686 On the Genus Afster. 



Asters in Bloom in October, 







Height 



in feet. 



iZdseus, bright pink 



- 



- 



7 



Novas A'nglias, purple 



- 



- 



6 



New Belgic, fine blue 



- 



- 



5 



E'legans, white 



- 



_ 



4 



j?ric6ides, white 



_ 



■ _ 



4 



iSalicifolius, pale blue 



- 



- 



4 



A'sper, white 



- 



_ 



4 



Mutabilis, white, changing to red 



_ 



3| 



Comosus, or umbrosus, 



small white flowers and 



stamina 



3" 



Jmellus, purple 



- 



- 



2 



Riven, small elegant white flowers * 



- 



Oh 



There are some few other flowers in bloom contemporary 

 with the asters : the Helianthus tribe, — but they are all 

 yellow; a Pyrethrum or two, Phlox marylandica, Solidago 

 sempervirens, and Rudbeckz'a speciosa. I know of scarcely 

 any other kinds. 



I have raised from seed, for two or three years past, a great 

 number of asters. I generally sow the seed in April, and 

 most of them bloom the following autumn. This season I 

 have had more than 1000 in bloom from seed sown last 

 spring ; from which I have selected about 50 decidedly hand- 

 some and distinct varieties, the others, being almost all alike, 

 I generally pull up and throw away as they bloom. I have 

 formed a separate clump of them ; and the asters before enu- 

 merated do not contribute more, nor perhaps quite so much, to 

 the embellishment of my flower-garden, in October, as the 

 seedlings. There are all degrees of colours, from the dark 

 blue to the most beautiful azure ; from the rose to the delicate 

 blush ; from the pure white to the French and greyish white, 

 &c, in numberless varieties of shades and sizes ; some of the 

 flowers being the size of a sixpence, some an inch or an 

 inch and a half in diameter, and some semidouble. I generally 

 impregnate them, by tying the flowers of the rose-coloured 

 on the white, blue on the rose, &c. It is incorrect to affirm 

 that the afore-mentioned kinds bloom only through the month 

 specified ; some of them may be in bloom the beginning of the 

 preceding month, and some may extend perhaps to the first 

 or second week of the succeeding. However, on accurate ob- 

 servation, I can decidedly pronounce them to be in full bloom 

 pretty well during the respective months as enumerated. 



* A'ster Riveri was raised from seed by Rivers and Son, nurserymen, 

 Sawbridgeworth, Herts, three years since, and is one of the shortest : it 

 blooms with a beautiful tuft of small white flowers, and is a very pretty 

 variety. Most of the asters mentioned in the list before enumerated I 

 procured from them, and they likewise possess as extensive a collection of 

 herbaceous plants, &c, as any nurserymen in the kingdom. 



