ON ASTERS 19 



difference in the soil, the tall, strong growers may be 

 given the poorest, but it is a bad principle to provide 

 poor soil in a herbaceous border, which the Asters, after 

 all, only share with other plants. The most that should 

 ' be done is to abstain from manuring the ground for the 

 strong growers. 



Propagation. They must be taken up every three 

 years at the most, however, and the clumps split up, as 

 the root system is very strong and impoverishes the soil 

 rapidly. By this division a larger number of plants 

 can be secured, but it is best to keep the outside por- 

 tions for propagation, as they are stronger than the 

 hearts. 



Young shoots taken off in spring and struck as cut- 

 tings in sandy soil afford another means of propagation. 

 The plants come readily from seed too. 



The suburban gardener must be careful not to over- 

 look the Michaelmas Daisies, as they are good near-town 

 plants ; and the fact that they will grow in borders under 

 walls and fences where the soil is none too good is a 

 great advantage from his point of view. We have seen 

 that they are not at their best in such ground, but it is 

 not clear that the suburbanist wants their best, if by this 

 we understand the greatest vigour of growth. His 

 circumstances are quite different from those of the 

 country gardener who has plenty of room, and can 

 afford to smile when his plants spread into broad masses. 

 The suburbanist wants compactness; he wants neat, 

 comparatively restricted growth, with as much bloom 

 to the square inch as can be had. For him, such small 

 but free-blooming varieties as Amellus and its varieties, 

 diffusus and its varieties (particularly horizontalis), and 

 the dwarf varieties of ericoides, are the most suitable. 

 With them in good form he can very well do without 



