22 FAJIILIAE GARDEN FIOIJ'ESS. 



It is the eai-ly tiowering of these trumpet daffodils that 

 renders them so especially valuable in the English garden, 

 and that has suggested to the greatest of poets the sweetest 

 and simplest passage on spring flowers that has ever betn 

 written. From first to last, through all the fifty or mure, 

 as the case may be, these daffodils are amongst the hardiest 

 of plants known to us; no frost hurts them; the " winds 

 of March " cannot desjioil them, and they are careless of 

 •;onditions, provided they have soil of some sort to grow in, 

 and are not at any time exposed to the full glare of the 

 advancing sun. Although these comprise only one section 

 i)f daffodils, there being at least four other sections equally 

 distinct in character, they constitute a subject for an 

 elaborate study, and the student of vegetable form may do 

 well to secure as large a collection as possible, both for 

 scientific observation and to add to the joy of the garden. 

 One striking characteristic of the group is to be found in 

 their delicate gradations of size and form with strict ad- 

 herence to type, so that however they may differ in degree, 

 we have no trouljle at any time in determining that each 

 is a veritaljle trumpet daffodil. In 3finiiiin.s, lltiior, and 

 Nanns we have three miniature varieties that in their way 

 Ijear the closest resemblance to MaximuH, Priuceps, Teluiiw- 

 II ill x, Emperor, and Vol lit us, which are the largest of the 

 section, the noblest in form and eoloiu', and ma\' truly be 

 described as gigantic daffodils. Nor does the family like- 

 ness fade in the lovely Bicolor, Em.pres.^, and Jlosc/iafiis, 

 in which there are two distinct colours, white and yellow ; 

 or in Cfriiuii.i, which keeps its head down as if in trouble, 

 and is wholly white, or but slightly touched with a delicate 

 creamv shade. 



In the process of doubling, a departure from the family 



