226 



THE HYACINTH AND NARCISSUS. 



THE NARCISSUS. 

 The Narcissus is one of the most lovely of 

 our spring flowers. The perfume is more 

 powerful than that of most other flowers ; 

 and if there are too many in a room, it will 

 affect any weakly person. It appears a pow- 

 erful narcotic, and will give even robust 

 persons a slight headache. The varieties 

 most esteemed are those which bloom in 

 large clusters. Both the yellow and white 

 are esteemed, and many thousands are an- 

 nually imported from Holland, and are 

 grown as well in the common borders as in 

 pots and glasses. They make a pretty dis- 

 play among the early spring flowers, and 

 there are many different varieties which 

 group well. The best possible effect can 

 be produced by them in wildernesses, in 

 large rough borders, clumps and geometri- 

 cal gardens. The soil in which they suc- 

 ceed best is rich and light, but they will 

 grow in any thing, from sand to stiffs clay. 

 In light rich soil the bulbs do not deterio- 

 rate, and the offsets may be grown up to 

 maturity very soon, and they may be raised 

 from seed without any difficulty. But the 

 culture is so like that of the Hj^acinth, that 

 we need only repeat the directions in full, 

 if we desired to go into details. 



There is a difference between the mode 

 of growing for the sake of stock, and grow- 

 ing for bloom. Those who grow for stock 

 should take up the bulbs every season, and 

 remove the offsets, to be planted out till 

 they come to maturity ; and even these are 

 taken up every year, and kept out of ground 

 some time to rest, and then planted again 

 at the proper season, sufficiently far apart 

 to enable them to swell and become good 

 round bulbs. On the other hand, those 

 who wise merely for quantity of bloom, let 

 them remain in their borders or beds three 

 years. There is then quite as much in- 

 crease, but the roots, from being close to- 

 gether, and not having room to swell, be- 

 come unsightly, and would not, in a gene- 

 ral way, do for market ; for the greater por- 

 tion of those imported or brought to market 

 in spring are for blooming in glasses, which 

 expose the entire bulb ; and if not hand- 

 some, for this purpose they would be un- 

 saleable. The varieties which bloom with 

 handsome trusses of many flowers, are 



commonly called Polyanthus Narcissus ; 

 but there are many that flower with a sin- 

 gle bloom, others with two or three. The 

 colours simply vary from yellow to white, 

 some being yellow with a deeper coloured 

 cup, almost orange colour; others are white 

 with yellow cups; some are double, others 

 single ; some pure white — indeed one is 

 called the paper white, and exceedingly 

 pretty it is. Upon the whole, the numerous 

 varieties of the Narcissus form a beautiful 

 group, and will bloom in any way that the 

 ordinary spring bulbs will flower. For this 

 reason we have placed it among them in 

 the following paper on the many ways of 

 flowering the spring bulbs, such as Hya- 

 cinths, Crocuses, Tulips, and others, which 

 will do Avell under the same treatment. 



Properties of the Narcissus. — The 

 great variety of this beautiful spring flower 

 would almost seem to defy us to lay down 

 general rules, yet there is no more difficulty 

 in imagining what would be the most beau- 

 tiful, than there is in any other of the nu- 

 merous families for which we have already 

 provided models of perfection. 



It is very true that some Narcissus have 

 only a single flower, others a large bunch 

 — some are white, others yellow — some 

 have narrow petals, others broad — but all 

 are pointed. The only varieties, however, 

 calculated for florists or show flowers, are 

 those which have bunches or heads of flow- 

 ers, and a few necessary qualities would 

 render them beautiful objects. 



First. The flowers should be circular 

 and large. 



Second. They should expand flat, and the 

 cup which is in the centre should stand out 

 well. 



Third. The petals should be thick, 

 smooth, firm, free from notch or roughness 

 on the edges, and have no points. 



Fourth. The bunch of flowers should not 

 consist of less than seven ; the footstalks 

 should be of such length as to allow the flow- 

 ers to touch each other at the edge, and 

 present an even, though rounding or dome- 

 like surface, with one bloom in the middle, 

 the other six forming a circle round it. 



Fifth. The stem should be firm, strong, 

 elastic, and not more than ten inches in 

 length. The leaves should be short, broad 



