i 3 4 FLOWER GARDENING 



and the chief newcomer is the single yellow daffo- 

 dil (N. pseudo-narcissus), generally in only a slight 

 improvement of the species form. 



Yet this is the day of the daffodil to use the 

 most convenient English name for covering the 

 genus Narcissus. In England there is a daffodil 

 craze, with no parallel save the historic tulip mania 

 in Holland. It is said that 50, about $242, 

 is the top-notch price for a single bulb. In any 

 event prices in excess of ten dollars are tolerably 

 common; some of the 1912 quotations for novel- 

 ties were Challenger, $162; Michael, $90; Em- 

 pire, Jasper and Sheba, $76, and Czarina and 

 Sir Galahad, $50. 



It is doubtful if the craze will ever cross the 

 Atlantic. Meanwhile daffodils than which none 

 could ask anything more beautiful are not in every 

 garden, though sold as low as half a dollar a 

 dozen. Two of the best single trumpet -daffodils, 

 Emperor (all yellow) and Empress (yellow with 

 a white perianth) cost no more than that and will 

 be just as satisfying to the general run of flower- 

 lovers as costly bulbs are to the ardent British 

 collector. The poet's narcissus and its yellow 

 counterpart, N. incomparabilis Barrii conspicuus, 

 which cost less than half as much, are two more 

 of the best. And these are only four selections of 

 cheap single kinds. The natural hybrid of the 

 poet's narcissus, N. biflorus, is very beautiful but 

 is more common from Delaware southward. The 

 double white jonquil, better named now gardenia 



