JDaffotifls btjjfn to peer. 97 



might learn from the daffodil the art of always 

 looking lovely things ! 



The big trumpeters and chalice-flowers are 

 not yet over before the poeticus and polyanthus 

 groups and the jonquils appear. How cool the 

 snow-white corolla of single poettcus, and how 

 warm the rim of its dainty cup ! And who that 

 has ever scented it can forget its delicious aro- 

 ma ? The varieties of poettcus are many ; the 

 garden varieties, recurvus, patellaris, and orna- 

 tus, being finer than those collected wild. All of 

 the polyanthus, or tazettas, are likewise delight- 

 fully odorous. The latter form pushes up so 

 strongly in the fall, however, that it is apt to be 

 injured by frost, and therefore the bulbs should 

 be lifted after flowering and stored until late 

 autumn. The big and little jonquils and even 

 here the variety is great concentrate more odor 

 in their little cups than any other form of narcis- 

 sus. Of the double daffodils, poeticus plenus is 

 too well known to be specified. With me, as 

 has been previously observed, most of the buds 

 come blind, the flowers forming inside the 

 spathe, which becomes hermetically sealed, and 

 soon dries up and dies. In England, where this 

 species flowered very poorly the past season, a 

 friend writes me that the same conditions pre- 

 vailed, failure being attributed to the drought 



