April 26, 1877. 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



303 



When sowing it ia a good plan, 'if only a email number 

 of plants are required, to sow in boxes and protect in a cold 

 frame during the winter. The plants may be lifted with a 

 trowel with the rough soil adhering to the roots, and they 

 will scarcely snfYer from the removal when transferred to 

 beds or borders in the spring. Primroses, Polyanthnses, and 

 Pansies may be raised by sowing seed in May ; prick out the 

 plants when large enough to handle, and they make strong 

 plants, and most of them show their colours by the autumn. 



This list might be extended, but I have only mentioned 

 those plants that I know will flourish in and near large towns. 

 With spring flowers, which can be provided with little trouble 

 and expense, there need be no bare beds.— N. Cole. 



KITCHEN GARDEN NOTES. 



Thick versus thin Sowing. — No greater waste in the kitchen 

 garden is known to me than sowing good seed thickly. This 

 does not apply to one kind of small seed more than another ; 

 and the waste is not only in sowing more seed than is neces- 

 sary, but young plants which come up in a thick mass are 

 always very much inferior to those which have sufficient space 

 to fully develope themselves from the first. Sometimes the 

 seed is suspected to be bad and is sown thickly so as to insure 

 a crop, but this is a poor apology, because seed of so queetiou- 

 able a nature sbonld never be depended on for a crop. When 

 the seed is sown thickly the plants rise in a mass, and when they 

 come to be thinned those left bend in the stem, fall down and 

 get blown about until they are next to useless. Good produce 

 need never be expected from young plants of this kind. Seeds 

 of such crops as Lettuce, Cabbage, Cauliflower, &a., the plants 

 of which are drawn and transplanted as soon as they can be 

 bandied, may be sown a little thicker than such as Carrots, 

 Turnips, and other crops which remain on the ground. Does 

 it not appear ridiculous to have two or three hundred plants 

 coming-up in a 3 or 4-feet run of a row when not more than 

 three or four plants will be ultimately required to form the 

 crop •? 



RoCGH versus Fine Subfaces. — In sowing seeds the ground 

 is as a rule, raked as fine as it can be made over them, and in 

 m>aking or finishing-off such as Onion beds, the ground is not 

 only raked flne but the little rough pieces that escape are 

 beaten down with the back of a spade. Those who practise 

 this " neat finishing " should have been taught a lesson this 

 wet spring. The first heavy rain that falls on a fine surface of 

 soil causes it to cake over, and the wet after that runs off as 

 from a board ; and further, when the weather becomes dry 

 tliia caked surface is baked nearly as hard as a brick, and how 

 can seed be expected to grow, or plants develope properly in 

 stuff like this ? On the contrary, a moderately rough surface 

 allows the wet to pass through and the soil does not " bake," 

 consequently the young plants thrive satisfactorily. Raked sur- 

 faces look neat, but I never make the surface of any soil finer 

 than it is made with the Dutch hoe. 



Cutting Eaely Cabdaoes. — Some cut their early Cabbages at 

 the lowermost leaves. This ia not economical, because when 

 cut so low the stems seldom sprout much afterwards ; whereas, 

 when they are cut up as far as can be done without injnry to 

 the head, and as many of the leaves are left as possible, there 

 are soon many side beads emitted from the stem, and each of 

 these ultimately becomes as useful in the kitchen as the first 

 heads. Cabbages when properly attended yield gatherings 

 from May until November. — A Kitchen Gabdenee. 



THE NARCISSUS AT TOOTING. 

 All admirers of the old and great genus of Narcissus 

 are indebted to Mr. Barr for cultivating, to Mr. Burbidge for 

 figuring, and to Mr. Baker for classifying and describing the 

 several species and varieties now in cultivation. Old — very 

 old — writers have also left us the records of their researches, 

 Lobel, Oerarde, Parkinson, Linuffius, Miller, Herbert, Haworth, 

 and others having devoted much attention to the Narcissus ; 

 and how many poets have sung of its praises it would not be 

 easy to determine, but some of them are mentioned in Mr. 

 Bnrbidge's beautiful and instructive volume, which is devoted 

 to a discussion of the history and cultivation of this hardy 

 brilliant garden flower. 



