CHAPTER X. 



ENEMIES AND DISEASES. 



THE Narcissus grower has not many enemies or plant 

 diseases to contend with. Mice and rabbits leave the 

 bulbs severely alone on account of their poisonous 

 character. The flowers too are practically unmolested. 

 A misguided sparrow, or an inexperienced finch, will 

 sometimes at the beginning of the Daffodil season make 

 a grab at an opening bud, and spoil the flower ; but the 

 taste is not to his liking, and he will very soon discon- 

 tinue the practice. Neither do cattle interfere with the 

 leaves and flowers growing in the meadow grass. 



But Narcissus has one deadly enemy Merodon eques- 

 tris, the Narcissus or Daffodil fly, whose grub attacks 

 the bulb, and, eating into its core, causes decay, and 

 ultimately destroys it. This terrible pest did not 

 trouble the older generation of Daffodil growers in 

 North Europe. Coming originally from the South, it 

 was not until 1840 that it became well-established in 

 Holland, and thence it has been handed on to us in 

 imported bulbs. The rapidity of its increase may be 

 judged by the fact that, during its short life of about 

 two months (beginning in May and lasting sometimes 

 till July), the female fly may lay as many as loo eggs, 

 one by one, in different places. This enemy has 

 become increasingly tiresome and destructive of late, 

 and it behoves every Narcissus grower to get sufficient 

 knowledge of its appearance and habits to enable him to 

 detect its presence in his garden, and to check its 

 increase, if he cannot wholly exterminate it. 



S3 



