IRISH GARDENING 



39 



Raising Daffodils from Seed* 



By C. Douglas, Foxbrook, Castlericard, Moy- 

 valley. 



Many amateur Daffodil enthusiasts are now 

 annually raising hosts of hybrids of the Narcissi 

 family, and for the benefit of some of our Irish 

 friends, who have not as yet tried their hands at 

 this very interesting hobby, I shall describe, as 

 best I can, how the operation is performed, in the 

 hope that some may he tempted to join our 

 growing army. 



The operation is very simple, and the only 

 objection is the very long wait the raiser has 

 before him till the result of lbs labour can be seen. 



Any one who examines the structure of the 

 bloom of a Daffodil, no matter to what class it 

 belongs, will see a long slender style ; the enlarge- 

 ment on the end is called the stigma, and 

 surroimding it are six stamens at the ends of 

 which are the anthers, covered with a whitish dust 

 called pollen. The whole operation of cross- 

 fertilisation consists in taking the dust or pollen 

 from the anthers of one Hower with a camel's hair 

 brush and applying it to the stigma of another, 

 when it is in what is called a receptive condition — 

 that is, if you look at the stigma through a strong 

 lens you will see at one time it exudes a sort of 

 gum or sticky stuff ; this gum holds the pollen, so 

 that it is not blown off by the wind. 



Of course, when crossing flowers, it is necessary 

 to remove the anthers of the seed-bearing plant 

 before the pollen is ripe : this is easily done with 

 small medical forceps, and with a steady hand 

 there is no danger of any pollen falling on the 

 stigma and so causing self-fertilisation. The 

 time at which tiowers should be deanthered varies 

 in each class of Narcissi. The Poet's Narcissus 

 must be opened practically when they are just 

 showing colour, and the Trumpet Daffodil when 

 the perianth is just unfolding from the tube, and 

 the others in intermediate stages. 



The proper time to cross-fertilise is from 10 to 

 3 o'clock on fair days. The outfit for the job 

 is not large, and consists of a small pointed 

 forceps, some camel-hair pencils, glass lid speci- 

 men boxes, and some small tubes. You then 

 take some pollen from a flower with a brush (it 

 will stick if you just damp the brush in your 

 mouth before brushing the anthers) and apply 

 same to the stigma of the proposed seed-bearing 

 flower, which should be first deanthered, and if 

 you wish to use the pollen of this bloom, if the 

 variety is scarce with you, it can be stored for 

 use in one of the glass lid boxes, which should be 

 carefully named. I have found the pollen to keep 

 good for ten to fourteen days in the box, while 

 some I had put up in specimen tubes heated 

 inside a few days, and was then useless. 



When a bloom has been operated on, have it 

 securely staked and labelled with a note of the 

 cross effected, as if not staked you may, some 

 fine morning, see a green pod with a broken stem ; 

 then good-bye to a possible King Alfred ! 



Some care must be taken with the brushes to 

 keep them clear, and if possible only use one 

 brush for each kind of pollen. When crossing 

 with some potent pollen, as, say. King Alfred 

 or Triandrus, if any was to remain on the brush, 

 when you wish to apply some other pollen you 

 may find that the potent pollen, of which only a 

 few grains had remained, had taken to your bloom, 

 and at the end of seven years, in the case of King 

 Alfred, you will see the result of a careless trans- 



action. I keep specimen tubes for my brushes, 

 the handles of which I pass through corks, and 

 use separate ones for King Alfred, N. triandrus 

 calathinus and a few others. 



Careful watch should be kept on the labelled 

 blooms, as the pods swell and ripen, to see when 

 they begin to turn yellow ; then remove each, as 

 if left to ripen more there is great danger of the 

 seed shedding : there are some which should be 

 pulled before they turn yellow. Often, when I 

 think the seed is nearly ripe, I make a small 

 opening in the base of the pod with a penknife, 

 and if the seed disclosed is black and shining it is 

 (it for removal. I keep a number of small glass 

 pomade jars and put each distinct cross labelled 

 by itself. Of course if a number of the same kind 

 of Daffodil are crossed with pollen of another 

 kind, all the same cross-pods are put in the one 

 receptacle. 1 found the seed of a lot ripened with 

 me by the end of May although some crossed by 

 Horace did not ripen for three weeks later. 



Having harvested your seed, the sooner it is 

 sown the better. Sow it in boxes 12" x IS" by 6" 

 deep in lines carefully tallied, and note in a book. 

 I'se very turfy loam, with plenty of sharp sand 

 and a fair dash of bone-meal, with plenty of 

 drainage. The boxes must be substantial, as the 

 plants have to remain in them at least two years. 

 Having sown the seed, place them in a cold frame 

 or in some sheltered position safe from frost, and 

 wait for the beginning of December, when you 

 will see some grass-like foliage pushing through 

 the soil ; now look out for slugs and snails, or a 

 lot of damage will be done to the tiny seedlings. 

 I dust mine with soot fairly often, and cannot 

 complain of any damage. Keep the plants 

 growing, and on no account let them suffer from 

 want of water or any other check, or their growth 

 may be stunted and take some years to recover. 



When the plants are large enough, which is 

 generally at the end of the second season, they 

 should be planted out in beds, carefully prepared, 

 of some good loam, made light, add bone-meal- 

 say 2 ounces to the square yard. I raise the beds 

 with boards about 3" above the ground level, then 

 keep them free from weeds and well hoed ; a 

 dusting of superphosphate now and then is a 

 help, $nd if kept growing some forward youngster 

 may bloom the third season : but it is often in its 

 seventh year before it develops its true character- 

 istics. 



The first few years of waiting seem long, but 

 if the hobby is persisted in each year, after the 

 first wait of. say. four or five years, there will be 

 some pew flowers to show themselves, and so 

 keep one's courage up. A novice or an outsider 

 can hardly understand or believe how fascinating 

 a hobbv this is, and how one rushes out in the 

 early morning of the blooming season to see if 

 any new creation has opened out during the 

 night. I cannot say whether it is the excitement 

 or the fresh air, but anyway you will have a good 

 appetite for ham and eggs afterwards. 



As to varieties to cross and some practical 

 hints, if possible get some of the Triandrus bulbs : 

 these are delicate, and require special treatment 

 to succeed with, but their pollen is very potent, 

 and also their cross-seedlings bloom in their third 

 year, and crossed with Madame de Graaff or Minnie 

 Hume, some lovely fuchsia-like blooms may be ex- 

 pected. These are exquisite for table decoration. 



Now as to what one may expect — 



If Minnie Hume is crossed with the pollen ol, 

 say, Madame de Graaff, a Giant I.eedsii is pro- 

 duced like White Queen. 



