THE MICHAELMAS 

 DAISY. 



Aster amelltts. 



ICHAELMAS DAISIES are not in 

 high repute, for they are not well 

 represented in gardens. A cer- 

 tain number of coarse, weedy sorts 

 have obtained entrance, and have 

 spread far and wide ; and when, 

 by the artistic eye, they are 

 weighed in the balances and 

 found wanting, the whole race is 

 condemned for their defects. But 

 there are in cultivation some 

 truly noble kinds, and many that 

 are beautiful and useful if not 

 noble ; and their value is in some 

 degree enhanced by the fact of 

 their flowering late in the summer 

 when the gaiety of the garden is 

 overpast. From August to the 

 close of the year is the season of 

 the Michaelmas daisies; one of their number (Aiter ffrandi- 

 jJi>nm} is called the " Christmas daisy/' because of its 

 late flowering, and it is not at all uncommon for them 

 to fight the frost night after night as the season wears 

 on, and come out triumphant at last in unfolding to 



