CALLISTEPHUS 23 



and find most favour with exhibitors, especially in the North 

 of England and in the South of Scotland. In the Ray Asters 

 the florets stand out stiffly, but not inelegantly, and the 

 flowers are long lived and stand bad weather well. Chrys- 

 anthemum-flowered Asters are very free flowering, of dwarf 

 habit, less formal than the Victoria strain, and fine for bedding. 

 Single Asters are a modern race that have won general 

 esteem owing to the demand for light, long-stemmed flowers 

 suitable for cutting as well as for garden effect ; they show a 

 vast improvement upon the wild type and grow to a height 

 of from 18 inches to 2| feet, the flowers being borne on stems 

 from 12 inches to 20 inches long. Few flowers are so useful 

 in the late Summer and early Autumn as Asters, and the most 

 beautiful Asters are the Ostrich Plume and Single varieties. 



Asters are easily grown. So common is the practice of 

 raising plants in a warm greenhouse, on a half-spent hot-bed 

 or in a cold frame, that comparatively few people know that 

 Asters may be raised easily in the open garden. A sheltered 

 spot, where the soil is fairly light and rich, should be selected, 

 and during the process of levelling the surface and making 

 it fine, a liberal dressing of ashes from burnt garden rubbish 

 should be worked into the soil. If the soil is heavy, three- 

 inch-deep drills filled with old sifted potting mould will 

 provide a capital seed bed. Thin and regular sowing, in 

 lines from 8 to 15 inches apart, will ensure strong seedlings, 

 but the seeds must not be sown deeply, the merest covering 

 with soil, and some shade until germination takes place, will 

 suffice. Early April is a good time for sowing out-of-doors. 



Steady growth from the earliest seedling stage right up to 

 the time of flowering must be the aim in Aster culture ; half the 

 failures experienced are the result of checks due to excess of 

 water at the roots, or semi-starvation following thick sowing 

 and absence of early thinning and transplanting. It is usual to 

 sow Asters in gentle heat early in March, transplant the 



