848 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Ootobcr 19, 1893 
people associate chemicals with some sort of inferior goods made 
to represent, or as substitutes or adulterants for the proper article. 
It does not occur to them that there is not one thing in Nature, 
from the central grain of matter in the heart of this solid earth to 
(he uttermost depths of the starlit universe, that is not a chemical, 
and subject to all the laws of chemistry. Every speck of dust is 
a mass of chemicals ; the air you breathe is 76 parts nitrogen, 
23 parts o'^yg&n, and a little carbon. The air of Sheffield contains 
a grea/'' deal of carbon, but it is in the shape of a gas—carbonic 
acid. The carbon in smoke is carbon only—particles of charcoal, 
not carbonic acid. The water you drink is a chemical, hydrogen 
and oxygen. Table salt is chloride of sodium ; the table, tablecloth, 
knives and forks, plates, and all you can put upon them, yourself, 
are all chemicals. It’s no use saying, “ No chemicals in mine,” 
You must either live entirely on chemicals or die of hunger ; there 
is nothing else in the whole universe. When you despise 
chemicals you despise your parents in more senses than one, and 
yourself also. 
Let us get back. I said that we had learned that all vegetation 
was formed of various chemicals. These are mainly potash, soda, 
lime, magnesia, and iron, and their salts, nitrates, sulphates, 
chlorides, and phosphates, but we have yet to learn what or which 
of these salts are best for particular crops. When we have learned 
these facts we have to go deeper still, and find out if we can how 
the plants get hold of them. We say (as an easy way out of it) 
that these chemicals have to be dissolved in the water in the soil, 
and then the rootlets—the fine fibrillse of the roots—absorb the 
liquid—drink them if you like ; but we are only guessing. We 
cannot get down there with our microscope. Nature is too much 
for us. With all our skill and perseverance of inquiry and search 
we do not know with any sort of certainty whether plants absorb 
nitrogen (the nitrate maker) as nitrogen, as nitrates, or ammonia^ 
You will perhaps have wondered why I have so far said nothing 
about ammonia, which we all know to be a good fertiliser. The 
reason is, I have included it in the term “ nitrates.” Ammonia is 
a nitrate of hydrogen. Every chemist who makes a discovery of a 
new compound, is or has been allowed to christen his invention 
by some name of his own choosing, so that we have many 
names for the same thing, which is confusing to the ordinary 
reader. Chemists are often made fun of in those omniscient 
newspapers, who know so much and so little of everything, for 
using such long words. I am sorry any other kind were ever used, 
they simplify matters amazingly, in spite of the battalions of 
letters, Di, Nitro, Polyl, Amido, Phenyl, Amine look ferocious 
enough, but a chemist glancing at it knows pretty nearly how it is 
made, but if it had been called Manchester Blue or Sheffield 
Scarlet it would have conveyed no information. 
I do not know what a Chrysanthemum analyses into, but I 
should say about 32 per cent, potash, 2 per cent, soda, 12 per cent, 
magnesia, 10 to 20 per cent, lime, 9 per cent, phosphates, 3 per cent, 
sulphates, 6 per cent, silica. This is the analysis of red Clover, 
which is such a lover of lime that if you apply this material heavily 
on almost any field you will get a crop of Clover, even if you have 
not put a single Clover seed into the soil. This brings on the 
tapis another of Nature’s economies, or if you like it better we 
can (and without being paradoxical at all) call it one of Nature’s 
extravagances. The soil is full of seeds. Nature has provided a 
thousand ways of transporting seeds of all kinds to all places. A 
whole series of very interesting papers might be written on the 
infinite variety of Nature’s methods in this respect. Suffice for 
the present to say that all soils are more or less full of all 
kinds of seeds. Which of them comes up depends on the soil. 
Many kinds are there waiting opportunity—waiting, one may 
say, for the suitable partner ; when that partner turns up, 
the orchestra strikes up the music of the spheres, and the 
waltz begins. When lime is used plenteously it destroys some 
seeds, paralyses others, but wakens the dormant Clover seed into 
joyous life. When the Black Forest in Germany was on fire years 
ago the Fir trees vyere burnt to the ground, and the seeds and roots 
destroyed also. Beneath these lay the waiting Beech seeds, and up 
sprang a forest of Beech trees where formerly had been Fir trees, 
(To be continued.) 
