ASTERS 



267 



Qrego Aster is excellent for cut 

 flowers. Both or all three of 

 these Asters may be grown un- 

 der glass in benches; the only 

 trouble is that the average re- 

 tail grower has anything but 

 space to spare for them around 

 April and May. 



It is the late branching 

 sorts, hovfever, which give you 

 long stems and flowers almost as 

 large as you find among the 

 Chrysanthemums. Such, if 

 wanted late, can just as well be 

 sown outdoors and transplanted 

 later on into the field. Now 

 and again somebody will advise 

 us to avoid much manure in our 

 Aster bed; then, later on, some 

 private gardener brings us a 

 bunch of Asters twice the size 

 of our own, and on examina- 

 tion we find that he grew them 

 right alongside some Melons in 



Fig. 100. — ^Thb Single Aster reminds one 

 of a Shasta Daisy, but this bloom actually 

 measured five inches across. I predict 

 a great future for these Asters which, 

 before long, we will have- coming true from 

 seed in all colors 



Fig. 99. — ^The Late Branching Aster. 

 This type, of American origin, closely re- 

 sembles the Chrysanthemum, not only 

 in size of flower but also in length of stem 



the garden where the soil is 

 just fuU of manure. Asters, in 

 order to bear the big flowers, 

 need a rich soil and not too 

 much water, but aU the cul- 

 tivation you can give them. 

 Among the florist's sorts, 

 BaUs' White has proved a 

 splendid late kind. 



Asters Under Glass 



The florist who has the 

 space can plant such sorts as 

 Grego, Astermum, Beauty 

 Aster and Sensation under 

 glass on a solid bed, and in a 

 weU ventilated house can 

 make them a paying crop. 

 Plant about 10 in. apart, and 

 as the plants begin to touch 

 each other remove the small- 

 er side branches and allow 



