40 THE SCHOOL GARDEN BOOK 



that make banks of brilliant color in parks and home 

 grounds are allowed to die when frosts come. The owners 

 are i^lad to supply >lips from them at the close of a season; 

 so if you will secure the boxes, sand, and soil necessary for 

 starting and growing them, you can obtain the plants them- 

 selves free. Try cuttings from various plants which you 

 admire; experiment in rooting the slips in water, sand, and 

 soil. Thorough knowledge and skill will come with ex- 

 perience. 



A GLORIOUS AUTUMN FLOWER 



On the twelfth day of February, 1735, Peter Collinson, 

 Botanist Royal to the British Empire by appointment of 

 Kin ( i^ George II, wrote to John Bartram, Botanist Royal to 

 the American Wilderness by appointment of his own kingly 

 soul: "In the little box that the insects came in are some 

 seeds. The China Aster is the noblest and finest plant you 

 ever saw, of that tribe. It was sent by the Jesuits from 

 China to France; from thence to us: it is an annual. Sow it 

 in rich mould immediately, and when it has half a dozen 

 is transplant it in the borders. It makes a glorious au- 

 tumn flower. There are white and purple in the seeds." 



Thus it is probable, as it is fitting, that the first of these 

 noble blossoms to expand their beauty in the New World 

 grew in the famous garden on the Schuylkill River, where 

 the life-long labor of John Bartram, the first great flower 

 lover in America, wrought such excellent results. It is pleasant 

 to fancy the tender care these seeds received and the interest 

 with which the plants were watched as the white and purple 

 blossoms opened to make, as the good Peter had written, 

 "a glorious autumn flower." It is easy to imagine that the 



