238 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September IB, 1889. 
classes and prizes are provided that bring a fair number of ex¬ 
hibitors, yet the plants have not the same popularity they had some 
years ago, notwithstanding the attention paid to them by cultivators 
and seed growers, who have greatly improved and diversified the 
strains or varieties. Large quantities of seed are annually saved in 
the grounds of the continental growers, especially in the German 
farms, where so many annuals are grown for seed, which ripens 
readily under a clearer summer sky and in a higher temperature 
than those distinguishing our insular climate. All our leading seeds¬ 
men have special prize strains with which their respective names 
are identified ; elaborate illustrations appear in the catalogues, and 
still we do not often see either in gardens or at shows anything 
approaching to an extensive display, or an adequate representation 
of their cultural value ; yet the seed is cheap, the plants are easily 
grown, and they do not require much space under glass. At 
Chiswick this year, as noted last week, a large collection has been 
grown for trial, the beds and lines of differently coloured varieties 
constituting a brilliant Aster exhibition, which has awakened the 
admiration of such visitors as find their way to the gardens at this 
time of year. It also afforded the opportunity of comparing the 
different types and groups, and even gave some idea of the advance 
that has been made with these plants, for while there were some 
flowers of very high quality there were others but little superior to 
some of the earliest forms obtained. This shows what care is still 
requisite to maintain the character of varieties or strains, for 
though it is easy by continued selection to fix these so that a large 
per-centage come true to colour and character, yet a season’s 
neglect is quite sufficient to upset the work of many years. It is not 
difficult to induce variation in numbers of plants, but the fixture of 
the characters obtained is quite a different matter, and the most 
skilful hybridists find more trouble in this than in any other re¬ 
spect. 
The plant with its innumerable varieties popularly known as 
the China Aster is interesting in several ways, both historically 
and structurally. In the first place all the diverse forms in cultiva¬ 
tion at the present time are the produce of one species, Callistephus 
chinensis, also known to the older writers as Aster chinensis and 
Callistema hortensis, and it constitutes one of the best examples of 
specific variation without the aid of intercrossing with other species 
that can be named. Then it is quite clear that, in China at least, 
and perhaps too in Japan, this Callistephus has been grown for a 
long period, and it has often occurred to me that the so-called 
” blue Chrysanthemum ” which has been thought to be an imaginary 
flower may really be a blue Aster, some of the flat forms of which 
are much like a reflexed Chrysanthemum. That a blue Aster was 
long known is evident from the fact this was one of the three 
colours distinguishing the varieties first introduced to Europe. It 
appears that some of the missionaries sent seed to France, and 
d Incarville is credited with having been the original introducer ; at 
all events the plant had not been long grown in Paris gardens before 
some seeds were sent to Philip Miller at Chelsea, who has recorded 
that he first received them in 1731. From these plants were raised 
with red and white flowers, but five years later seed of the blue 
variety was obtained ; they were all single, and it is rather curious 
that sixteen years elapsed before seeds of the double red and blue 
varieties were secured, the double white following in the succeed- 
year (1753) from Dr. Job Baster of Zirkzee. It is not quite 
clear whether these double varieties were wholly the result of 
culture in Europe, but it is probable that several consignments of 
seed were received from China, and it is quite likely these were 
found in some of the later supplies. In France, however, the 
China Aster, or “La Reine Marguerite,” as it was there termed 
soon become a favourite, and was largely grown some time before 
it attained much popularity here. It was grown at Kew in 1789, 
but Alton does not mention any varieties. At the beginning of 
the present century, however, Martyn states that “ besides white, 
blue, purple, and red, both single and double, there is now another 
with variegated blue and white flowers.” In 1826 Sweet enume- 
rated the following varieties :—coerulea, rubra, alba, variegata, 
multiplex (double), and brachyantha (bonnet), which seem to be 
the same as those already mentioned, with botanical names, 
except the last one, of which I have not found a description. 
Possibly it refers to a variety cf the type with the central and outer 
florets of different colours ; it can scarcely be the quilled variety 
that was introduced a few years later. M. C. Baily’s “ Manuel 
Complet du Jardinier” was published in Paris in 1829, and in it 
he divides Les Reines Marguerites into three groups or varieties. 