MICHAELMAS DAISIES AT CHISWICK. 
Notwithstanding that the perennial Asters, or Michaelmas 
Daisies, as they are popularly termed, have for many years been 
grown in gardens, their merits for a lengthy period were unrecog¬ 
nised, They were formerly cultivated, moreover, in a very haphazard 
manner, hybridised, and named perhaps indiscriminately, with the 
inevitable result that much confusion has existed regarding the 
nomenclature of the numerous species and varieties. To a certain 
extent this difficulty still remains, and it is the opinion of some 
authorities that it cannot be entirely overcome, but much good work 
in this direction was accomplished last year by the Sub-Committee 
appointed by the Royal Horticultural Society for the purpose of 
revising the nomenclature of this extensive genus. The gentlemen 
comprising this Committee found the species (of which there are 
something like 250 known to botanists), varieties, and hybrids, with 
their synonyms in a confused mass, but, thanks to their efforts, more 
order has been maintained, and when a choice collection of the best 
kinds is grown, as at Chiswick, it is possible to recognise the better 
forms and identify them with accuracy. Improvements, however, 
might still be effected in this matter, and the work of elimination so 
well begun could be carried on with advantage in trade circles. 
Were this accomplished systematically there would be less cause for 
complaint, now often heard, as to the “ weediness ” of Michaelmas 
Daisies, and instead of this they would occupy a foremost place 
amongst autumn-blooming plants. 
Regarding the collection of Michaelmas Daisies in the gardens of 
the Royal Horticultural Society, it is perhaps the finest that may be 
found in any one garden. All the best cultivated forms have been 
gathered from the various sources in Britain, and being planted on 
a long border by themselves, an excellent opportunity for observing 
the distinctive characteristics of the respective species and varieties 
is thus afforded. A glance at these during the autumn will convince 
the most sceptical that the better perennial Asters are deserving of 
all that can be said in their favour. Here can be seen the type of 
any one particular species, and by its side the varieties or improved 
forms may be noticed. The most conspicuous improvements that have 
thus been effected are apparent to all, and those who observe keenly 
will see a distinction between the varieties that are grown. Some may 
be distinguished by the colour of their stems, and others it is possible 
to recognise by a broad or narrow, or squarrose or adpressed involucre, 
as well as the height, habit, and time of flowering. These character¬ 
istics are detailed in the descriptions of the best species and varieties 
drawn up by the Committee referred to, and published in the Journal 
of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. xv., parts 2 and 3. In some 
parts of the border we find clumps of the taller growing species, 
some loose and graceful, others compact in habit, and close by are 
plants of the dwarf forms covered like the former with blossoms 
that sparkle brilliantly in the sinking sun of an auUimn day. This 
year many of the perennial Asters flowered prematurely, as did 
numerous other plants, and on visiting the collection at Chiswick 
last week the writer found the majority of the earlier kinds past their 
best, but sufficient remained to afford an additional proof (if such 
were needed) as to their adaptability for garden decoration. The 
later plants were loaded with blossoms, and the names of the species 
and varieties that were in blossom may be acceptable to readers who 
take an interest in this genus. 
It has been pointed out by an authority on Michaelmas Daisies 
that the “weakest point about them is their colour, or rather want of 
colour.” There may be some truth in this assertion if applied to the 
ordinary types generally seen in gardens, but it is scarcely applicable 
to the better forms as grown at Chiswick. Here we find a 
harmonious blending of colour, beautiful if not brilliant, and 
sufficient to brighten a garden at this late period. Various shades of 
purple predominate in the blooms it is true, but these only render 
more conspicuous the blue forms and those that have white flowers. 
Amongst others now in bloom at Chiswick are some very fine varie¬ 
ties of Aster novse belgii, and these alone comprise a choice selection. 
A. n.-b. Robert Parker is a free-flowering form about 5 feet in 
height, but rather a straggling grower. Another good variety with 
deep rosy lilac blossoms is A. n.-b. Minerva. The well-known 
A. n-b. Harper Crewe is also seen to advantage at Chiswick, and 
this still remains one of the best white Michaelmas Daisies in 
cultivation. A form named Pluto, belonging it would appear to 
A. Isevis, but labelled as a variety of A. novse-belgii, is exception¬ 
ally fine, growing from 3 to 4 feet in height, and covered with large 
light coloured flowers. For making a display late in the autumn 
