■Ghe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
273 
Growing the China Aster 
Summary of the Usual Troubles 
A very serious indietinent of The China 
aster was presented in Tiik U. X.-Y. of 
.Taiiuary 20, by Elmer J. Weaver. 
While admitting that the culprit- is 
•;iiilty. as charged, there are extenuating 
circumstances which should also be 
given, so that interested parties may 
have the (r7(o/c ivuih. I quite agree 
with Mr. Weaver that, with our present 
knowledge, growing the aster on a large 
scale for cut flowers is taking a long 
shot; but I could give him the names of 
small growers who have been growing 
asters at a fair profit every year for a 
long time. Resides skill in growing, 
these men have favorable locations and a 
thorough knowledge of market conditions. 
Xo one can foresee whether early, mid¬ 
season or late asters will pay best in 
any year; so most of them cover the 
whole si'ason. expecting to make a good 
f)rofit on part of the crop and hoping to 
at least break even on the rest. These 
men are getting fair pay for their .spe¬ 
cial skill. ‘‘Easy money" is about as 
scai'ce as in general farming. 
Ykli.ow DiSEASE. —The yellow disease 
of the aster was investigated some years 
.igo by the Massachusetts College of 
Agriculture. Mr. Weaver’s costly fail¬ 
ures in irrigation brought him to the 
same conclusion with regard to thi; dis¬ 
ease as that previously reached by these 
investigators, namely, that the disease is 
mainly brought on by abrupt changes in 
moisture conditions of the soil. In more 
than 9.0 years devoted mainly to aster 
growing, with plantings gradually in¬ 
creasing from one or two aci-es up to 00 
acres. I have never .seen a severe case of 
the yellow disease such as Mr, Weaver 
describ(‘S, although I believe that such 
cjises are not uncommon. Practically all 
of the asters that have come under my 
observation have been planted in wide 
rows and given thorough horse cultiva- 
ti<in. This insures a fairly uniform con¬ 
dition of soil moisture. To this fact, it 
is fair to assume, may be attributed their 
comparative freedom from the yellow 
disease. The Massachusetts ■ people 
pointed out that it never appears under 
glass, where the moisture conditions are 
under control. 
TKiuuATtox.—One grower of my ac¬ 
quaintance, living on deep sand, has 
used the sprinkling system for several 
years on asters and other outdoor flow- 
ei-s with uniform success. Of course it 
is impossible to overwater that bottom¬ 
less sand. My own experience has not 
brought out much information, being 
confined to a gravelly side hill. On 
loamy, nearly level soil, under irriga¬ 
tion, I should think it necessary to lay 
lines of tile at close intervals to insure 
against the fate that befell some of Mr. 
Weaver’s irrigated crops. 
Stom-rot.-—T he earliest varieties are 
unquestionably more subject to stem-rot 
than the later, stronger growing ones; 
and I have known of other growers who 
have had the .same difficulty in handling 
Queen of the Mai’ket that Mr. Weaver 
did. It is akso true th.it the majority 
of growers do not have anything like 
So much trouble. (>ne very successful 
gi o ver in the Middle West grows a mar¬ 
ket garden crop reipiiriug intensive cul- 
tiv.irion; the following year early asters 
are jilanted on this land ^oithoiit ma¬ 
il a re. This man, by the way, has been 
growing early asters on a large scale for 
several years, and so far with gratifying 
financial success. The earliest asters 
are the most profitable if one can grow 
them successfully; but to get a good size 
with this type of plant there must be 
more fertility and moisture than the later 
ones require, and that increases the lia¬ 
bility to stem-rot. My plan has been to 
keep the surface of the soil in flats or 
frames dry as much of the time as pos¬ 
sible, and keep it well stirred. Also, 
the plants* were given lots of light and 
air The idea was to prevent infection 
u) greenhouse or cold frame. For a num¬ 
ber of years I have used sand on all 
seed beds under glass, as being less like¬ 
ly to h.-irbor fungus growths. At any 
rate I have had little trouble with either 
damping off or stem-rot; and these sug¬ 
gestions are itffered for what they may be 
worth. About the worst case of stem- 
rot in my experience was on netr laud. 
on which asters had not previously been 
grown. The variety was Late Branch¬ 
ing. iierhaps the least snscejitible to 
stem-rot; and plants from flie same seed 
bed showed no disease in other fields. 
