3i8 THE GARDEN OF A 



But in this way the shoots may be pulled through 

 the wires, and a sightly hedge is the result, while 

 the support is high and strong enough to let me 

 cover the plants nightly with light-weight unbleached 

 cotton, if frost threatens too early. 



If asters like a garden, they thrive mightily ; if not, 

 they are the most ungrateful of annuals. They must 

 have deep, cool soil which ants have never inhabited 

 or from which they have been banished, else at the 

 very moment when they should bloom, they wither 

 away almost in a single night. When the plant is 

 pulled up to find the cause, a swarm of white lice 

 will be found feeding upon the root, these being the 

 cows that supply milk to the ant nursery, and always 

 plentiful in ant colonies. 



Asters may be had in all shades of colour except, I 

 think, the three distinct primaries, true vermilion, 

 blue, and yellow, in this following the balsams, save 

 that these last possess a real scarlet. 



To these September flowers must be added the 

 waxy white day lily (funkia subcordata), a light, 

 scattering, second blooming of many, hardy June 

 plants such as larkspurs ; the late phloxes and a 

 slender sheaf of hybrid perpetual roses, though in 



