PH ASB, 
Callistemma hortensis, 
HIS charming flower, which ranks 
‘with the balsam in importance 
as an annual, has no history, and 
is nothing unless well grown ; 
therefore the best employment 
of the space at our command 
will be to frame a compact essay 
on the cultivation of the aster in 
first-rate style, with a view to 
the production of flowers good 
enough for exlibition. 
It is impossible to grow good 
asters in a poor soil, and the 
water supply should be constant 
and plentiful. If grown in the 
saine bed every year, it should be 
regularly well dug and tolerably 
‘A “~  manured, as if intended for a crop of 
peas or cauliflowers. But finer flowers 
may be secured by growing them every year in fresh soil 
that has not carried asters before, or at least only once in 
seven years or so. 
The seed is usually sown too early, and the plants get 
starved before the season is sufficiently advanced to allow 
