The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-07-26

How to Grow the Finest Asters.
Asters naturally succeed best in
rich, 1oamy soils and the cool tenn
perature of the northern states, nota-
bly, northern New York and the New
England states, and in similar loca-
tions in the west, but with proper at
tention to the season of planting
equally fine flowers can be had in al
most every section of the country. In
our own locality, where seed Is plant
ed early in May in the open ground;
the fower-buds are apt to blight dur
ing the very hot, dry weather of mid
summer, or else, if the weather is
more favorable, the flowers are fire.
quently destroyed by the black beetles,
which appear in great numbers when
they commence to flower. Both of
these difficulties are easily avoided,
however. by sowing the seed In shall
low drills in a cold frame or | IN boxes
of soil in the warm, sunny windows OF
the living-room in the house early in
March. The young plants are trans
planted to stand three inches apart,
or else planted in small flower
pots as soon as they are one or two
inches in height. and then planted in
the flower-beds when the three are
coming out in leaf. Treated in this
manner they make very fine plants,
coming in flower much earlier than
from seed sown in the open ground,
and avoid both the blight and the
periodic attacks of the black beetles.
Naturally, the fine flowers raised
by this method create a desire for a
longer period of bloom, and we have
discovered in our trial grounds that
by sowing the seed during the latter
art of May and early in June the
ants grow finely during the summer
months and commence towering early
in the fall, after the period during
which the blight and the beetles make
their attacks, and furnish us fine
blooms until the plants are cut down
by the heavy frosts late in the fall.
Thus, by adapting our seaso of plant
ing to the climate, we are enabled to
have two periods of fine bloom against
the single Towering season of more
favorable locations. Not only is this
uoAbAO POA4oo VI U1OO1A hIO6& 00Ll0ldN-
tory for our heavy, loamy soil, but. it
is also equally adapted for light, sandy
soils, where equally fine blooms may
be grown in the same manne if care
Is taken to make the soil rich with
~well-rotted manure; in such locations
it will also be of great service to place
a mulch Of fine hay or grass on the
soil in which the plants are growing.
This will not only help to preserve
the moisture in the soil, but will also
greatly assist the fine growth Of the
plants by keeping the soil cool during
the heat of midday.
The seed should be sown thinly in
shallow drills, three inches apart and
covered one-half inch deep, either in
the hot-bed or in a finely prepared
seed-bed, carefully dug and raked into
a fine, loose condition, as early in the
spring as the soil will break up in a
fine, loose condition. The aster is
quite hardy, and seed may be sown
in the open ground about the time the
earliest trees are starting out in leaf,
or when the peach trees are in bios
SOM. Plants which have been grown
in cold frames and hardened off by
thorough ventilation may be planted
out at this time, as they will stand
light frosts without injury.