The establishments where they cultivate exclusively the Paeonia Moutan are numerous, but very small. They have the appearance of our cottage gardens, and are cared for in the same way, that is, by all the members of the family: the women take as much part in it as the men: they are very avaricious and love money extremely. When they have been consulted, I always had to pay dearer for the acquisitions of plants which I made. The soil of these gardens is rich and well-manured; this latter circumstance renders it less compact than the soil where they cultivate cotton. The propagation and management of the Paeonia Moutan seems to have been perfectly understood by the Chinese at Shanghae, much better than with us. Our horticulturists complain without ceasing of the difficulty of multiplying this beautiful plant, and this makes the price remain high. Here is the method which the Chinese pursue, and which our growers may try. At the commencement of October, they collect in the sheds and out-houses a great quantity of the roots of a certain herbaceous Peony, roots which must serve for subjects of Paeonia Moutan. The bundle of tubercles which forms the root of a herbaceous peony is divided, and each little root, in shape of a finger, becomes a subject upon which they graft the P. Moutan. Having placed a great number of these tubercles upon the potting table, they bring the grafts of the plants which they wish to multiply. Each graft is but an inch and a half to two inches long; it is the extremity of a shoot made during the summer just finished. The under part of it is cut into a wedge and inserted on the top of the finger shaped tubercle of which we spoke. The graft is covered by a ligature or by clay and the operation is complete. A great number of grafts being thus made, they are carried to the garden and planted in rows distant about a foot and a half; the same space is left between plants in the same row. In planting, the head of the graft only remains above the soil; the part where the graft unites with the tubercle is always buried. Kaempfer says that the Chinese multiply the Moutan Peony by bud-grafting; this is an error, this process is never practiced by them, they do not even understand it. The author has been led into the error by the smallness of the bud which they use, this having but one eye at its end.