58 THE BOOK OF THE DAFFODIL 



net ; they are not easy to catch when on the wing, but 

 may be captured without much difficulty when they 

 settle. A Dutch authority, Mr A. C. Groenewegen, 

 advises to search for the chrysalides and remove them 

 from the soil just before the plants flower, as at that 

 time they are found near the surface of the ground, and 

 this method is said to have proved very successful. A 

 suggestion has also been made, which may perhaps be 

 worth adopting, that plates of treacle, with the edges 

 smeared with honey to attract the fly, should be placed 

 about the beds as a trap to catch them. 



The Narcissus, on the whole, is very robust in health. 

 The chief cause of loss among some of the more tender 

 varieties is an insidious form of disease which goes by 

 the name of basal-rot. It shows itself most often among 

 the White-trumpet Daffodils, but also does a good deal 

 of mischief among some of the more delicate of the Self- 

 Yellows. The Medio-coronati and Parvi-coronati 

 sections suffer in a much less degree, but it often affects 

 the Leedsii group and Jonquilla and the Tazettas. The 

 symptoms of this disease as seen above ground are a 

 premature growth of the flower stalk, "which produces 

 only stunted and badly shaped flowers," and the 

 unhealthy and dwarfed condition of the leaves ; under- 

 ground the base of the bulb becomes soft, its coats 

 discoloured, and the spaces between them wet and 

 offensive, and there is a total failure of power in the 

 disc round the base, to produce the necessary growth 

 of new root. The bulb becomes flabby, decays and 

 dies. It is not generally worth the time and trouble 

 incurred in trying to cure such diseased bulbs, though, 

 when valuable, they may, if taken in time, be transplanted 

 into dry soil in a well raised bed, or planted out in grass, 

 with some possibility of a cure. The White Daffodils, 

 when under suitable conditions and doing well, are 

 better for not being moved too often, but in situations 



