SPRING MEETING. 257 



of plants, and as a consequence he found himself face to face 

 with the necessity of growing daffodils in variety before that of 

 ^rowing any other flower. In coming in contact with the 

 narcissus one became aware that it presented far larger possibili- 

 ties of improvement than any other which lay to their hands, 

 and it helped one in dealing with gardens at that period of the 

 year. Further, with regard to gardening in the spring, he held 

 they could get a greater measure of enjoyment out of it than 

 they could from gardening at any other time. In the first place 

 the eye was hungrier for flowers and their like, it had a better 

 ap]Detite and the means of enjoying itself better, because they 

 could not really enjoy a flower on a sunny day. The eye was 

 then too much blurred by the sun to really appreciate colour, and 

 if they wished to really enjoy colour in flowers they would find 

 themselves drifting unconsciously into the habit of visiting them 

 when the sun went down. That difficulty did not present itself 

 in the longer spring he had referred to, because they had an 

 inordinate number of foggy days, and they had no need to dodge 

 the sun. That was one of the reasons that drove him to the 

 daffodil. He found that the principles and policy they adopted 

 in the management of their gardens were rather "hand-to-mouth," 

 and that they did not sit down to adopt a deliberate and calculated 

 policy as to how they might get the most out of the area at their 

 command. The daffodil, in common with many other plants, 

 lent itself to a vast amount of improvement. It was capable, 

 not only of improvement itself, but they could get the best kind 

 of flower, by dint of seedling raising, and hybridising, to bloom 

 at a time when it would be most valuable. Probably the most 

 valuable was the trumpet variety, but the trumpet varieties did 

 not flower until March. He had produced trumpets to flower in 

 January — late January, it was true, but there was no reason why 

 by a system of seedling raising there could not be produced 

 trumpet varieties that would flower in December. There were 

 many other plants which would help them as a gardening county 

 which must, more than it did now, go in for gardening. In 

 regard to rhododendrons in this county, they would give flowers 

 from December until May, but the varieties that flowered in 

 December and January were very few. There were in existence 

 in this county, in one or two private gardens, varieties which 



