MARCH 83 



Then one must have the miniature forms of the 

 common daffodil be they real species or merely dwarf 

 varieties; nor can one rule out of court the noble 

 hybrid (if it be a hybrid and not a garden 'sport') 

 reared many generations ago by a Lancashire weaver, 

 John Horsfield, and called after him Narcissus Hors- 

 fieldi. It resembles the common daffodil in form, but 

 is larger in all its parts, though retaining (as most of 

 the new hybrids do not) the just proportions of the 

 wilding. The segments of the corolla are creamy 

 white, and the tube and crown rich gold. It has the 

 merit of flowering a fortnight or three weeks later than 

 the other, and can be just as easily naturalised. 



One sterling virtue these hardy narcissi possess 

 they are absolutely immune from attack by beast or 

 bird. Cattle avoid them in the meadow, rabbits shun 

 them in the wood. Even cock pheasants, which have 

 nipped off every bud of my Apennine and fulgent 

 anemones, dug up and devoured hundreds of crocus 

 bulbs, and wrecked my investment in rare fritillaries, 

 dare not touch the daffodils, which carry their own 

 defensive armament in the shape of myriads of micro- 

 scopic crystals of lime contained in the sap, which 

 would ulcerate the mouth and throat of any creature 

 rash enough to make a meal of the flowers or foliage. 

 Given a free soil, all the requirements of the one- 

 flowered group of narcissus are met by deep planting 

 six or eight inches is not too much and by keeping the 

 scythe off the leaves till these have faded and fallen. 



