1 8 Encyclopaedia of Gardening 



and these are suitable for groups and masses. But there are also 

 beautiful forms with flaked and striped flowers. A bed of these is 

 both bright and interesting. The type, which has pink flowers, 

 grows about 2 ft. high. There is a dwarf strain called the Tom 

 Thumb, which only grows about 9 ins. high. Compact strains 

 between the two can be got, and they are perhaps the most useful of 

 all. The value of the Snapdragons lies almost as much in their 

 long period of blooming, and their adaptability to nearly all kinds 

 of soil, as in their beautiful flowers. They grow continuously for 

 several months, and almost every little side shoot forms flower 

 buds. They will thrive in shallow, chalky soil; and they will 

 luxuriate in cool clay. Propagated by seeds and cuttings. It is 

 always well to raise some from seed, because, if care is taken to get 

 it from a well-known florist, good new varieties are quite likely to 

 appear. If sown in a greenhouse or frame in February or March, 

 the seedlings pricked off and kept sturdy by being grown close to 

 the glass and given plenty of air, the plants will be in flower before 

 midsummer. Cuttings may be inserted in sandy soil in a frame in 

 summer or autumn. It is wise to insert a few cuttings of any 

 specially good variety that comes from seed, in order to make sure 

 of increasing a true stock of it. 



Ants. Gardeners dislike ants among their plants because, 

 whether they do any direct injury or not, they certainly encourage 

 aphides. They probably do direct as well as indirect injury, parti- 

 cularly to fruits. The best means of reducing their numbers is to 

 trap them with old bones, or with pieces of sponge smeared with 

 treacle; boiling water will do the rest. Paraffin oil also disturbs 

 them. 



Aphides (green and other plant flies). Aphides or sucking flies 

 are familiar to all gardeners, because one species or another attacks 

 almost every class of plant. The green fly of Roses, Solarrums, 

 Tulips, and other plants; the black fly of Asters and Broad Beans; 

 the blue fly of Plums, are all forms of aphis. If the aphides are 

 allowed to multiply they speedily increase to such an extent as to 

 all but smother the plants they attack, and their rapidity of increase 

 is such that a few individuals soon grow to as many thousands. 

 For this reason it is wise to attack them directly they are seen, and 

 fortunately they are easy to kill. Those who are troubled with 

 aphides in glass structures will find that fumigating with one of the 

 " vaporisers " which are sold in various sizes to suit large and 

 small houses by nurserymen, seedsmen, and dealers in horticultural 

 sundries, provides a ready and inexpensive means of keeping them 

 down. An ounce of washing soda dissolved in a gallon of water 

 heated up to 150 forms a simple destroyer, which may be syringed 

 on to outdoor plants through gloved hands. A decoction of quassia, 

 made by soaking a handful of quassia chips in a gallon of water, will 

 also destroy aphides. Various proprietary washes are advertised 

 for the purpose, and may be applied according to the directions 

 supplied with them. 



Aponogeton (aponoge-ton, from apon, water (Celtic), and geiton, 

 neighbour=growing near water). See Flower Garden Water. 



