June 29, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



309 



or Poet's Narcissus, is cultivated in England by the million 

 in the open ground, especially the early-flowering form, 

 Ornatus, but, well known as it is, it has been strangely 

 neglected b}'' hybridizers. It has been crossed with the 

 Trumpet Daffodils, and the result is apparent in the num- 

 berless short-crowned flowers of the Incomparabilis sec- 

 tion, but there has been little attempt to enhance the best 

 features of the Poet's Narcissus, as has been done with the 

 Trumpet Daffodils, by intercrossing and selecting seed- 

 lings. Just as that splendid plant, the Emperor, is proba- 

 bly only an improved form of the old Narcissus Rugilobus, 

 or R. lorifolius, so a more robust and floriferous race of 

 Poet's Narcissus with red eyes might be secured, and, in- 

 deed, has been secured by Mr. Engleheart. He has also 

 obtained flowers with the shapeliness and precocity of the 

 Ornatus varieties, but much increased in size, besides 

 crosses between Ornatus and the late Recurvus, which 

 unite in the same flower the brilliant whiteness and solidity 

 of the latter with the flatly expanded form Of the former. 

 But there is abundant room for other workers, and this field 

 is more promising than any other in Narcissus culture, be- 

 cause every seedling of N. poeticus has a vigor, a consti- 

 tution, if it has no other good quality. Of the cultivation 

 of the Pheasant's-eye Daffodils, Mr. Engleheart says : 



In the cultivation of the Pheasant's-eye there are three points 

 which should be kept in mind. First, its great inherent vigor 

 enables the plant to tlirive in a much richer soil than is whole- 

 some for most other Daffodils. Broadly speaking, no amount 

 of manure will injure either blossom or bull). To those who 

 have the common variety, Recurvus, or late single Pheasant's- 

 eye, in their gardens, but grown as it usually is — namely, left 

 alone for years in a half-starved condition in a mixed border — 

 I recommend planting a batch of bulbs in a slip of deeply-dug 

 and heavily manured kitchen-garden ground, and lifting and 

 replanting annually in similar quarters. The change of the 

 flower in dimensions and substance will astonish them ; in- 

 deed, it becomes a different thing altogether. The second 

 point is that all the Pheasant's-eyes require for their well-being 

 more moisture at their roots than other Daffodils. Therefore, 

 on dry soils it is advisable to give them the moistest corner of 

 the garden, and to take out no sunk alleys between the beds 

 which contain them. Thirdly, and perhaps more important, 

 the Pheasant's-eye ceases from growth for scarcely a week in 

 the year, and cannot be said to have a resting-time for its 

 bulbs. If there comes a dry hot spell of weather while it is in 

 bloom, and heavy rain follows, it will commonly make long 

 fresh roots before the leaves show signs of decay. In any case 

 the bulbs will be found to have started into growth before the 

 end of July. Accordingly, the variety Ornatus sliould be lifted 

 in June, and the later variety of Poeticus as soon as the foliage 

 turns yellow at the tips — not waiting for its more entire decay. 

 And I advise that Ornatus be replanted before any other Daf- 

 fodil. It is difficult to injure this robust plant seriously by any 

 treatment, but for the best results let it be planted early. 



With regard to existing kinds of Narcissus poeticus, the three 

 best for ordinary purposes of cut bloom are Ornatus, Recurvus 

 and the double Gardenia-flowered. A fourth, N. poetarum, is 

 beautiful with its wholly red eye, but in many soils it is cer- 

 tainly not so robust as the others, nor nearly as floriferous as 

 Ornatus, which blooms from quite small offsets, while N. 

 poetarum blooms only from mature bulbs. The double kind 

 is extremely beautiful when well grown, and most useful in 

 filling a gap between spring and summer flowers. But it has 

 the serious defect of producing a large proportion of empty or 

 " blind " spathes. Many explanations have been given of this 

 habit, and remedies propounded, but I believe no one has 

 been able to conquer it. JVIy own notion is that the plant has 

 exceptional requirements in the way of abundant root-moisture, 

 but that it demands also ample sun-heat at the same time to 

 ripen its growth. This conjunction of conditions is not easily 

 obtained, but it may be said that in open quarters, which have 

 been deeply trenclied and liberally manured at the bottom, 

 there will be fewer blind spathes than on shallow hot soils. 



