DAFFODILS AND THEIR POISON 



late summer and autumn the maggot is found within 

 the bulb, of which it devours the heart, escaping in 

 November into the surrounding soil, where it passes the 

 winter in the pupa state, emerging as a perfect fly in 

 the following spring. Luckily, the humid climate of 

 Great Britain is unfavourable to the propagation of this 

 creature ; but the maggot may often be detected in bulbs 

 imported from the south of Europe, and, needless to say, 

 should be committed to the flames at once. 



' Let him,' said the prophet Mohammed, ' let him who 

 hath two loaves sell one, and buy of the flower narcissus : 

 for bread is but food for the body, but the narcissus 

 feedeth the soul.' Yet it is passing strange how abso- 

 lutely insensible certain minds are to the beauties of 

 nature, and one cannot but wonder what compensating 

 faculty such persons possess to indemnify them for being 

 cut off from one of the sweetest sources of pleasure. One 

 of the most striking instances, not only of indifference 

 to beauty, but inability to perceive it, was furnished to 

 me by a Scottish clergyman, and daffodils supplied the 

 occasion for the manifestation. I was attending service 

 in his parish church one bright Sabbath in March, and 

 was dismayed to see that the daffodils, which crowded 

 all the kirkyard and decked the manse grounds with 

 gold, had been mowed down. There they lay in swathes, 

 withering in the sun, a piteous sight to behold. I waited 

 after service to inquire the meaning of this, pointing 

 out to my reverend friend that not only was the display 

 ruined for this year, but that the bulbs would not flower 

 in the following spring after such treatment. ' That was 

 exactly my intention in having them cut,' replied the 

 minister ; ' Mrs. A (naming his wife) considers yellow 



