MARCH 57 



give the palm to the poet's narcissus. The perianth of 

 marble white, surrounding the golden cup with its crimped 

 scarlet margin, is a design which unites simplicity and 

 splendour in a degree hardly to be matched among the 

 flowers of the field; and the effect is enhanced by the 

 poise of the blossom on a stem of liberal stature. 



But there is no end to it, when one begins prosing 

 about the beauty of favourite flowers. Let me only add 

 that, besides the above-named kinds, which thrive abund- 

 antly if planted out in wild ground or shrub lands, there 

 are at least five or six species, which should be given 

 favoured places in the border namely, the campernelle 

 (N. odori^ft), with its cluster of clear golden flowers and 

 delicious fragrance; the still more fragrant jonquil 

 (N. jonquilla) ; and the polyanthus narcissus (N. tazetta), 

 which has been cultivated into every imaginable combina- 

 tion of yellow, orange, and white. Add to these the hoop- 

 petticoat (N. bulbocodium) and the diminutive N. mini- 

 mus, ' whose nose,' as Parkinson wrote more than three 

 centuries ago, ' doth mostly rest upon the ground,' and 

 you will have plenty to rejoice your eyes during the long 

 weeks when spring is hesitating about making good her 

 footing. Afterwards you can decide whether anything is 

 to be gained by acquiring a number of the newer species. 



One chief merit of the daffodil including under that 

 term the great majority of species of narcissus is its 

 robust constitution. It is not liable to those fungoid 

 attacks which are the despair of lily-growers. So far as 

 I am aware, the only insect enemy it has is a dipterous 

 fly known as Criarhina or Merodon narcissi. It is not 

 known where it deposits its eggs, probably at the base 

 of the leaves near the crown of the bulb. Anyhow, during 



