5*4 



NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



Mr Tait having in March 1892 sent me a 

 bicolor form (Garrett x N. triandrus albus} . 

 The best forms are N. Johnstoni (type), 

 Queen of Spain, Mrs Geo. Cammell, Pelayo, 

 and Mr Tait's new bicolor form to which 

 I have above alluded. The Rev. G. H. 

 Engleheart has repeated crosses between 

 the parent species, and has produced a 

 pale sulphur or white Johnstoni (Snow- 

 drop) and others. 



N. TAZETTA (Polyanthus or Bunch 

 Narcissus). This is the classical Narcis- 

 sus of Homer and other poets, Greek and 

 Roman the flower of a hundred heads 

 that delights all men, and lends a glory to 

 the sea and the sky. Tazetta is focused 

 in the Mediterranean Basin, but extends 

 from the Canary Islands to the north of 

 India and to Japan. It has long been 

 naturalised in the Scilly Isles and in 

 Cornwall ; but its early habit of growth., 

 acquired in more sunny climes, often with 

 us causes the flowers to be injured by 

 frosts and storms. These Narcissi are 

 hardy on warm dry soils, and as pot- 

 plants many of them are handsome, while 

 in deep, warm, sandy borders, which are 

 sheltered by sunny walls or by plant- 

 houses, they frequently do well, but as a 

 rule bulbs must be imported from France, 

 Italy, or Holland every year. The earliest 

 are the double Roman and the paper- 

 white (N. papyraceus}. One variety from 

 China may be grown in a* sunny window 

 if placed in water, and the bulbs sub- 

 merged and held in position by gravel or 

 stones. The growth of this variety is 

 rapid, and good bulbs produce five to 

 eight spikes. Its shop name is " Sacred 

 Narcissus " or Chinese " Joss Lily." 



The best varieties are Grand Monarque, 

 States-General, Newton, Scilly White 

 (White Pearl), Soleil d'Or, Bathurst, 

 Baselman major (Trewianus), Gloriosus, 

 Sulphurine, Czar de Muscovie, Grand 

 Sultana, Grand Primo Citroniere, Luna, 

 Her Majesty, Queen of the Netherlands, 

 Lord Canning, and Golden Era. 



N. Baselman minor is now proved by 

 Mr Engleheart and others to be a hybrid 

 between N. Tazetta and N. poeticus, and 

 a similar hybrid has been found wild near 

 Montpellier. 



N. TRIANDRUS (Ganymede's Cup). A 

 distinct and elegant species which is rarely 

 happy out of doors except on warm, moist 

 and sheltered borders, or in nooks of the 

 rock garden, but which as a pot-bulb has 

 no superior for delicate beauty, its flowers 

 rivalling in texture those of the Cape 

 Freezias. The late Mr Rawson, of Fall- 

 barrow, Windermere, grew it in pots, and 

 his specimens bore fifty to a hundred 

 flowers. His plan was to rest it thor- 

 oughly after the leaves faded, and then to 

 top-dress the bulbs, and rarely or never 

 to re-pot them. As a rule, N. triandrus 

 is short-lived, but it naturally reproduces 

 itself from seeds, which bloom the second 



or third year after sowing. The principal 

 varieties are N. albus (Angel's Tears), 

 N. calathinus (a robust form from the 

 Isle de Glennans), and LTle St Nicholas. 

 On the coast of Brittany, N. calathinus 

 grows among rocks and short sandy sward 

 close to the sea, and within reach of its 

 spray during rough weather. N. pul- 

 chellus has a primrose perianth and a 

 white cup, and is very pretty. In the 

 late Mr R. Parker's nursery at Lower 

 Tooting, in 1874, it was very strong and 

 healthy in an open-air bed resting on the 

 gravel, and some of its scapes bore seven 

 or nine flowers. No other Narcissus has 

 a cup paler than the perianth segments. 

 Pulchellus has recently been found wild 

 in Portugal and Spain. 



NEW HYBRID AND CROSS-BRED NAR- 

 CISSI. Every year we have the 

 pleasure of seeing new and improved 

 seedlings by the score, and any one 

 may raise seedlings for themselves if 

 they will take the trouble to cross- 

 fertilise the flowers either as grown in 

 pots in cool greenhouse or cold frame, 

 or in open-air borders. In some gar- 

 dens, as at Chirnside and Kilma- 

 curragh, series of natural cross-bred 

 kinds have appeared spontaneously, 

 and this is doubtless how White 

 Minor, St Austin, Countess of Des- 

 mond, and many other Irish forms 

 appeared. 



DISEASES AND INSECTS. As Narcissi 

 may be grown on dry warm soils, or 

 in grassy lawns and meadows, the 

 insects and fungoid diseases that would 

 affect them on deep-dug and highly 

 manured borders are few and far 

 between. Neither cattle nor sheep 

 molest them, and game and poultry, 

 and even the more voracious of rabbits 

 and the most impudent of town- 

 sparrows leave the flowers alone. 

 That their leaves and roots are 

 poisonous, or acridly narcotic, may 

 account for this. In some gardens 

 and nurseries the larva of the Nar- 

 cissus Fly (Merodon equestris] infests 

 old bulbs, and whenever bulbs are 

 imported from abroad or are dug 

 for replanting, this larva should be 

 searched for and exterminated. The 

 bulbs affected may generally be known 

 by their necks feeling soft when 

 pinched. All such bulbs should be 

 cut open and the larvae extracted and 

 killed. Such means are the only cure, 

 as no insecticides will kill the pest with- 

 out destroying the bulbs. The pest 

 checks both root and bulb growth, 

 but after the larvae are removed the 

 rare bulbs recently infected may be 



