ANTIRRHINUMS ii 



tilation. Indeed, on all but the severest days through- 

 out winter the lights should be opened for a part of the 

 day, the object being to produce hard, stocky, and short- 

 jointed plants ready for planting out in spring. 



It will make a great deal of difference if the plants can 

 be potted into small 6o's during January or February, for 

 that will ensure quick establishment with no check when 

 planted in flowering quarters. 



The precise time for planting must be governed by 

 weather conditions; but if the soil is in a good workable 

 state and the weather not too rough and wintry, from the 

 middle to the end of April is the time to plant. 



In regard to soil the Antirrhinum is not at all fastidious, 

 and may be said to thrive in any well-dug soil. The best 

 results are obtainable where one has a fairly heavy soil, 

 livened up with a moderate dressing of short manure and 

 a liberal addition of sand, road grit, or pulverised mortar. 

 It is beneficial to dig the soil deeply, but nevertheless the 

 roots like a firm bed. In fact, it is well to tread round 

 the plants, and then just stir the surface with a Dutch hoe 

 to facilitate aeration. 



Do not make the soil over-rich with manure, as that 

 will cause soft, sappy growth, fasciated stems, and mis- 

 shapen flowers. Feeding is best left until the first flower- 

 spikes have developed, after which a good fertiliser may 

 be sparingly sprinkled around the plants and hoed in at 

 intervals of a fortnight or so throughout the summer. 



Spring Sowing. 



Where it is inconvenient to sow seed in autumn, very 

 good results may still be obtained by sowing in February 

 in a house maintaining a moderate temperature, and if 

 the young plants are pricked out when about an inch high 

 and kept steadily g^rowing they may be made ready for 

 planting out by the latter end of April, Of course, they 

 will be later in commencing to bloom than the autumn 



