Chapter 2
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 moisture but not stagnant water. Whatever the character of the ground, spade it deep so that it may be mellow, and make it very rich. If the ground is to be spaded a foot deep, a 3-inch layer of rotted manure is about right to dig in. Rotted manure does not mean fresh or lumpy manure. It means that the fertilizing element shall have been rotted until ready to drop to pieces. Stable manure is too fiery. Cow manure over a year old is best. Many expert Aster growers scatter an inch of unleached hardwood ashes over the bed before it is broken up and spade it in with the manure. They claim it both suits the Aster and helps to keep off root-lice.
It is usual to plant tall or half dwarf varieties in the center of the beds, and use some of the dwarf Asters for an outside row or border. The tall kinds should stand 10 to 12 inches apart in the row. The dwarf ones about 8 inches apart. Asters make a sightly bed because of the uniform height of each class and because of their blooming at the same time.
[Sidenote: Mulching and Watering]
Hot dry soil quickly spoils Asters. About July mulch them well.
Two inches of coarse manure spread out well over their roots is the best mulch of all, as every rain washes nutrition from it down to the roots below. Chip dirt, pine needles, or grass clippings will do, or anything else that is light, yet will let the rains or waterings leach through. No one who has not actually tried it can know of the help a mulch really is to Asters. I doubt whether first-class flowers can be obtained in dry, windy countries, or in hot, sun-scorched valleys without its aid. Asters love the sun, nevertheless unless their feet are kept cool and moist they inevitably burn and wilt. A mulch keeps the ground cool, and it keeps it moist also.
I know of Asters that gained the prizes at county fairs that were regularly soaked once a week with the suds from the weekly washing. In most climates a thorough drenching of the ground once a week will promote a luxuriant growth of the plants. There is nothing gained by watering in dry weather unless the ground is mulched. Without this protection the ground will bake as hard as a brick and the plants suffer more than if no water had been given. In some sections hot dry winds prevail through August and September. This is most trying to Asters. If there is a tank, or system of water works, a good sprinkling, not only to the roots but of the foliage as well, will revive them wonderfully. Use the hose about sunset. By morning the plants will be entirely revived.
[Sidenote: Insect Foes of Asters]
The red spider and aphis have no special fondness for the Aster. They get after it when it comes in their way, as they do anything else. But the Aster has two implacable enemies that by their ravages have done more to discourage people from growing these plants than all other causes combined. These two foes are blister beetles and root lice.
RED SPIDER bothers in hot dry weather. Water is their foe. When the familiar thin, half-dying foliage appears, grey on the under-side and showing a few fine webs underneath, there is no mistaking the signs. It is the red spider. If a hose is used in the garden, turn the water on under a full head, directing it to the under-side of the leaves where the invisible pests have their colonies. Never mind if it does bend the plants by the force of the stream. They can be straightened afterwards. Play up and down, under and all around. If well done, and the deed repeated a couple of days after, they will have been killed. If no hose is available, use a sprinkler, dashing the water on with all the force possible.
APHIS is the common plant louse. Some use tobacco stems as a mulch about Asters instead of manure. Tobacco factories and dealers in florist's supplies sell these at low prices, as it is the refuse material left after manufacturing tobacco for smoking and chewing. Where these can be obtained it is a sure preventative not only against aphis but almost any other insect.
Other remedies for aphis are spraying with a hard stream of water. Two or three thorough applications will finish them. Kerosene emulsion will kill them. So will insect powder if it has not become stale, and if used on a still, calm day when there is no air stirring to revive its suffocated victims.
THE BLISTER BEETLE or aster beetle comes along when the plants are in bloom or in bud. They are half to three-quarters of an inch long, black with grey stripes down their back. Oh! how they devour all before them! Out of the unknown they come, hordes of them. They tarry but two or three days, and leave but bare stalks behind them, every bed, every flower, and every leaf eaten off.
The remedy is to fight them.
When the lytta, _alias_ blister beetle, arrives, prepare to give a warm welcome to him and all of his kind. There are several methods of doing this. Any of them must be repeated two or three times a day, for there seem to be successive waves of the beetles. In a few days the danger is past.
My own method is to get a helper, and, taking one plant at a time, knock the beetles off and kill them with a stick. It is a joy to look upon the heaps of slain when all is done. Whenever the plant upon which it is is jarred in the slightest, this beetle falls to the ground exactly as though it were dead. Only for a second, however, then it runs for dear life. That is why it takes more than one person, for it's no child's play to kill a score of scampering bugs in a quarter of a minute.
My other half's way is to get a fresh supply of insect powder (Dalmation, Persian, Bubach, etc., whatever name it may be sold under) and squirt it thickly over the bugs by the use of one of those 10-cent powder guns that all druggists keep. It is effective if the insect powder is fresh.
