NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



695 



well-drained loams resting on gravel, the 

 bulbs lose both leaves and roots in June 

 or July, and may be taken up and re- 

 moved with advantage ; and, indeed, 

 where good round presentable sale bulbs 

 are grown, the rule is to dig them every 

 summer as soon as the leaves wither. 

 Whenever an amateur's stock of bulbs 

 is divided, it is wise to replant some in 

 fresh ground, and any surplus may be 

 naturalised in grass. The rate of in- 

 crease on good soils is surprising, such 

 splendid sorts as N. John Horsfield, N. 

 Empress, N. Grandee, N. Emperor, and 

 N. Sir Watkin actually trebling them- 

 selves the second year after planting. 

 The depth at which the bulbs should be 



Narcissus calathinus. 



planted varies according to the texture 

 and the drainage of the soil. In strong 

 or wet and retentive soils, shallow plant- 

 ing, say 3 to 5 in. beneath the surface, 

 is ample, but on light, sandy, and well- 

 drained soils, or on what are known as 

 warm soils, the depth may vary from 6 

 to 12 in.^ — in a word, the bulbs should 

 be as far as possible below the drought 

 and frost line. The best grown private 

 collections of these flowers I have seen are 

 those at Great Warley, Essex, and at 

 Totley Hall, near Sheffield, where the best 

 kinds are grouped boldly by the thousand. 

 If cut flowers are desired, then bold 

 groups on borders, in beds, or on 

 Grass sheltered by hedges or shrubs are 

 desirable. The first crop can be ob- 

 tained from pots or boxes in the green- 

 house, and these will be followed by fully 

 formed and bursting buds, in sheltered 



and sunny places. These buds will open 

 large, fresh, and fair if placed in pots of 

 water in a warm greenhouse or a sunny 

 frame or window. In March and April 

 comes the prolific harvest of golden open- 

 air blossoms. In cutting Daffodils or 

 Narcissi for indoor decoration, cut the 

 flowers when the buds are opening, or 

 even just before, and let the stalks be long, 

 as the flowers group better with long 

 stalks. Do not cut the leaves of choice 

 kinds, but use leaves of common sorts 

 with choice flowers. Put each kind in a 

 separate glass, but put together as many 

 of the same kind as you like. 



Such delicate southern kinds as N. 

 Bulbocodium, N. triandrus, N. calathinus, 

 N. juncifolius, and most of the varieties 

 of N. Tazetta may be grown in front of 

 sunny walls on prepared peaty or on 

 sandy borders, or else in glasshouses in 

 the garden ; but even in such places 

 their flowers often suffer from spring 

 storms, and the surest plan is to adopt 

 pot-culture in a sunny frame. N. viridi- 

 florus, N. serotinus, N. intermedius, N. 

 elegans, N. pachybulbus, N. Broussoneti, 

 &c., are interesting to collectors ; but the 

 difficulties of their culture are out of all 

 proportion to their beauty, and those who 

 only wish for large and beautiful flowers 

 had better ignore them. Practically, we 

 have only six species of Narcissus worth 

 cultivating — N. Bulbocodium, N. pseudo- 

 narcissus, N. poeticus, N. Tazetta, N. 

 jonquilla, and N. triandrus. Then for 

 naturalisation, or for ordinary garden 

 culture, these six may be reduced to three 

 groups — N. pseudo-narcissus, or the Ajax 

 Daffodils ; N. poeticus, or the Poet's 

 Narcissus ; and the natural hybrid between 

 these two species, the ubiquitous Star 

 Narcissus — N. incomparabilis. These 

 kinds are really the only free and hardy 

 open-air Narcissi, and are the best for the 

 meadow or the lawn. 



Of the newer seedlings, perhaps the 

 finest are N. "Ellen Willmott" and N. 

 Madame de Graafif, which first flowered 

 at Leyden in 1883. N. Glory of Leyden 

 is a yellow counterpart of it. The two 

 were offered, one bulb of each, for 7 

 guineas only a year or two ago. They 

 are so vigorous, and they increase so fast 

 in good soil, that buyers were amply 

 repaid, high as these prices appear. N. 

 Weardale Perfection, N. Monarch, and 

 some others are so fine and so rare that 

 they are practically not to be had, any- 

 thing less than 10 guineas having been 

 refused for a single bulb of N. Weardale 

 Perfection. These are only show flowers, 

 however, and many others not much less 



