THE STORY OF 
BODGER’S WILT-RESISTANT ASTERS 
For hundreds of years horticulturists have developed the China 
Aster until it is one of the most colorful of the late summer annuals. 
About twenty years ago, however, the disease Aster Wilt became so 
widespread that it threatened the very existence of the Aster fam- 
ily. The problem was this: Wilt is caused by the fungus Fusarium 
conglutinans var. Callistephi, which lives in the soil. It may be 
spread by tools, water, seed—and it persists almost indefinitely. It 
may be avoided by using soil that has never grown Asters before, 
but this course is usually impractical. There is at present no drug or 
chemical which will destroy it. How, then, is Aster Wilt conquered? 
The process developed by Bodger Seeds Ltd. in its pioneer work 
is much like vaccination in human beings: Plants are exposed to the 
Wilt and those which survive supply seed for the next generation of 
test plants. This work is carried on in the Wilt Workshop, a twenty- 
acre farm staffed by Bodger experts which is devoted solely to wilt 
work and is purposely infected with as much wilt as possible. 
The tendency to wilt-resistance can be inherited, so the plants 
grown from the seed produced the previous year are quite resistant 
—but the process does not stop there. Many successive generations 
are grown in the Workshop until the best lines have great resist- 
ance. By means of this technique—survival of the fittest—Bodger’s 
original strains of wilt-resistant Asters were developed. 
In all cases it is resistance, not immunity, which is developed. 
The tendency toward resistance is inherited, and will ‘breed out’ 
if the strain is not put through the Workshop cycle periodically. All 
Bodger Aster introductions are developed in the Workshop, and 
each year’s stock seed comes directly from a two-generation expo- 
sure to wilt of a virulence not found in ordinary soil. Your Bodger 
Aster seed is highly resistant. Even a few generations of increase in 
non- or lightly-infected soil will produce seed of decidedly less 
resistance. 
Resistance is hereditary, and so are plant and flower types. 
Bodger wilt-resistant strains are developed from non-resistant, 
Commercial varieties, quite true to type—not from crosses between 
commercial and inferior, though resistant, types. Because we take 
pride in maintaining this accuracy of type, some varieties are not 
offered as wilt-resistant. At present we cannot make these resistant 
without sacrificing essential qualities of type, and we do not recom- 
mend their use where wilt has been observed. Combining wilt- 
resistance with good commercial types is not easy; since there will 
always be some variation. Resistance is expressed as a percentage, 
a high value of which is required to qualify as ‘wilt-resistant.” 
The war against wilt is a continual one, complicated by bad 
weather breaks which sometimes wipe out a long chain of selec- 
tion work. Among commercial growers, Bodger Seeds Ltd. is the 
pioneer in wilt work, and the only firm actively engaged in con- 
tinual research. Your Bodger wilt-resistant Aster seed is of high 
quality, true to type, and as wilt-resistant as we can make it. 
Because of this research work, wilt is no longer a problem to the 
careful grower who makes sure he has resistant stock. 
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