Other remedies are to put netting over the bed; to spray the plants with poisoned water, made by stirring 1 teaspoonful of Paris green into 2 gallons of water; and to use kerosene emulsion. The last is made after this formula: 1 tablespoonful of kerosene beaten up with half a cupful of milk. Dilute with 2 gallons of water.
Do not forget that any remedy must be used two or three times a day while the raid is on.
ROOT-LICE, BLUE APHIS, etc., is one of the most common enemies of the Aster. When the plants are almost at their best the tops turn a peculiar sickly green, or they wilt, or become brown. They die quickly unless something is at once done. Pull one up and the roots are found alive with a little insect that looks like a plant louse. Insecticides poured on the soil rarely kill the pests. A bed that has been ashed, or had a mulching of tobacco stems, as has already been advised, will have escaped.
Where the root lice have already commenced, Rexford recommends drawing the dirt away until the roots are exposed, then sifting tobacco dust thickly over them replacing the soil afterwards. Others recommend flooding the bed with kerosene emulsion in the same way. While some have success, others claim failure by either of these methods. Here is a way of dealing with root lice, however, that is always sure.
Heat a lot of water. Then pull up every affected plant, shake the dirt off their roots, and dip them quickly into scalding water. Leave them in but a second, but dip their roots two or three times to make sure every bug gets its dose. Pour boiling water into the ground where the Asters had been. That settles the fate of every root-louse in the ground. As soon as the ground has cooled a little, plant the Asters back, stake them so as to hold them up, and shade lightly for a day or two.
Will it not kill the plants? No, it will not injure them. Of course the plants should have been taken up very carefully so as not to break off the roots. The Aster will stand more in the way of lifting than any other plant I know. Mature plants may be washed out by the roots in a severe storm, but if promptly planted again will be all right in a day or two after. I know a lady who had to move some distance in August. She had a fine bed of Asters. She made the ground soaking wet, then took them every one up, putting them as close as they would stand in ordinary soap boxes. They never minded the transfer in the least, and bloomed so handsomely in their boxes as to call forth many compliments. I give these instances to convince doubting Thomases that pulling up Asters and scalding the root-lice on them is not so desperate a remedy as it sounds. And it is a sure remedy.
[Sidenote: Other Cultural Rules]
Until it is time to mulch Asters, stir the ground, or hoe the bed once a week. In some climates, particularly in warm ones, tall Asters sometimes take on a tall, thin growth. These leggy plants are not beautiful, nor do they bear many flowers. Whenever plants show a disposition to run up this way, pinch out the tops. Repeat the pinching two or three times if necessary, until a disposition to branch shows itself.
The tall sorts are the better for a support. Otherwise hard winds uproot them. Stakes should be used that when driven will be about two-thirds the height of the plants. Tie with soft string, with a sort of a slip-knot so that a half dozen of the main branches have a band supporting them, yet are not drawn up so hard and tight as to cut into the branch.
If a display of Asters are wanted for a flower show make the ground as wet as mud. Then lift each plant with a spade or mattock slowly and skillfully. The roots, dirt and all, will come up in a solid mass. Pot at once, before any of the earth is shaken off. They will not wither in the least if kept out of direct sunshine for a few days. If enormous blooms are wanted, disbud, leaving but one bud to each tip. Trim off the small side branches also, to throw the strength of the plant into these chosen blooms. Most people prefer more flowers and less size.
There are generally a few promising late Asters that are not yet in bloom when frosts come. Lift these in the same careful manner for the house. They do not do well in hot rooms. In cool rooms, not above 60 to 65 degrees by day, they thrive. They like some sunshine, but will get along with little of it if they have good light beside. They do finely in halls and bedrooms where the temperature is almost to the frost line at night, and no fire heat at all during the day. An Aster will not bloom all winter. Its period of bloom is quite long enough, however, to make it a welcome guest in the plant window, and when through blooming it can be thrown away.
THE ASTER AS A CUT FLOWER
An Aster is at its very best as a cut flower, and remains in good condition for two weeks. It comes in the late summer season before Chrysanthemums are ready and after Lilies are gone. It is a time of dearth of really fine flowers. Florists are growing it more and more for their sales, and to use in decorations for August and September weddings and parties. White Asters are much used for funeral wreaths also.
Amateurs cannot make up elaborate floral pieces like florists, and it is not wise to attempt it. But it is well enough for us all to remember that a simple spray of white Asters in a setting of green Ferns, or of lace-like Asparagus plumosus, is a gift of remembrance that no loving hand need be ashamed of placing on the coffin of a friend. A loose, careless nosegay of Asters, bright with its pretty pinks and blues, and a deep crimson one or two to bear its white companions company, will cheer up a sick friend. Always remember the touch of color in flowers for the sick. They need cheer and brightness, and sunny flowers give them both.
