A FLOWER HOBBY 229 
money has got more real enjoyment out of this sort 
of specializing than some Lancashire weaver with 
his auriculas—the pride of what little time he could 
call his own. He knows well enough that so far as 
the sheer pleasure of playing for ‘‘points” is con- 
cerned, his ‘“‘bob”’ is quite as good a coin as his rich 
neighbor’s “‘quid.” 
An American prototype of the Lancashire weav- 
er, in spirit, is a hard-working young business man. 
He happens to have a special liking for China 
asters; so, while he grows other flowers, he makes 
a hobby of his favorite one. The result is a really 
absorbing outdoor interest from May all through 
the summer—a little while in the morning and a 
little while in the evening, on week days, he potters 
with his China asters and on Sundays he studies his 
crop at leisure. He would not miss the little money 
that he expends for seed, but, as a matter of fact, he 
comes out with a profit. Living as he does, in the 
suburbs of the city of moderate size in which he is 
employed, he is able to sell to a florist at a fair price 
all the cut blooms that he cares to bring to town on 
summer mornings. 
China asters, of course, are a case of making a 
hobby of a single species—or, more strictly, a glori- 
fied species, the form as developed through cultiva- 
tion being known botanically as Callistephus hor- 
tensis. It is a hobby that may be tolerably expensive 
if one cares to ride it to the limit. This is because 
there are so many strains, each with its several col- 
or divisions. The assortment offered in three 
