216 COMMERCIAL VALUE OF FLOWERS 



Spade or plow them deep in April. Keep working it oc- 

 casionally until time to place the plants in it. If at trans- 

 planting time the soil seems at all hard, spade again. 



You will find that all of this preliminary working of 

 the land will make the subsequent cultivation easy. 

 Nearly all the weed growth has been destroyed. 



The plants will only need attention after every rain, 

 when it will be necessary to break the crust to prevent 

 too rapid evaporation. In case of drought, keep the top 

 soil well stirred. 



If you water at all, give a thorough wetting, and pro- 

 ceed after it the same as after a rain. This plan is bet- 

 ter than a daily sprinkling. The plants should be about 

 ten inches apart in the row, and the rows can be as close 

 together as will permit of proper cultivation — twelve to 

 fifteen inches. 



If you are growing your asters for the market, or for 

 large blooms and long stems, rather than for a mass of 

 blossoms, you should remove all but six branches from 

 each plant. Remove them as soon as they appear. 



Six flowers are all that one plant can mature and 

 give you large, long-stemmed blossoms. If you are work- 

 ing for still larger flowers, let each plant bear only three. 



You will find that on these remaining flower-stalks 

 there will be a bud form at the base of every leaf. These 

 must be carefully removed. This disbudding operation 

 is really about all the work there is to aster cultivation, 

 after the plants have been transplanted into their per- 

 manent quarters. 



As a cut flower the aster has very few rivals. Its 

 keeping qualities are not surpassed even by the chrys- 

 anthemum. Its range of color is nearly, if not quite, 

 equal to that flower. For three seasons now I have 

 found a ready market for choice, long-stemmed asters, 

 at fifty cents a dozen. The demand seems unlimited. 



While asters are easier to manage than other flowers, 