For experimental purposes the same field 
was replanted the following year with 
the same variety, and there was then no 
disease. The trouble the first year was 
then charged to a toi>-dressing of rot 
ten manure. By the .second season the 
manure was thoroughly mingled with the 
soil, and most of it would then be at the 
bottom of the furrow. I know of one 
crop of early asters that was lost by 
stem-rot, following the plowing under of 
heavy crops of clover and rye. There 
are probably several dilTerent organisms 
causing diseases of the aster that are 
called stem-rot. These diseases are now 
being studied, and the results may help 
the future grower. At present we kuow 
that if the land is wet too long, stem-rot 
appears; if there is too much organic 
matter decaying in the soil, it is quite 
likely to appear; if the plants are grown 
in a moist, close air they are almost sure 
to be infected, the dismise developing in 
the field about the time of blossoming; 
and there are cases of soil infection, 
where the disease is carried over from 
year to yqpr. In this c.ase some varie¬ 
ties will flourish on the infected land and 
others will succumb to the disease. Most 
of the reiKirted cases of soil infection, 
although convincing to the grower, would 
not be accepted by the plant pathologist 
as conclusive. If stem-rot had previous¬ 
ly appeared in the field of new ground 
above I'eferred to, should we not have 
assumed that the disease was carried 
over in the soil? We .should like for 
our asters something approximating the 
black, prairie loam; and in Western X^ew 
York this mean.s the addition of lots of 
manure and cover crops. If we plant 
asters when tlu'.se have been freshly add¬ 
ed we are taking a great risk, though 
we sometimes “get away with it.” Of 
late years I have Ix'en using increasing 
amounts of commercial fertilizers on as¬ 
ters, using the manure on other crops. 
TifE Plant-rug. —^The tarnished plant- 
bug is every bit as bad as he is painted ; 
and the entomologists offer no help. The 
bugs are most active and most numei- j 
ous in dry weathei-, when the plants are 
least able to withstand the infection 
which the bugs carry. This is “kicking 
a man when he is down.” They seldom 
woi'k in .shad**; and asters grow well in 
.shade that is not too dense. Quite like¬ 
ly the farmers with a few asters, to 
whom Mr. Weaver refers as being able 
to ])roduce better flf)wers than himself, 
grew them in a garden pretty well sur- 
roundod with trees. A young orchard 
gives about the right conditions. I 
know one grower who Inis had fine asters 
in his pear orchard many years in suc¬ 
cession. On the place where I am now 
living the asters planted in the open 
ground last Summer were ruined by 
pl.int-bugs; but those in a garden in- 
elosf'd by a tall hemlock hedge were 
fine, in spite of neglect and a hard clay 
soil. Corn has often been suggested as 
a shade for asters, but I have not seen 
it tried out. At planting time we all 
think that this year may be one of the 
seasons when the bugs will not be 
troublesome. The earliest \arieties of 
asters, if they escape stem-rot, are out 
of the way befoi*e the bugs get bad. This 
is assuming that they are planted as soon 
as the ground Avill do to work in the 
Spring. If well hardened in cold frames 
b(*fore setting out'they will stand a hard 
fro.st. The most profitable crops I can 
recall encountered either a snowstorm or 
frozen ground after planting out. 
In conclusion I would urge the be¬ 
ginner to carefully study what Mr. We.i- 
ver says about marketing. And be sure 
to keep your selling agent posted in ad¬ 
vance as to what he may expect from 
yon from week to week. geo. aunolu. 
New York. 
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116 S. Pearl St., Albany, N. Y. 
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