176 THE NEW GARDENING 



aleaf and the hedges are thick enough for the suspicious 

 and clangorous blackbird to build her nest then, and not 

 before, will come the time of the grass to fall. And it 

 will sink, not in flying fragments under the rotary blades, 

 but in gentle swathes under the soft swish of the scythe, 

 carrying with it the fading leaves of the bulbs. 



The new Daffodil-growing is not a costly proceeding, 

 even at the outset, for the best Daffodils to plant in grass 

 are comparatively old kinds which multiply so fast in 

 the hands of trade-growers that they are available at 

 rates which place them in quantity at the service of the 

 poorest flower-lover. There are none better for the 

 purpose than the Lent Lily, poeticus, Barri conspicuus, 

 Horsefieldi and Emperor all cheap and vigorous kinds. 

 The planting does not entail a laborious upheaval of 

 turf if a Barr bulb-planter be employed. The kinds 

 should not be mixed, but each should be planted in 

 groups to itself, so that colonies may be formed. In all 

 but the poorest and driest of soils they will establish 

 themselves readily and increase from year to year. 



The use of Daffodils in herbaceous borders has been 

 referred to in chapter in. The bulb-lover should never 

 hesitate to put Daffodils in his borders on the ground 

 that they may suffer injury while dormant. Naturally 

 he will not entrust amongst the robust occupant of a 

 border those newest of the new varieties which cost him 

 several guineas per bulb ; for these he will reserve a 

 special bed, which no hand but his own is allowed to 

 cultivate ; or perhaps he will grow them in pots. What- 

 ever we may do in providing special beds for Daffodils 

 we cannot forgo them entirely in the borders, where they 

 are so cheering in the spring. Such disturbance as they 

 may be subjected to in the autumn does them little 

 harm if any bulbs which are dislodged are replanted 