Mr. Barr justly describes the Narcissus as being " amongst 

 the oldest and most beautiful of spring-flowering bulbous 

 plants. It has for centuries been one of the most highly | in possessing the odour of beeswax. Resembling the above 



prized garden favourites, and has commanded in an unusual 

 degree the attention of the scientific botanist. During epochs 

 when artificial gardening has been in the ascendant. Narcissus, 

 like many other charming flowers, has had to yield to the in- 

 exorable goddess of fashion. At such times it has been saved 

 from extinction by the fostering care of our botanic gardens 

 and of those enthusiastic amateurs who love flowers not for 

 what they cost, but for their intrinsic beauty, and who, while 

 they do not ignore new introductions, discard not their old 

 friends unless the new is an improvement on the old. The 

 Narcissus, however, like many another neglected flower, is now 

 reasserting its position and claiming its proper place in the 

 general economy of border decoration and as a cut flower for 

 furnishing vases." 



Surely no one can regret that these old flowers are re-assert- 

 ing their position ; in fact, it would seem impossible for any 

 to do so who had seen them defiant of " March frosts " and 

 " April showers," fresh, bright, and beautiful as they are now 

 in the quarters at Tooting. And as to their adaptability for 

 " furnishing vases," a bouquet now before me, culled almost 

 at random from the beds, affords sufficient evidence that no 

 other hardy garden flowers of the period combine such bold- 

 ness yet elegance of form, such purity yet brilliancy of colour- 

 ing, as do these. Coarse, perhaps, the common Daffodil may 

 be, but coarseness cannot be fitly applied to one other of the 

 forms of this extremely varied family. 



The Narcissuses at Tooting are grown in long beds with sunken 

 paths between them after the manner of Asparagus beds. The 

 soil is a deep alluvial loam, low- lying, and moist. The different 

 species and varieties are grown in large masses, except, of 

 coarse, some which are yet scarce, and the effect produced is 

 extremely rich, the larger kinds being gorgeous when viewed 

 from a distance, and the smaller exquisitely chaste when closely 

 examined ; in fact, the diversity presented by the many repre- 

 sentatives of the genus is wonderful — dazzling without being 

 gaudy, pure and quiet without being tame. 



As a rule the single are much more beautiful than the double 

 flowers. For instance, a bed of double Daffodils suggests no 

 idea of the richer, equally bold, yet elegant N. pseudo-Narcissus 

 var. (obvallaris) maximus grown in quantity. The perianth 

 segments of the flower are l^inch long and slightly waved, the 

 corona or cup being 2 inches deep, expanded at the mouth, and 

 crenulate, the colour an intense golden yellow. The plant is 

 vigorous and flowers freely. For grassy banks and knolls, large 

 irregular clumps of this fine single Daffodil would be extremely 

 effective, and would cheer and brighten many an otherwise 

 dark spot in the early days of spring. That is the richest of 

 all the Narcissuses now flowering in quantity at Tooting ; but 

 still larger and finer forms of it are found in Emperor, yellow ; 

 and Empress, white segments and yellow cup, real monarchs 

 of the family, and highly worthy of cultivation. 



The last-named belongs to the N.bicolor section, a conspicu- 

 ous group, the flowers having white petals 1| inch long, and 

 pure pale yellow cups 1 J inch deep, expanded at the mouth and 

 faintly crenulated ; an extremely fine variety of this is N. Hors- 

 fieldii, a large, bold, beautiful flower, emphatically worthy of 

 extensive cultivation. Mr. Burbidge informs me that this was 

 raised from N. bicolor by a Lancashire weaver, and was sold 

 after his death as a dower for his widow. It is undoubtedly a 

 handsome flower, and is only surpassed in size by one other of 

 this race — the Empress above named. 



I next take from my bouquet two or three forms of N. in- 

 oomparabilis. The single types of these are extremely chaste 

 yet sufficiently cheerful. The perianth segments of these are 

 large, flowing, and elegant, and the cups are small and more 

 or less lobed. The creamy white form is known as the " single 

 Phcenix." N. i. var. semipartita has sulphur petals and a 

 yellow cup ; and N. i. aurantiacus is deeper in all its parts ; 

 the flowers measure about 2h inches across. A seedling paper- 

 white variety is extremely chaste. The double examples of 

 N. incomparabilis are bold commanding flowers, but lack the 

 refinement of the single types. The variety in this section is 

 both extensive and varied, and the flowers, especially for 

 decoration in a cut state, are particularly appropriate. All the 

 forms are also suitable for garden and shrubbery decoration. 



Another extremely beautiful flower, especially for vase orna- 

 mentation, is N. moschatus. The petals of this are creamy 

 white, IJ inch long, the cup being tube-shaped and nearly 

 2 inches deep, reflexed at the mouth and very shghtly serrated ; 

 its colour is pale primrose, shading to cream at the base. It 

 is a charming variety of the pseudo-Narcissus, and is singular 



