370 PLANTING LIST 



Snapdragon, or Antirrhinum, a plant which with modern varie- 

 ties has come into very great favor, is a half-hardy perennial treated 

 usually as an annual, with thickly flowering spikes in white, reds, 

 and yellows. It comes in dwarf (six inches), intermediate, and 

 standard varieties (sometimes two feet tall), and is freely used for 

 masses in the border, and for cut flowers. Sow the seed under 

 glass for earliest bloom, and set out in May six inches to eighteen 

 apart each way, according to variety. Or sow outdoors in May, 

 and thin. The soil should be warm and rich, the exposure 

 sunny. 



If the seeds are sown in August, strong young plants may be 

 raised before winter, which may either be taken indoors and flowered 

 in the house, or protected by a mulch or frame for early flowering 

 the next year. Such plants would flower in June ; the ordinary 

 treatment does not produce flowers until July or later. 



Spearmint, see Mint. 



Spinach : Prized for its early greens in spring, this is a hardy 

 vegetable which comes in but a few varieties, all of them going 

 quickly to seed in the hot, dry weather of summer. It is mostly 

 grown in the garden in two ways. 



Sow in spring as soon as the ground is fit, in rows about a foot 

 apart, thinning at first to two inches apart in the rows, and when 

 the plants are growing, thin well again, using the thinnings for food. 

 The plants at the final thinning should stand six inches or more 

 apart, and when they are of full size the whole plants should be 

 taken. Spinach is mostly of two kinds : thick-leaved, hardiest to 

 frost ; and long-standing, slowest to go to seed in warm weather. 

 A planting of each, a week apart in April or early May, should 

 carry the garden into the season of other vegetables, such as peas, 

 after whose coming spinach is seldom missed. If greens are wanted 

 in the summer, it is best to depend on chard or New Zealand spinach. 



Sow spinach again in late August, and give good care until the 

 ground is frozen ; then cover the plants with leaves, straw, or litter, 

 and leave them till spring. They will give an extra-early crop under 

 good conditions, but often winter-lull badly, and run early to seed. 



