424 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Maech 2. 
THE ANTIRRHINUM. 
{Continued from, page 350.) 
A great number of florists’ flowers, though exceed- 
, higly beautiful, have the disadvantage of their bloom 
: being short lived. Such, for instance, as the glorious, 
: though somewhat gaudy, Tulip, and the neat-blossomed 
, Ranunculus. These, and some others, which the florist 
I will easily recollect, only last, with every attention to 
| shading them from the flower-fading power of the sun, 
| some five or six weeks, but I may fairly claim for the 
! Antirrhinum the power, with very moderate care, of 
| continuing to reward the cultivator with its bright- 
i coloured blossoms for at least three months, and that at 
I a season when florists’ flowers are comparatively scarce: 
even as a bedding-out flower it has great merit. It pro¬ 
duces at least three colours not to be surpassed by any 
flower—I mean bright crimson, pure white, and clear 
yellow. For large beds, especially, it is well adapted, 
blooming continuously during July, August, and Sep¬ 
tember. For this purpose I recommend it to Mr. Beaton, 
and should be glad if he would give his opinion on its 
capability and merits. 
Then, again, it is very well adapted to plant on 
rockwork. I have seen admirable specimens grown in 
such a situation. I have noticed, also, very pretty plants 
of it growing on old brick walls flowering very freely, 
and giving an interest to what would, without them, 
have been most unsightly objects. 
I trust I have said enough in favour of this flower to 
induce the readers of The Cottage Gardener to culti¬ 
vate it more than they have hitherto done; and in order 
that such as have not yet grown it, or but imperfectly 
so, may succeed, I shall endeavour to describe the best 
way of cultivating it. 
Propagation: by Seed, to obtain improved varieties .— 
The Antirrhinum is so perfectly hardy that the seed 
may be sown in the open border of the garden. I would 
advise the zealous raiser of improved varieties first to 
procure from some respectable florist a few of the lead¬ 
ing best sorts now in cultivation, grow them one year, 
and save seeds from them, keeping the seed of each 
variety to itself. By adopting this plan he would find 
out the best breeders. There is no seed like home- 
saved. I have before me, now, a letter from a gentleman 
near Liverpool, containing an unlimited order for any 
kind of florists’ flower-seed, provided I could warrant it 
being gathered from distinct varieties kept separate; 
meaning, for instance, seed saved from Cineraria Hen¬ 
derson’s Marianne , or Calceolaria Sultan, or Hollyhock 
Cream of the Valley, or Fuchsia Bank’s Glory, &c. Every 
seedsman throughout the length and breadth of the 
land knows that flower seeds are not saved separately 
from separate varieties, but I do think the idea such an 
order implies is worthy of being carried out. Packets 
of so saved seeds would certainly sell, and there would 
be more probability of the purchaser obtaining improved 
varieties from such seed. It is the consideration 
arising from my customer’s order that leads me to 
recommend the keeping the different varieties of An¬ 
tirrhinum seed in separate parcels, and the probability 
i ol obtaining improved distinct varieties would be in- 
! creased, if the different sorts were grown at a distance 
I from each other, the seeds kept in separate paper, named, 
and sown in separate parcels. It may appear tedious 
such a process, but trouble is nothing compared with 
; success. 
The time for sowing this carefully-saved seed is about 
; the second week in April. Prepare a bed for it in an 
l open part of the garden, by manuring it well in the 
autumn, and digging in the manure at the same time, 
1 leaving the surface rather rough for the frosts to act 
u[>on it and pulverize. Then, when the sowing time 
| arrives, fork the surface over, breaking it as fine as pos¬ 
sible. Choose a time when the surface is moderately 
dry for this operation. Have a sufficient number of 
wooden labels ready, rub a little white lead on them, take 
one, and write legibly the name of the variety from 
whence the seed was gathered; sow that, and then 
write the next, and sow it also, and so proceed till all 
the parcels are sown; then rake the bed smooth to 
cover the seed, and the operation is finished. Should 
the weather prove dry afterwards, a very gentle watering 
during evening, now and then, will help the seeds to 
vegetate. 
When the seedlings have attained an inch or two in 
height, dig another larger bed, and transplant the seed¬ 
lings into it, planting them five inches apart every way, 
keeping the sorts still separate. Here they may remain 
till they flower. Then compare each, as they come fully 
into bloom, with the properties as given in my last 
paper on this subject; and all such as are quite up to, 
or superior to, the points, give a name to, and describe 
them in a book kept for that purpose. All the rest that 
are deficient in form, colour, and size, may either be 
thrown away at once, or planted in the front of shrub¬ 
beries, if good in colour; or give them away to any poor 
cottager to ornament his flower-border. The good, im¬ 
proved sorts should be increased by cuttings; the 
method of doing which I shall give in my next. 
T. Appleby. 
{To be continued.) 
FRUIT TRELLISES. 
It would be difficult to say whether the old-fashioned 
perpendicular Trellis be on the decline or the ascendant. 
True it is, that some gardens, in which that useful old- 
fashioned appendage had done duty for some two or 
three generations, has been summarily dismissed by the 
present one; yet there are others wherein the time- 
honoured contrivance has been reinstalled in an im¬ 
proved form, and in many gardens it has been adopted 
in some shape or other, the old-fashioned one retaining 
many of its features still. Now, it need not be asked 
what benefits it confers, since we have the testimony of 
something more than one hundred years to prove its 
utility, and surely that says more in its favour than the 
most eloquent eulogy that could be bestowed upon it. 
I shall, therefore, at once go into the details of the 
variety of its forms, commencing first of all with that 
oldest shape, which, after all, is probably the best, that is, 
taking all things into consideration—I mean the ordi¬ 
nary upright Trellis. 
There are various forms of this differing from each 
other iu shape and height, as well as in the material ' 
the frame-work is made of, but usually this is wood or 
iron, or both together. Now, though I am not altoge¬ 
ther positive that iron exercises a hurtful influence on 
the trees planted and trained against it, yet I prefer 
wood where other reasons do not point out iron as being 
better adapted. However, as other things- often deter- j 
miue this, I need only say, that when it can be contrived 
to have iron standards and rails, wooden uprights fas- i 
teued to the iron rails form the best material on which 
to train trees; to have the whole of timber is attended 
with after-trouble when the latter decays, which posts are 
sure to do ; but this being a subject in Mr. Errington’s 
province, I dismiss it, and would request the amateur 
about putting up a Trellis to examine those in his neigh¬ 
bourhood, and, doubtless, he will see a something which 
will enable him to apply the right means; but if his 
place be entirely new, I would advise him to wait a year 
or two before putting it up, in order to get the trees 
fairly established, aud grown a certain length, before he 
applies such an open and conspicuous piece of cage-work 
