The China Aster. 219 



early flowering bulbs will have been taken out of the ground. 

 It is recommended to preserve the seeds from the centre or prin- 

 cipal stem only, as the flowers on the lateral branches are never 

 so large or so double, and consequently produce inferior plants. 

 This seed should be sown in the spring, on a warm border or a 

 aentle hot-bed, and when the plants are about three inches high, 

 they should be removed to a bed of rich earth, where they may 

 be transplanted at six inches distance from each other every way, 

 and kept shaded from the sun and properly watered until they 

 have taken root. In about five weeks they may be again re- 

 moved to the parterre, where they are to flower ; but in this last 

 removal it is necessary to take them up with a good ball of earth at 

 their roots, and it should be performed in rainy weather, which will 

 prevent their being checked by transplanting. The French gar- 

 deners remove them with a transplanter, such as they remove 

 tulips with. The Chinese frequently keep them in pots until 

 they begin to flower, and by this means are able to place them 

 out so as to form an elegant distribution of these floral stars. 

 We would particularly recommend an abundance to be placed 

 in the shrubbery, since no flower forms so good a contrast to the 

 autumnal tints of trees and shrubs as these emblems of variety. 

 The young botanist will observe by comparing this flower with 

 the Helianthus, that it agrees in having the florets of the disk 

 bisexual, but differs in those of the radius or margin, which are 

 furnished with a stigma only, but which are made fertile by the 

 pollen of the centre florets, and hence its place in the order. 

 The marginal florets are usually ligulate, but we have lately had 

 a beautiful variety introduced, consisting entirely of quilled 

 florets. There are in the United States, according to Nuttall, 

 upwards of more than sixty species belonging to this genus, 

 which profusely decorate, with their copious flowers, our au- 

 tumnal scenery. They are large sized plants, and flourish 

 wherever the soil is good, and often in the shade of bushes and 

 trees. One of the most extraordinary is a New Holland shrub, 

 which will every now and then emit an odor of musk, without 

 being touched. 



u Far in a sheltered nook 



I've met, in these calm days, a smiling flower, 

 A lonely Aster, trembling by a brook, 



At the quiet noontide's hour ; 



