171 
THE ASTERS AND GOLDEN-RODS AND THEIR 
RELATIVES IN CULTIVATION. 
During the months just passed the countryside has been more 
than usually beautiful in its adornment of fall flowers. The 
woodlands and meadows, swamps and fencerows everywhere 
ve na mass of color and whiteness, furnishing a constant 
source of delight to the lover of flowers and nature it 
this wealth of material at our very teen it is a matter of wonder 
that advantage is not more often taken of this abundance of un- 
excelled material to add beauty and interest to our gardens at a 
time when the showy flowers - summer are past and gone. No 
country in temperate climes has such wealth from which to 
choose at this time of the year, for America is the home of the 
Compositae, the sunflower family, and it is the members of this 
hich give us our great display. Here in the East, and ai, 
in our immediate eee it is the asters, golden-rods, and the 
radiant sunflowers and their relatives which make our autumns 
such a marve fie. forel gners. These plants are easy of culture, 
only the most favorable of conditions ever produces in a wild 
state, making them especially adapted to border-planting. 
The asters are represented in the United States by numerous 
species, many of them common or peculiar to the East, and of 
high, capped with a mass of royal purple, the golden center of each 
flower-head making a fine contrast to the rays. The heads are 
from an inch to an inch and a-half across, and when fully expanded 
t th 
and spreading habit. The heath-like leaves and the pure white 
