HOUSE AND GARDEN 
May, 1913 
408 
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“61” Floor Varnish gives a tough, durable The delightful simplicity of your woodwork 
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ears 
Tfie Cromwell 
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my opinion, horse-manure should never be 
used if avoidable where asters are to be 
grown; and then only when so old that its 
value lies chiefly in the humus it will 
furnish. Well-rotted cow-manure will 
serve; but the fresh article is likely to 
breed aster disease. 
Asters seem to do best in the cooler 
climate of the New England states and 
Canada. I find that sunshine all day is 
unfavorable to their most complete de¬ 
velopment. In seasons of normal heat, 
exposed to the sun from morning to night, 
sooner or later, the stems and leaves of 
my asters become infested with aphides, 
green, black or bluish. The remedy for 
these is a spraying with tobacco tea or an 
application of tobacco dust. But even in 
the case of aster ills, I regard prevention 
as better than cure. So now I plant them 
where they will have the sunshine only 
half or two-thirds of the day. 
Frequent cultivation is of benefit to 
asters. Keep the ground about them well- 
stirred. In weather abnormally warm, the 
soil may be mulched with grass-clippings 
or like material. This not only keeps down 
the weeds, but conserves moisture, and 
while not ornamental, is of value when 
they must be planted in a very sunny posi¬ 
tion, or when the weather is dry. 
Asters should not be grown in the same 
place two years in succession. 
They are fond of water, and the soil 
where they grow should be thoroughly 
soaked and never allowed to dry out. Tiny 
seedlings must be watered with some dis¬ 
cretion. Too much water in their case 
causes damping off. 
The tall varieties of asters will need 
staking if the season is one of much wind 
and rain. 
As is true of the rose, the aster has an 
enemy very difficult to combat, and like 
that foe, it is a beetle, sometimes black, 
sometimes striped, but always elusive. 
Nowhere in nature is delay more danger¬ 
ous. His ravages are as swift as those 
of the plague. As soon as he is noticed 
at his unholy work, provide yourself with 
a pan of water, into which kerosene has 
been put, and knock or jar him off into it. 
Coal oil does not agree with his constitu¬ 
tion, and he will never eat again after he 
comes in contact with it. In the early 
morning, the beetle is comparatively slug¬ 
gish and his destruction can be more easily 
compassed; but it won’t be safe to wait 
for morning if he begins his operations on 
the flowers in the afternoon. 
August is the only month when I have 
had trouble with the aster-beetle. Nowa¬ 
days I avoid its depredations either by 
early or by late sowing. Asters may be 
sown in a hot-bed during the first ten days 
of April, and they will then bloom in 
July, if the weather conditions are ordi¬ 
narily favorable. I have started asters in 
boxes in the house soon after the first of 
April with good results. But the aster is 
a lover of fresh air. In the dry, over¬ 
heated atmosphere of living-rooms, the 
plants are liable to damp off. When they 
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