Page:The Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory.djvu/79

Rh Asters require a moderately rich soil to do them justice. The compost in which they will succeed best when in pots is turfy loam and decayed manure from an old hotbed, prepared by mixing three parts of the former to one of the latter. Five-or six-inch pots are very suitable sizes in which to grow them, and two or three plants should be put in each; a few may be potted in eight-inch pots: put three plants in a pot for special purposes.

In preparing the pots place three or four moderate-sized crocks in the bottom: then fill with prepared soil, and prick out the plants at equal distances apart round the outside. Each pot should be filled with plants that will produce flowers of the same colour, otherwise the effect will be far from satisfactory when they are in bloom. After they are all pricked off, plunge them in a bed of leaf mould, or partly decayed manure in the borders. In either case the pots must stand upon a hard bottom to prevent the worms getting into the pots. When leaf mould or manure is used it is a good plan first of all to make up a bed of coal ashes, and then only put sufficient material to reach to the rim of the pots when they stand upon the ashes. When plunged in the border a pot must be placed in an inverted position in the bottom of the hole to stand the other upon, and they must not be crowded.