perfect as though moulded and shaped out of wax. (2) Peony-flowered, large blossoms with incurved petals, making a globe-shaped flower. (3) Chrysanthemum-flowered, with closely arranged, informal petals, sometimes curled and feathered to a high degree. Beside there are quilled, ball, and tassel Asters, etc., modifications or sports of the types mentioned.

The Aster is a showy flower, and grows well for those who treat it well, in any climate or country. They come into bloom in late midsummer and last until frost, one of the scarcest times in the year for really good flowers. It is fine for exhibition at flower shows, and is useful as a cut flower. For all of these reasons the Aster would be a standard flower. Their great popularity is based, however, on two qualifications not mentioned above, and both of which they possess in a superlative degree. These qualities are great beauty of flower and a wonderful diversity and perfection of coloring.

A well grown Aster is simply magnificent. The Chrysanthemum is acknowledged to be the queen of autumn. Nevertheless more than one unscrupulous florist has palmed off great fluffy white blooms of Asters as those of Queen Chrysanthemum herself. Size, form, color and substance go to make up a superbly beautiful flower without a trace of coarseness or gaudiness about it. In poetical language their flowers symbolize both bounty and cheerfulness in old age.

No one but an artist should attempt to describe an Aster's colors. There are nearly thirty shades in Truffaut's Peony-flowered Asters. Victoria Asters can be purchased under twenty-four separate colors. Other sections show still other shades, to say nothing of those with white crowns and colored borders, and those with striped and silver-tipped flowers.

A BED OF MIXED VARIETIES OF ASTERS

Only the drifted snow can compare with the purity of a white Aster. It has those spotless flowers that bring thoughts of heaven. Asters have many blue and lavender tints. None of them are muddy, or metallic, or dingy, as are too many blues and lavenders. They show the blue of a June sky, or the blue of the amethyst, or the color of the lilac of spring, together with soft lavenders, pale blues and deep indigo. Sulphur and primrose tints are the nearest yellow, but in reds they run the gamut from rosy flesh and palest apple-blossom through shell pink, peach, rose, carmine, scarlet and blood red to deepest crimson. Many of the pink shades are exquisitely beautiful. Only the pure whites can surpass them.

GENERAL CULTURE OF THE ASTER

I would like to say that a six-year old child can raise good Asters, and that they will grow in any kind of ground from a clay bank to a sand pit, or stand any kind of treatment. I can't truthfully say those things, however, for my Lady Aster is a fastidious dame. She wants plenty to eat and plenty to drink, and requires her insect foes kept at bay. Those who are not willing to do this had better let her alone. James Vick, that good old seedsman now gone to his reward, was an Aster enthusiast. His experience concisely summed up amounts to this:

That's a good rule for those who want everything in a nutshell. It may be summed up in another way. The way to have fine Asters is to do these six things: (1) Get the best seed; (2) start in a seasonable time; (3) give rich, mellow ground; (4) never allow them to parch; (5) keep insects down; and (6) stake when necessary.

There are many kinds of seed that may be home grown year after year and the strain suffer no deterioration. Aster seed is not one of these kinds. If they were given high culture so as to bloom their best, and only a few of the very choicest individual flowers allowed to seed, they would of course come true from seed year after year. The trouble is that home saving is generally from all the flowers as they run, culls, off-colored specimens and all. Our best Asters represent very high breeding indeed. It is well known that highly bred plants quickly run out unless kept at the same high standard. Therefore never trust to haphazard seed if you desire first class Asters. Do not depend either upon cheap seed. Choose a reliable seed house, one that takes a pride in keeping the choicest strains of all the leading flowers and has too much regard for its reputation to send out inferior seeds under some high-sounding title.

DWARF BOUQUET ASTER

A great many people start Aster seed in the house or greenhouse as early as February. There is not only nothing gained by this—for the Aster is a late flower and does not come to its best estate before August, start it when you will—but an actual disadvantage. Like James Vick, I would emphasize the importance of never letting the plants get a check if the finest flowers are wanted. Now the Aster is not naturally a hothouse plant. It needs in its young stage plenty of fresh air. Without it, or without sufficient light, or in too warm an atmosphere, the young Aster plants become tall and spindling, or, as florists express it, are drawn. A drawn Aster invariably makes a weak, sickly plant, and never bears large or handsome flowers. Sow the seed thinly and cover lightly. They should germinate in from 5 to 7 days.

In the middle states the best growers make a practice of sowing the seeds in boxes about the last of April or first of May. Some make a couple of later sowings between that date and the first of June, sowing these in carefully prepared seed-beds in the open ground. This is to keep up a succession of flowers. So many sowings are scarcely necessary now that there are both early and late varieties to be chosen in the first place. The period of first sowing will allow for all, if kinds that flower at various times are chosen. In the Southern states a June sowing is recommended. A lath frame will keep the plants from parching.

Late Asters may be lifted for the house. It is a good plan if one wishes several of them for pot plants to sow seed of them in July, under a lath frame where they will be shaded somewhat and protected from drying winds until up and of some little size. These will come into bloom before the first Holland bulbs are ready for the window, and will remain in full beauty for several weeks. An August sowing will give late winter and early spring flowers.

Asters are easily transplanted and should never be allowed to become cramped for room, or to be grown in the shade of other plants. If carefully done, an Aster in almost full bloom can be taken up and replanted without injuring it in the least. So there is no excuse for letting them be crowded in either seed-box or seed-bed.

There is no use trying to get good Asters from plants in poor ground. They are gross feeders. They dislike sandy soil the most of all. Clay ground is better for them than sand, and loamy soil the best of all. If the soil is sandy, plant Asters so as to leave a little depression around each plant. The water will thus sink about them and more moisture be retained. Sour, undrained soils where the water stands should be raised a little above the level of the lawn, if for Asters, so that excess of water may drain off. They like