ON THE CULTIVATION OF GERMAN ASTERS. 39 



ARTICLE VI. — On the Cultivation of German Asters. 

 By Emily Armstronge. 



Hartsease asked in the July Number of the Cabinet, 1834, 

 would German Aster Seed grow in the open ground, or must it be 

 sown in a hot bed ? I answer, it will grow in the open ground, 

 but the flowers will be poor and diminutive ; if he wishes for Asters 

 possessing beauty and magnitude, let him have the seeds sown in a 

 hot bed in the middle of the month of March, and when sufficiently 

 strong and large to transplant, remove them to the bed intended 

 for their blooming in. The soil of this bed should consist of horse 

 dung well rotted, and turned, for the previous six months, to the 

 depth of two feet in thickness, and tiode level as subsoil ; then 

 over it, rich fresh strong loam, from an old pasture, with a sixth 

 part of leaf mould, twelve months incorporated with the ashes of 

 the top spit of a moory pasture pared and well burnt, two feet in 

 height over the subsoil ; by observing this plan, it will supersede 

 the necesity of removing the plants between the first sowing and 

 final removing ; and if thus treated, they will attain a great height 

 and magnitude, and produce a mass of flowers of a superior size : 

 observe to have them well watered when transplanted, if the 

 weather should prove dry, to enable them to strike freely. 



In the progress of my remarks on a flower garden, I stated, I 

 would offer a few remarks on the Culture of the Lobelia Cardinalis. 

 Having grown this splendid flower for several years, in various 

 ways, to ascertain the best, and yet, at the same time, the easiest 

 manner of cultivation ; I send you this short account of my method 

 of treatment, more especially, as after perusing the communications 

 of An Ardent Amateur and G. H., myself, and many of your 

 readers, who possess neither Stove, Hot-house, nor Green-house, 

 would be deterred from the cultivation. If the plants should be 

 left unprotected in the open ground during the winter season, 

 they droop and finally decay early in the spring season. Also on 

 trial, 1 found the plants though well mulched around each root 

 during the winter and spring months, with a flower pot inserted 

 over the crown of the plants in frosty or rainy nights and days, 

 yet they never reached a greater height than one or two feet, and 

 was attended with considerably more trouble than this simple way. 

 After the flower stalk has been cut down, which takes place about 



