254 FRITZ BAHR'S COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE 



where nothing else wiU grow, or you can give it full sunlight. That's 

 quite enough reason for us to consider it a useful plant. 



A Mandatonum is a great improvement over the old variety; 

 while not quite as large, it has more of a white border to its leaf. 

 When you once have a stock in large pots, you will have no trouble 

 in obtaining all the small plants you want by division during early 

 Spring, or in fact, at any time during the year. Place the pieces 

 having no roots in the sand with a little bottom heat. 



ANTIRRHINUM (SNAPDRAGON) 

 Snapdragons are important cut flowers and money-makers for many 

 florists. They can be successfully handled even on a small scale; 

 besides, they form one of the crops to follow Chrysanthemums. 

 While it is possible to have Snapdragons in flower around Christ- 

 fiias, it is during the early Spring months that we have them at 

 their best. When we display them at Easter time it is hard to have 

 a customer take anything else. Rust has in a way caused quite a 

 few florists to slacken somewhat in the growing of Snapdragons. 

 There was a time, about twenty-five years ago, when this was con- 

 sidered a disease that made the growing of Carnations almost im- 

 possible, yet it disappeared to a great extent. So let us hope it will 

 let up on the Snapdragons. As far as is known, the best remedy, or 

 rather preventive, is not to keep the plants too cool and not to 

 wet the foliage any more than necessary, which sounds reasonable. 

 Snapdragons are cool house plants and should never be exposed 

 to a high temperature during Midwinter; as the days get longer 

 and everything under glass takes a jump, it doesn't matter whether 

 the temperature in the house stays up over night around 55 deg. 

 and over, but this would never do during December or January. 

 Keep at 50 deg. or a little under, but avoid excessive moisture in the 

 house. 



For Midwinter Flowering 



For early flowering the plants should be grown from cuttings 

 rooted during May and June, the plants grown on in pots, shifted 

 and kept pinched so 4-in. pot stock can be benched by the middle 

 or end of August. If you use dwarf or medium tall sorts, which are 

 best for early use, allow 12 in. between the plants and don't let them 

 make flower stems until October. They will produce a good crop 

 during November and December, and send up more shoots after 

 that, and such as have been benched later may not start into flower 

 until December; a great deal depends on weather conditions. Keep 

 the flowering wood clear of lateral shoots, which, by the way, usually 

 furnish ideal material for cuttings. 



To Follow Chrysanthemums 

 The average florist is not so much interested in Snapdragons for 

 Midwinter flowering, (which means having his benches occupied dur- 



