatissima, Marguerite Gerard, Dorchester Eugene Verdier.

Red:  Richard Carvel, Felix Crousse, Meissonier, Rachel, Delachii, Purpurea Superba and Rubra Superba.

So much for the old peonies.  Now to the new ones.  And the question naturally comes, why any new ones?  With over 2,000 varieties shouldn’t we be satisfied?  No!  Many of the varieties catalogued might be eliminated, and we should be the gainer thereby.  I believe I am safe in saying that if the present list were cut down to 300 sorts it would cover all the varieties worth while.  And there is such a great chance for improvement!  So many beautiful varieties coming to us of late years beckon us on.  Crousse, Dessert and Lemoine have set the pace, and we of America will not be left behind.