ADVANTAGEOUS COLORS 



Jacqueminot; and they can be had in bloom for so 

 long a time that a garden without them appears robbed 

 of its due. They open, moreover, at a time when the 

 heat of the summer has had its effect on the garden. 

 Growth has become tangled, often scraggly; the 

 determination of plants to form seed can no longer be 

 hidden. Then the early varieties of asters unloosen 

 their buds as though intent on giving again to nature 

 the unsullied look of early spring. There is a prim- 

 ness yet a softness about these flowers which gives 

 them distinct and pleasing personalities. Their colors, 

 although numerous and generally pure pigments, are 

 apt to keep in tune, no matter how indiscriminately 

 they are planted. Perhaps it is due to the cut character 

 of the flowers that their colors are prevented from 

 becoming harsh and combative. I recall one lovely 

 border of asters standing about a foot and a half high. 

 The colors of these flowers were blue, white, and deep 

 rose. Naturally, the effect they produced was very 

 brilliant, especially when the sun shone intensely. 



When asters are sprayed with tobacco water, 

 and wood ashes are used about their base, the miserable 

 pests that attack them can usually be routed. The 

 lice that prey on their roots can make well-grown and 

 thrifty plants, abundantly supplied with buds, topple 

 over and die without a nod of warning to those who 

 have watched them develop from the time that 

 their seeds first sprouted. The aster black beetle is 

 a pest as cordially despised as the scrawly legged rose 

 bug. Spraying him with insecticides seems to increase 

 his strength and appetite. Often the only way to 



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