Excerpt from Peonies in the Little Garden The rapidly growing fame of the modern peony is stimulating great interest among gardeners. Shows exclusively devoted to the peony are being held with frequency in many places, and nurserymen are offering much longer lists than formerly. This increasing interest brings in its train a spirited demand for information regarding the peony its cor rect cultivation and the special qualities of different Varieties. Here is a glorious flower fitted for widespread planting. The peony in the farm dooryard, the peony in the tiny garden of a house in a little town how steadily it grows! How surely it opens its sumptuous flowers in spots to which too often it and it alone gives interest and beauty! When Mrs. Edward Harding's brilliant work, The Book of the Peony, appeared six years ago, it not only was the first book on the subject, but it created a great interest in a flower previously little known in litera ture and far too little known to the average gardener. The peony has been Mrs. Harding's great enthusiasm for years. This pleasure she has endeavored to _put into the lives of other gardeners who may not yet have tasted it. I remember writing to the author of that book, then a stranger to me, of the delightful and stimulating quality of her pages. I know well that thousands of gardeners will get from this, Mrs. Hard ing's latest book, not only the information they need concerning the peony, but such inspiration as will bring the peony into numbers of borders where hitherto it has been unknown. Mrs. Harding's thorough knowledge of the peony from long growing and observation in her own garden, her critical taste, and her fine and lively style of writing, will give the owners of this book not only the best possible guide in peonies for their own gardens, but a capital addition to their garden libraries. With this book any one can order roots judiciously, plant intelligently, compare, collect, cut, show, and best of all enjoy the peony to the utmost. I must stress the fact that Mrs. Harding writes out of an experience of years, not only with peonies, but with other flowers among them irises, lilacs, and lilies. Her garden contains the choicest varieties of all of these. From her peony collection others in various parts of the world have been enlarged and their owners have been stimulated by that de lightful sharing which brings happiness to giver and receiver. Collee tions of peony roots have gone from Mrs. Harding's garden to the Bronx Botanical Gardens, New York City; to the Royal Horticultural Society. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.