JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



MAY 36— JUNE J, 1870. 



WEEKLY CALENDAR, 



Royal Botanic Society's Show closes. 



1 Sunday afteb Ascension. 

 Anniversary Meeting of Koyal AHintic 

 (Society. 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, tho average day temperature of the week is 67 .9° ; and Its night 

 temperature 44.9*. The greatest heat was 91% on the 33th, 1847 ; ami tho lowest oold 25", on the 33rd and 24th, 1857. The greatest fall of 

 rain was 0.97 inch. 



THE NARCISSI OR DAFFODILS. 



AYEST and hardiest of those spring flowers 

 which from early in March till late in May 

 decorate our gardens in defiance of the frosty 

 nights, ungenial sleety showers, and nipping 

 blasts which then too generally prevail, and 

 by which the hopes of horticulturists are often 

 more or less blasted, notwithstanding the ut- 

 most skill which they can bring to bear in 

 protecting the out-of-door objects of their 

 care — how is it that the Narcissi are not much 

 more extensively cultivated than they now are? To this 

 question the reply of modern " bedding-out " enthusiasts 

 is likely to be, that they must have all their ground un- 

 occupied, and in a state of preparedness for the planting- 

 out, when danger from frost is past, of those summer and 

 autumn-flowering and ornamental-foliaged plants, by the 

 arrangement and profusion of which they are disposed to 

 estimate all, or at least nearly all, " skill in flower garden- 

 ing." Some of these modern proficients may even affect 

 to despise what they designate as " those vnlgar Daffodils 

 that can be seen in every cottage garden." Let them do 

 so if they please, and enjoy the fallow-like prospect that 

 the bare earth of their tenantlcss flower beds presents 

 before their favourites can be trusted from under their 

 glazed protections ; but let them not call this desert-like 

 waste a display of taste. 



Doubtless the Narcissi have no claim to the possession 

 of those rich reds, blues, or purples which belong to many 

 other races of florists' flowers : but they are at least unsur- 

 passed in the richness of their yellows, the purity of their 

 whites, and the delicate loveliness of their intermediate 

 shades. Many of them are delightfully fragrant, and few 

 other floral tribes equal them in the diversity yet unex- 

 ceptionable elegance of their forms. To many, indeed, 

 these combined perfections are so attractive that they 

 resolve to "go in" for the collecting and cultivating of 

 Narcissi ; but, as in many other well-intended resolutions, 

 the proverb " Out of sight ont of mind" generally becomes 

 too true, and when both flowers and foliage have faded they 

 are forgotten, and give place to new objects of attraction. 

 This may be partly induced by a somewhat prevalent no- 

 tion that the bulbs can only be successfully transplanted 

 when in an inert and fully-matured state, but with due 

 care this may be done when they are flowering ; and when 

 once established, the best treatment is to let them alone, 

 for if the roots are allowed to remain undisturbed, and if 

 the leaves have full soope during the period of their growth, 

 permanency of duration in the plants may be depended 

 upon, as is shown by the annual re- appearance of plants 

 about ancient and ruined mansions, where in past ages 

 they had place among the other floral surroundings. 



There is abundant evidence that the genus Narcissus 

 held a much more prominent position among florists' 

 flowers two or three centuries ago than in more recent 

 times : and John Parkinson, " Apothecary of London, and 

 the King's Herbarist," who published his " Garden of 

 Pleasant Flowers " in lf>2-;), seems to have been the first 



No. 478.— Vol. XV1H, New Bekuw. 



of onr British authors " to reduce the Daffodils into such 

 a methodical order that every one may know to what class 

 or form any one doth appertain." His two grand divisions 

 were Narcissus, or true Daffodils, and Pseudo-Narcissus, 

 or bastard Daffodils. In the former ho included all in 

 which the crown, middle cup, or chalice was shorter, and 

 in the latter, all those in which it was longer, or about as 

 long, as the segments or divisions of the perianth, those 

 " outer leaves which do encompass it." The following is 

 Parkinson's arrangement, after rejecting the " Sea Daffo- 

 dils," or Pancratiums, and some others which are now 

 referred to separate genera: and the figures appended 

 represent the numbers of species and varieties belonging 

 to the modern genus Narcissus, which are described under 

 each subdivision in his second edition, 1656 : — 



I. Narcissus, or true Daffodils, 62. 



1. Lati/olius. Broad-lcared Daffodils, 40. 



a. monanthos, generally with one tut sometimes two 

 flowers on a stalk, 18. 



6. polyanthos, with many flowers on a stalk, 16. 



c. flore pleno, doable-flowered, 6. 

 2 Angustifolius. Narrow-leaved Daffodils, 7. 



a. monanthos, with one flower on a stalk, 4. 



b. polyanthos, with more than one flower on a stalk, 2. 

 C. flore pleno, double-flowered, 1. 



3. Juntifolius. Junquillaor Jimh-lilxdcaeed Daffodils, Vo. 



II. Pseudo-Narcissus, or bastard Daffodils (all of which have 



only one flower on the stalk), 21. 



1. Latifolius. Bread-leaned Bastard Daffodils, 13. 



a. Bimplici flore, with single flowers, 8. 



b. flore pleno, with double flowers, 5. 



2. Angustifolius. Narrow-leaved Bastard Daffodils, i. 



a. Bimplici flore, with single flowers, 3. 



b. flore pleno, with donble flowers, 1. 



3. JimciJoUus. Juntjuilla or Bush-lihe-leamxl Dajodds, * 



(all with single flowers). 

 In the commencement of the present century Mr. A. H. 

 Haworth, of Queen's Elms, Chelsea, published several 

 papers on the Narcissi, which, in 1819, were embodied in 

 his " Narcissorum Revision." Had he contented himself 

 with merely dividing the genus into sections, his arrange- 

 ment might have been adopted by some, but having split it 

 up into no less than eight genera, succeeding authors have 

 generally discarded it. These were — 



I. Ajax. Represented by IS species, among which were included 

 the pretty little Narcissus minor ; the native Lent Lily, N. P|« a « - 

 Narcissns ; and the large yellow Daffodils, " Daffodillies," or " DaiTo- 

 downdillies'' of rural cottage gardens. _ 



II. Cordularia. Containing S species of diminutive growth, of 

 which tho Hoop-Petticoat Narcissus, N. Bulbocodium, is tha bent 

 known. , , . . 



III. Queltia. Having SI species, of which the well-known single, 

 and the double Orange Phcenix, and " Butter and Eggs," varieties ot 

 N. incomparibilis are typical. 



IV. SumsANTnES. Consisting of only 

 which has from six to ten showy white flowers on 

 cup in each of which is deeply gashed or lacerated. 



V. Gaiiymedes. With 6 species all of elegant slender g""™> 

 having from two to seven gracefully drooping flowers on each stalk, 

 exemplified by N. nutans, N. cernuus, &c. - -• 



VI. Pfiylogy>;e. Five species of slender habit, with from 5 to o 

 yellow flowers on each stalk, some of which, as the N. triloba, ate 

 occasionally catalogued as Jonquils. . - 



VII. Hermiong. A seemingly ill-assorted race, containing /i 

 species, and embracing most of the true Jonquils, as well as tne 



No. 1190. -Vsl. XL11I., Old Semes. 



N. orientalis, 

 ugls stalk, the 