The taller Asters are fine to cut for vases and for pulpit bouquets, if the longest stems are chosen. Use plenty of pretty greenery, and arrange the flowers so that each stands out airily by itself, not wedged between its neighbors. Asters can be over-crowded in a bouquet until heavy and clumsy looking. It is the one fault to avoid. The remedy is to use more foliage with them, and to put fewer flowers in the bouquet. Enough is better than a surplus in arranging cut-flowers.
LEADING VARIETIES OF ASTERS
NEW ROSE. This has been a standard sort for many years. Nearly or quite 2 feet in height. Handsome flowers of regular form, imbricated like a rose. Many shades.
TRUFFAUT'S PÆONY-FLOWERED. For more than a generation this has been a standard. It is sometimes shown at exhibitions in a fourth of a hundred distinct shades. It is tall, with a profusion of very large globular flowers. An old but showy variety.
VICTORIA. Esteemed by many the very best Asters in existence. Fine for pots, bedding or flower shows. Flowers are three or four inches across, or even larger, and these are perfection as to form. There are over a score of shades, among them colors as rare and as lovely as the cloud tints of sunrise.
COCARDEAU OR CROWN is another old but not superseded sort. The center of the flower is of small quilled petals, pure white in color. This center is surrounded by a wide ring of flat ray petals of bright color. 18 inches tall. Pretty, odd and showy, but by no means as superb a flower as some of the others.
QUILLED GERMAN. Another oddity, of about equal value with the Crown Asters. 2 feet high and branching. The flowers are quilled like those of some Dahlias.
DWARF BOUQUET. One of the smallest of all. Only 6 to 8 inches tall, very uniform, each a pyramid of pretty flowers. About a dozen colors are in this strain. Used for edging.
SHAKESPEARE. A fine sort for borders. About 6 inches tall, a solid mass of large globular flowers from top to bottom. There are several colors.
SNOWBALL. 10 to 12 inches high, of a symmetrical habit and bearing exquisitely beautiful flowers of the large Chrysanthemum type. The color is a pure white.
VICK'S BRANCHING ASTERS. The Vicks have always been famous for their Asters, and this is the triumph of their skill. These grow the tallest of all Asters, and require more than ordinary space because of their wide branching habit. Largely grown by florists. It is a late variety, and its magnificent, large and informal flowers are often mistaken for the finest Japanese Chrysanthemums. The flowers are of extraordinary size and are long-stemmed. It comes in snowy-white, pink, lavender, crimson, and purple shades. Pure White is esteemed the finest of the lot, with Daybreak, a lovely sea-shell pink, as a close second. Daybreak is earlier than the type.
JAPANESE. Known also as the Ostrich Plume Asters, a name which exactly describes them. About 15 inches tall. The curled flowers are of enormous size, 5 to 6 inches across. About 10 colors, some of them most unusual ones.
GIANT SILVER-TIPPED. These are of dwarf habit, but have blossoms of the largest size. These beautiful flowers, whatever their color, are tipped silvery white. An exceptional good pot variety.
SEMPLE'S MARVEL. This is another favorite with professional growers. They are 20 inches to 2 feet tall, and of branching habit. This is rather a late Aster. The flowers are of much substance, and are perfect in form and rich in color.
COMET. The best known of the curly Chrysanthemum-flowered type. There are two or three strains of this, varying a little as to habit. They range from 14 inches to 2 feet in height, and bear those large, loose, feathered flowers that find so many admirers. The broad outer petals are reflexed. The inner petals are shorter and curve and curl toward the center. These grand flowers come in several beautiful shades.
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THE WINTER WOODS
How patiently they wait--the bare brown trees Through winter's sullen gloom, With arms outspread as if in suppliance Of vanished leaf and bloom!
Till Nature's voice shall sound its clarion call Waking the earth from sleep, These monarchs shorn of all their treasure stand In silence long and deep.
O learn a lesson from the winter woods! Hope on O troubled heart! In patience wait! The blessing thou dost need God will at last impart!
_Alice Jean Cleator, Ohio._
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THE LIVE OAK
(_In the South_)
On the gray outside of the year Fluttered its leaves of cheer; They reached to my winter window And I thought that spring was here. They reached out mistily When dawn was on the tree, But through the rainy mornings How bright they gleamed and clear.
When other trees are bare Oak banners glad the air, And through the Southern summer Its branches great and fair. In all their splendid strength, To all their living length, Emparadise in shadow The meadows everywhere.
_Ethelwyn Witherald, Canada._
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THE INFORMATION BOX
What Our Readers Want to Know
_In this department Mrs. Lora S. La Mance will answer the inquiries of those asking information about plants, their culture, etc. The subject of inquiry will be touched upon in a general way, instead of being made a personal matter, in order that the information conveyed may be useful and interesting to the greatest number. We will forward to Mrs. La Mance for answering such inquiries as our readers may send in.--Editor_
NOTICE. Correspondents will please observe these rules: Give with every letter your name, town and state. They will not be published. If you wish an immediate or personal answer, enclose stamp for reply. Do not ask for greenhouse plans. The space cannot be given. In reporting a failure with anything, tell what treatment you have given it.
