The seed was planted about two inches deep, in rows two feet apart, with the seeds six inches apart in the row. Immediately after the ground froze a two-inch mulch of coarse slough hay was spread all over the field. This was removed in the spring and the field kept perfectly clean that season by hand weeding, as cultivation could not be practiced. No seed germinated that year. That fall the ground was again mulched, and this mulch removed early the next, or second, spring.
This second season just as soon as nature began to quicken the little peonies began to pierce the soil. Standing at one end of the field and looking down the rows one could fairly see the little fellows burst forth from their long confinement and thrust their little red heads in serried ranks through the brown earth. They reminded one of line upon line of miniature red-coated soldiers on parade.
A fourteen-tooth Planet Jr. horse cultivator was immediately started amongst them, and intense cultivation given the bed that season. By the end of the growing season the little plants were from two to four inches high.
The next spring, the third from the planting of the seed, the young plants burst through the ground strong and robust. Cultivation was started immediately, as during the season before, and the plants made rapid growth. By the middle of May, most of them were eight inches high with an abundance of foliage.
We noticed a few buds appear this season. The strong, vigorous development of the buds, of one plant in particular, continued to claim our attention, and we watched it with intense interest. Day by day the buds grew larger, and then finally a day came when the first petal lifted, and the next morning the petals spread forth in all their glory. It was a gem, we realized we had something first class. My father said after he had studied it a while, "It pays me for all my time, and money, and work. If I never get another as good I shall be satisfied." It was a beautiful dark red, very early, as good a red as Terry's Rachel. We named it Richard Carvel.
Six other plants bloomed that season. One was of the Japanese type. The others singles.
By the next spring the small plants were well established, and we knew by their vigorous growth that we might expect the most of them to bloom that season.
Thorough cultivation was given from the start, and by the middle of May the bed was covered with a mass of buds. June came. The blooming season was at hand. Slowly the buds began to show color. Here and there over the field a petal began to lift. A short space of anxious waiting, and then a day came when it seemed as if the bed had been touched by a hand of magic, for from one end to the other it was one solid blaze of color. Before us were thousands upon thousands of flowers and no two alike.
As quick as the flowers began to open we started to grade and mark them. It took two men working steadily for a week to inspect and mark this bed. Everything that looked choice was marked No. 1. Everything that looked as though it stood a chance of coming choice, if given a better chance, was marked No. 2. All other doubles were marked double with their color. And all singles were marked single with their color.
When the digging season came those marked Nos. 1 and 2 were lifted and divided and each planted in a bed specially prepared for them. Each sort was staked. These plants were set in rows three and one-half feet apart and three feet apart in the row.