THE FLORIST. 
—♦— 
ANTIRRHINUMS. 
We thought that few excelled us in the growth of this 
favourite border flower. We have long had a good collection, 
to which we have added any thing particularly fine which we 
may have met with. Mr. Riley accompanied his paper upon 
the raising of Antirrhinums from seed (see No. II. p. 42) 
with a small package saved from his best varieties. We fol¬ 
lowed his instructions to the letter, and were rewarded by a 
bed of really beautiful sorts, which attracted the notice of all 
who saw them. Business took us unexpectedly into the 
neighbourhood of Huddersfield, and we gladly availed our¬ 
selves of the opportunity to pay a visit to Birkley, and here 
for the first time we saw Antirrhinums grown in perfection. 
In a bed appropriated to them alone were the choicest varie¬ 
ties, propagated from the best seedlings of the season 1847, 
and so planted as to give the greatest effect to that variety 
of colours wdiich makes this flower so useful in our gardens. 
It may give some idea of the size of the individual plants to 
state, that one specimen, the largest, but still not very much 
above the average, measured seven feet high and four feet 
two inches in diameter. The whole were raised from cuttings 
of the preceding autumn. We have little doubt but that 
Mr. Riley, who has ever lent his assistance to our pages, will, 
in the course of next year, furnish us with his mode of culti¬ 
vation, which has proved so eminently successful. The An¬ 
tirrhinum has always been a favourite with us. Many a clam¬ 
ber have we had, and many a schoolfellow’s “ shove up” the 
flinty walls of our native town, to obtain these flowers, which 
grew on them in the greatest profusion. 
The spikes of the two varieties forming our embellishment, 
severally measured twenty and twenty-two inches, the flowers 
themselves were of the stoutest texture, and the colours rich 
and decided. In Sulphurea elegans, the pencillings were 
well defined, as they should be in flowers of this character. 
NO. XII. z 