AGAPANTHUS. In early housekeeping days, when as yet I was ignorant of the A B C's of floriculture. I bought an Agapanthus. No pains were taken with it, but it grew right along and blossomed freely. I was much astonished afterwards to learn that the Agapanthus is considered an obstinate plant that can neither be coaxed nor driven to bloom. Poor Agapanthus! It has been unjustly censured. Be liberal with it in the way of providing a rich potting soil, and giving plenty of water while it is growing. With autumn, let it have a taste of adversity. Put the pot on a back shelf. Keep the earth in the pot decidedly on the dry side, giving plenty of water when you do water, but making the intervals between long enough for the soil to dry out well. The plant can even be placed in the cellar to winter, provided this absolute rest is not unduly prolonged. After three months of inaction give light, warmth and moisture. Agapanthus will at once respond, and flowers usually follow.
TRAINING A RUBBER PLANT. A tall, straight stemmed Rubber tree finds more admirers than branched specimens, which are more squat in shape. Those who like the bush form best can make their Rubber Plants branch at any desired height by cutting off the end of the stem. The part cut away may he rooted in heat in damp sand. The best time to cut them is in late winter, just before the time for spring growth. Branches will soon be sent out after the top of the main stem has been cut away.
MOLES. A lady piquantly relates her trials with an army of moles that she cannot "catch, kill, or drive away," although she has tried everything she has ever heard of. It is a bad case when mole traps will not catch, or corn soaked in Fowler's solution of arsenic and dropped along their runways will not finish them. In this case I can only refer her to other said-to-be cures that other people have tried and have faith in. A dozen witnesses testify that the seeds of Ricinus (Castor Bean,) dropped here and there in their tunnels will make them leave. A Connecticut lady says a sure remedy is to drop handfuls of salt here and there in their runways. Others put ball potash or concentrated lye in their runs but that is cruel, for it burns wherever it touches. Some use sawdust soaked in tar, or with a stick punch holes here and there along their tunnels and drop in each hole a small quantity of kerosene (coal oil). These two last substances will kill choice plants if used close to their roots, so use caution. An ingenious soul, rightly conceiving that the mole is highly sensitive to smells made a number of stiff pasteboard tubes and put in the center of each a stinking moth-ball. Buried in the runways there was a dearth of moles directly. I heartily approve of the mole's judgment in leaving moth-ball-scented premises. I have felt like it myself.
TROUBLE WITH LILIUM CANDIDUM. Some of our friends have had trouble with Lilium Candidum. They purchased fine, large bulbs, potted them, and had only leaves for their pains. That was because they were procured too late. They are not nearly so tractable as Lilium Harrisii. It is their natural disposition to start to growing early in autumn. If kept dormant beyond this period their flower-buds blast. Get them if possible in August or the first half of September. There is no difficulty in getting them to blossom then.
BADLY SHAPED PLANTS. Every little while someone asks what to do with a one-sided or badly shaped pot plant. Plants, and particularly pot shrubs, ought never to be allowed to get in bad shape. It is an easy enough matter to correct a bad or awkward tendency at the first. It is a difficult matter to remedy it later. When a plant begins to grows coxcomby, or develops a long, switchy growth, or twists about in an ugly crook, begin _at once_ to overcome it. One-sidedness is usually arrested by turning that side away from the light. A crooked, knotted limb can be straightened by tying to a stout support or trellis, tying it every two or three inches to take the kinks out. Long, leggy, or whip-like shoots need the ends pinched off. If done at an early stage no sap will waste. It is old wood that bleeds when the knife is put into it. I always hesitate to advise re-shaping an old specimen if it is so contorted that over half of the old wood must be cut away. It is a great shock to a growing plant to lose half or more of its wood. It sometimes kills it, particularly if injudiciously watered. If severe cutting is required do it while the pot shrubbery is nearest at rest, and a little before renewed growth may be expected again. Usually this is about the close of mid-winter. Such shrubs as Rubber Plants, that bleed profusely, should have grafting wax or paint daubed on the end of cut branches. If nothing better is at hand paste a jacket of clay over the cut end until the wound can heal. Water with much moderation until new growth appears.
SPOTTED CALLA FROM SEED. Spotted Callas are easily grown from seed if it is sown as soon as ripe. Plant out in garden rows like dwarf peas, and hoe them and keep weeds down. After frost dig the little tubers up and keep in dry sand in the cellar. Plant out in the garden the next year. Some will bloom the second season, the rest will require another year.