April 11, 1908 



HORTICULTURE. 



477 



tive possibilities of the rose. All such exhibitions 

 where the jjublic arc asked to attend, fall far short of 

 their capacity for usefulness when they fail to make 

 direct appeal to the public through displays primarily 

 illustrative of the decorative possibilities and various 

 uses of the material shown. The very generous list of 

 special prizes offered for vases of roses — some of them 

 duplications and others not competed for — might have 

 been apportioned between the "technical" and the 

 "spectacular" interests with distinct advantage to the 

 general effect of the exhibition in question and with 

 no little benefit to the rose industry. The growing of 

 flowers of a high degi'ee of merit is very properly recog- 

 nized with premiums of great value and honor but 

 flower growing as a vocation would soon lose its zest 

 were it not that the public want. to buy and make use 

 of the product. Anything that increases this interest 

 and use by opening the public eye to artistic floral pos- 

 sibilities and application must directly benefit the whole 

 industiy and particuhirly the grower and it looks like 

 a monumental mistake when the floral decorator i^ not 

 called in to supplement the excellent showing of the 

 flower producer in the public exhibition hall. 



Narcissi and Daffodils 



It was with delightful pleasure that I beheld at our 

 spring show just past, the evidence of better patronage 

 bestowed on the short-crowned section of Narcissi 

 "Mediocoronati" of Baker, which I regret have not 

 hitherto found the deserved recognition they are entitled 

 to in our broad country. - In my opinion, in their 

 many diverse and quaint forms, they possess more subtle 

 charm than their individually more gorgeous brethren, 

 the large ti-umpet daffodils "Magnicoronati." 



They are particularly effective and pleasing in large 

 clumps in the herbaceous border and rockeries, and 

 equally captivating in semi-sliaded woodland margins of 

 ponds, lakes and running brooks. Since they can be 

 planted more thickly together than the larger trumpet 

 section, on account of their smaller bulbs and less mas- 

 sive foliage, they thus offset the individual splendor of 

 the larger ones by the greater number of flower scapes 

 from a given space. 



The section under consideration does not take so 

 kindly to enriched soils as the larger daffodil does, and 

 therefore should not be planted in grotmd newly en- 

 riched, especially by the use of the fresh and ranker 

 .stable manures. Bone meal seems to be conceded to oe 

 preferable to any other fertilizer and this moderately 

 if longevity is to be looked for. Soot is desirable for 

 its stimulating effects, as well as for its pungent proper- 

 ties for warding off insect encroacliments, the most in- 

 jurious of which is the larva of the Narcissus fly — 

 "Merodon equcstris"- — the mature fly being exactly like 

 a oumblebee in size and shape and hums and hovers 

 about in similar fashion. I have come across a num- 



ber of them on different occasions in the parks of Bos- 

 ton where practically no narcissi or but very few are 

 planted, show'ing the wide distribution of the pest. The 

 imagined inadaptability of many of the narcissi to our 

 soil and climate, due to their aggravating disappearance 

 at times, may in a large measure be attributable to the 

 ravages of this pest rather than to peculiarities of cli- 

 matic environment. The larva of this fly enters the base 

 of the bulb and penetrates to the core, eating the latter 

 away and causing the collapse of the bulb. 



The Narcissi belong to the order Amaryllideffi. I do 

 not know that because this is so the juices of Amarylli- 

 de£e proper possess the same properties as are found in 

 the Narcissi, but I do know that the fly in question is 

 equally partial, if not more so, to that class of bulbous 

 plants, as I had an experience in that direction in com- 

 mon with a famous bulbous plant enthusiast in my 

 neighborhood, our method at one time being to put out 

 of doors our respective collections of Hippeastrums in 

 late summer to ensure well ripened bulbs, but the 

 ravages of this fly were so great that it drove us under 

 cover with but little ceremony of protest after which, 

 none, or comparative very little trouble was experienced 

 by continuous growng and ripening of the bulbs in- 

 doors. I 



Considering the facts herein stated as regards the 

 rapacious proclivities of this insect in the narcissus field, 

 it would seem the part of wisdom and prudence in 

 order to circumvent its further spread, to carefully 

 examine all bulbs before planting, and ascertain that 

 no larvae are present, by closely observing that there 

 be no puncture in the cushion-base of the bulbs from 

 wliich the roots are emitted. A bulb soft and somewhat 

 spongy under pressure is to be regarded with suspicion 

 and accordingly destroyed. 



So much for the pleadings of the charm of the 

 Mediocoronati section of Narcissus, ninety nine per cent. 

 leaz than what might be said of them. 



/^.%.-^ 



^X?^^^ 



Two Good Annual Chrysanthe- 

 mums 



(See Colored Supplement with this Issue.) 

 Morning Star and Evening Star are two of the best 

 forms of Annual Chrysanthemums. They are both of 

 the Burridgeanum type and have the advantage over the 

 original form of being self-colored. 



Morning Star is of a delicate primrose yellow, whUe 

 Evening Star is clear golden yellow ; both growing about 

 eighteen inches in height. They are most useful for 

 cutting purposes, and may be growoi in the summer 

 garden or forced in the greenhouse during winter — 

 for the latter use they are almost equal to the Golden 

 Paris Daisy. 



