674 NARCISSUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



NARCISSUS. 



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 



Narcissus calathinus. 



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, 

 etc., 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 Graaff, 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 

 handsome may be had by the hundred 

 or the thousand at a moderate price. 



Narcissi flower in continuous succession 

 from February until June ; and when pot- 

 culture and warm-house treatment is 

 adopted, the double Roman Narcissus and 

 the Italian paper- white Narcissus flower 

 in November, and there are always some 

 Narcissi in flower from that time to June. 



HYBRID NARCISSI. The species which 

 have best lent themselves to the hybrid- 

 isei j s art are N. pseudo-narcissus, N. 

 poeticus, N. montanus, N. triandrus, N. 

 jonquilla, and N. Tazetta. The type 

 hybrids are N. incomparabilis, Bernardi 

 (both found wild), Nelsoni, Barrii, Bur- 

 bidgei, Humei, Leedsii, Milneri, tridymus, 

 and odorus. There are wild and garden 

 hybrids between N. Bulbocodium and 

 pseudo-narcissus ; N. triandrus and N. 

 pseudo-narcissus ; N. jonquilla and N. 

 pseudo-narcissus ; N. juncifolius and N. 

 pseudo-narcissus ; N. Tazetta and N. 

 pseudo-narcissus ; N. Tazetta and N. 

 poeticus ; N. poeticus and N. pseudo- 

 narcissus ; and N. montanus and N. 

 poeticus ; and also N. pseudo-narcissus 

 and N. montanus; while derivative hybrids 

 have been obtained between some of these 

 hybrids and some of the parent species. 

 It is remarkable that while wild hybrids 