Those who grow large collections of Daffodils may include 

 some other Pheasant's-eyes in addition to the above-men- 

 tioned. Angustifolius, a slender-growing kind with narrow 

 petals, is in most respects quite inferior to Ornatus, with which 

 it blooms, but it possesses a singularly sweet and refined scent, 

 approaching that of Sandal-wood. Grandiflorus is very large 

 and striking, but increases so slowly that it is difficult to accu- 

 mulate a stock. Patellaris, or the flat-crowned Pheasant's-eye, 



is in all prol)al)ility the single form of the well-known double 

 I^oeticus. It is the common wild Poeticus of the neighborhood 

 of Montreux and other continental localities. N. poeticus 

 verus of Linn;eus, as it is called in catalogues, is a most beau- 

 tiful kind, small in blossom, but with a circular flower of solid 

 and overlapping petals. I consider it a most valuable kind for 

 the hybridist, as likely to infuse substance and good shape into 

 some of the larger sorts. Then there are small mountain va- 

 rieties which are found in Italy, both north and south. That 

 which has been catalogued as Verbanus, or Verbancnsis, and 

 takes this title from the Latin name of Lago Maggiore, is so 

 abundant on some north Italian mountain-pastures that I have 

 seen acres of it in one sheet, mingled with the blue Geutianella. 

 It grows but a few inches in height, and seems to resent ordi- 

 nary garden cultivation, but will live on the rockery or in grass. 



Correspondence. 



Impressions of America. — II. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Spring found me in one of the loveliest suburbs of 

 Boston, bent on enjoyment of nature and study of this garden 

 problem that exercises such a curious fascination on all who 

 have once come under the charm. Houses and statues, books 

 and pictures are all very well in their way, but their way is 

 often a wearisome one. The conscientious art-critic, for ex- 

 ample, is too often doomed to pass hours in the foul air of 

 crowded rooms examining pictures by the hundred which 

 ought never to have been painted. The garden-critic, on the 

 other hand, has at least the solace of fresh air, and if he does 

 sometimes feel that the flowers and shrubs he sees ought 

 never to have been planted in that combination, flowers and 

 shrubs are a good deal easier to re-arrange mentally than pig- 

 ments. This re-arranging, indeed, gives a great part of the 

 pleasure. If you cannot have really beautiful gardens with 

 passages which at once stir the imagination into joyous activity 

 by the sight of a broad, rolling, tree-flecked stretch of grass, 

 with glimpses of a gleaming lake beyond set off by masses of 

 Rhododendrons, just visible through a depression in the bluffs 

 that hem in the water ; or of English roseries, where music 

 seems to float in the fragrance th°y exhale, and poetry is 

 made visible in the grace and tenderness of their manifold 

 forms ; or of arching trellises, suggesting twilight meditation ; 

 or of such enchanting floral groups as are made when Tiger 

 Lilies uplift their torches beside tall Irises robed in deep pur- 

 ple — if you cannot have pleasures such as these, at least you 

 see floral beauty, even though it be misplaced, and your 

 imagination will be kindled by the very mistakes and short- 

 comings you see. It is all so delightfully easy. Your imagina- 

 tion takes fire at the sight of a noble Lilac-bush crushed up 

 against some coarse foliage in a stupid shrubbery, or a round 

 bed of ill-assorted Geraniums lost in the grass, or a flat bed of 

 nondescript color, from "assorted packets" of seed, at the 

 foot of the piazza, or, perhaps, scraggly bands or beds of Tu- 

 lips in the most trying combinations. You set to work at once 

 setting the Lilac-bush free and making it grow full and round, 

 as nature meant it, taking the Geraniums out of the bed, se- 

 lecting one or two well-balanced tints of Pansies from among 

 the "assorted" flowers, and filling the bed with them, while 

 the Geraniums are variously distributed ; the bright and scar- 

 let and the frozen red ones are separated, put in with Ferns 

 and Lilies-ot-the-valley at the kitchen-door ; the drooping 

 specimens among the crimson-pink or white ones are planted 

 with deep blue Lobelias and Ferns or Grasses in large pots or 

 tubs, and put on the piazza-balustrade or placed as sentinels 

 on either side of the front steps ; the more upright Geraniums 

 are used as a kind of support or setting to the house in the 

 front border, along with Palms and Dracasnas and other house- 

 plants that want a summer outing, or among some of the per- 

 ennials that have the right height and character. As for the 

 Tulips, not one of the discordant ones is allowed to remain. 

 It is all so delightfully easy — so much easier, indeed, to study 

 it all out than to do it actually, and then have no end of care 

 in the apparently simple task of keeping all intrusive tints 

 away. Neither bulbs nor roots nor seeds are kind enough to 

 wear the exact shade of red or purple or pink that their flow- 

 ers put on in summer. It is the business of head-gardeners 

 and nurserymen to know, though, and to provide their roots 

 or seeds with unambiguous names, referring to a chart of 

 colors, if one can be had, which will prevent their subordi- 

 nates or customers from making painful mistakes. 



The true garden-critic, however, is not hampered by any 

 considerations such as these when in the full swing of re- 