1 , Marguerite double, double Asters ; 2 , Marguerite naine hative, 
•ni .j 6 * ^ s ^ ers > an d 3, Marguerite a tuyaux ou Anemone, 
quilled Asters. He does not say when the last named appeared, 
but it seems that they were of French origin, though now it is 
common to style the quilled varieties German and those with flat 
florets drench Asters. This was a very important break; the 
earliest introduced forms had the usual so-called single blooms of 
wild members of the Compositae family—namely, small central 
tubular yellow florets and flat outer or ray florets. In the process 
of “ doubling ” under cultivation the ray florets were increased at 
the expense of the central florets, so that the perfect double bloom 
of the florist consisted entirely of flat florets more or less symmetri¬ 
cally arranged in an imbricated manner. The reverse had taken 
place in the production of the quilled varieties, the tubular florets 
being much more largely developed, becoming variously coloured, 
and either excluding all the other forms of florets or leaving only 
an outer marginal row termed “guard petals.” This change was so- 
great from the other type that it must have taken a considerable 
time to effect, but as the China Aster had been grown in France for 
at least a hundred years when this quilled variety was announced 
by Baily it is quite likely to have been obtained by a long course of 
selection. This variety was soon introduced to England, for 
Phillips in 1829 records the appearance of one “ consisting entirely 
of quilled florets.” 
From this time onwards increasing attention was paid to raising, 
these Asters from seed on the Continent, and there is no doubt 
that most of the distinct types and numerous bright, soft, and 
beautiful colours are due to the efforts of French and German seed 
growers, and from them we still obtain the bulk of the seed used in 
this country. Attempts have, however, been made to raise seed on 
a large scale here, and one of these experiments, which for a long 
period proved exceptionally successful, and resulted in a wonderful 
improvement of the beautiful quilled varieties, was that conducted 
by Mr. Betteridge at the Aster Nurseries, Chipping Norton. For 
over thirty years Asters were largely grown there, the commence¬ 
ment being made in the spring of 1845, when a pinch of seed was 
purchased of Butler & McCulloch in Covent Garden, and from the 
plants then raised the best were selected, the process being repeated 
year after year, but for ten years Mr. Betteridge has said little progress 
was made. After that time results became more satisfactory, and 
in the next twenty years upwards of fifty distinct and good varie¬ 
ties were raised, a large proportion being certificated at the Crystal 
Palace and provincial shows. Special attention was paid to the 
quilled type, and some charming forms were secured in the group 
remarkable alike for their high quality as viewed from a florists’ 
standpoint and for the diversity of colours. In 1873 four excellent 
varieties were sent out by Messrs. Sutton & Sons of Reading, and 
in the following year Messrs. J. Carter & Co., High Holborn, pur¬ 
chased the whole of the seed of the current year. In the four 
succeeding years many other improved varieties were certificated 
and sent out, then several unfavourable seasons occurred for harvest¬ 
ing seed, and one of the last of this strain that was brought into- 
prominent notice was Fair Rosamond, a beautiful variety with pure 
white central florets and dark purple guard florets, which appeared 
in 1881. At one time as many as 120,000 plants were grown at 
Chipping Norton for seed, and the effect produced by long beds- 
4 feet wide planted with differently coloured varieties can be. 
imagined, but the uncertainty of our climate renders seed-saving 
somewhat precarious, particularly when it cannot be harvested 
before autumn, and this no doubt ultimately rendered Aster culture 
unprofitable. 
It is a curious fact that amongst the many hundreds of plants- 
for which the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society 
have awarded certificates since 1859 only two China Asters have been 
honoured—namely,Unique (Gilkes, 1876)andDarkScarlet (Benary, 
1886), until the meeting at Chiswick on September 5th of this year r 
when the certificates adjudged for varieties tried in the gardens may 
be considered as of more comparative than absolute value, though 
regard is paid in such selections to the individual merit of the varie¬ 
ties distinguished. This was the third Aster trial at Chiswick, for in 
1877 an extensive comparison of varieties and strains took place- 
when seed was received from Messrs. Carter & Co., E. G. Hender¬ 
son, Wheeler & Son, Vilmorin et Cie, Dippe Bros., Haage and 
Schmidt, R. Dean, and Benary. Thirty-two types were tested, 
and in the result the following groups and characters, slightly 
modified to agree with present types, were adopted under which 
they were arranged, several of these being in twelve distinct shades- 
of colour. 
(jhrysanthemum-floivered Asters. —Flowers mostly large, often 
exceeding 4 inches in diameter. Florets broad, flat, sometimes 
recurved, so as to raise the centre. Plants of compact growth, 9 to 
12 inches high, slightly branching ; blooms on erect strong stems. 
Victoria Asters. —Taller forms of the above type. 
Emjperor Asters. —Blooms large, florets broad, flat, and resem¬ 
bling the Chrysanthemum section. Plants seldom branching, a 
single bloom being borne on each stem. Robust growth. 
Pceony-flowered Asters. —Blooms large and full, florets broad 
and incurved, forming in the best examples globular blooms 3 to 
4 inches in diameter. Plants 18 to 24 inches high, slightly branched 
and free. 
Globe Asters. —Intermediate between the Chrysanthemum and 
