130 Cultivation of tJie AntirrJiiiiuni, or Siiap-Dragon. 



The lower lip is generally tipped with yellow. When the corolla is thrown 

 open by the gentle pressure of the thumb and finger, a white throat is re- 

 vealed, and as the stamens have a fancied resemblance to teeth, it does not 

 require a great stretch of the imagination to liken it to the mouth of some 

 animal. If the flower possessed a pleasant odor, it would certainly add 

 very much to the value of the plant ; but, as it is, it may be classed with 

 the most desirable of our border flowers. When planted in masses, it pre- 

 sents a very gay appearance when in flower, where all the beautiful varieties 

 are displayed. It is considered a perennial ; but with me it is a very im- 

 perfect one. In a light loamy soil, it will continue a number of years ; but 

 in a very moist or wet soil, it generally perishes the first winter. But, as it 

 blooms freely the first season from the seed, this is not of much consequence, 

 although plants that have stood the winter flower earlier than seedlings ; 

 but the flowers are no better. 



Gerarde says, " The seeds are black, contained in round husks " (he means 

 capsules) " fashioned like a calf's snout ; or, in my opinion, it is more like 

 unto the bones of a sheep's head that hath been long in the water, or the 

 flesh consumed clean away." If the seed is sown in the greenhouse or 

 hot-bed in March, and transplanted into the open ground the last of May, 

 plants will begin to flower by the middle of July, and continue in bloom 

 until October ; or, if sown in the ground the first of May, the flowers will be 

 five or six weeks later, and the plants will bear the winter more surely. 

 The varieties are easily propagated from cuttings on a moderate bottom- 

 heat ; but the plants from seed are generally so true to the parent, that, 

 unless the variety is remarkably striking, it hardly pays to increase the 

 plants in this way. 



The flowers are disposed in spikes, which, on the taller varieties, rise 

 eighteen inches to two feet from the ground, on which appear five, six, or 

 more perfect blooms at the same time, terminated with a stock of buds in 

 various stages of growth, promising a long succession of bloom. 



Antirrhinu7n Jmmilis. — This is a class of dwarfs, varieties of A. major, 

 sporting in the same variety of colors, growing from six to ten inches high, 

 desirable to plant in front of a mass of the tall varieties. 



If the plants are disposed in masses one foot apart, they will completely 



