NARCISSUS 443 



a few extra early yellow Narcissi and these mostly for their color, 

 use Grand Soleil d'Or instead. 



Whether for extra early or later forcing, plant the bulbs as soon 

 as you can in flats and carry them along outdoors, covered over 

 with a few inches of soil and always kept moist. The ones intended 

 for extra early should go inside by the end of November and if well 

 rooted can be brought into heat and a dark place at once. For 

 gentle forcing, a temporary enclosure may be built below a bench of 

 boards and burlap so as to keep the light out and the heat in. The 

 speciahst makes use of a regular forcing frame, with sufficient heat- 

 ing pipes to maintain almost any desired temperature. The inside 

 of the frame is pitch dark when it is shut up. 



In Golden Spur we have what is the most popular of all single 

 large-flowering Narcissi. Its fine, deep yellow color, good stem and 

 easy forcing qualities make it so. Not only is the variety good 

 for January flowering, but many growers also use it up to Easter. 



To those who are not overanxious to obtain extra early flowers 

 but are satisfied to get in the first batch about January fifteenth 

 and cut the greatest number of perfect flowers from a flat, I would 

 suggest planting early and putting the first lot of flats indoors, 

 below a Carnation house bench, about the middle of December. 

 If you can arrange it so as to place the flats on the ground, having 

 the heating pipes a foot or so above them, so much the better. 

 Darken the place and always see to it that the soil in the flats is 

 kept moist. I might say "wet," for in this case it is better to have 

 it wet than not moist enough. You can maintain a temperature 

 of 80 deg. or more as long as neither the roots nor the tops come 

 in contact with the heating pipes. Starting out with sound bulbs, 

 planting them early, using nothing but thoroughly rooted stock 

 and never aUowing the soil to dry out, wiU usually mean ninety- 

 five per cent or more of perfect flowers. 



Plant a few bulbs in bulb pans. You can always seU them when 

 in flower. While you can lift the plants out of the flats, the flowers 

 win last twice as long if the bulbs haven't been disturbed. 



Other Large Trumpet Narcissi 



Some of the grandest of all Narcissi are among the large single 

 trumpet varieties, but mainly on account of the price of the bulbs 

 the florist cannot always make them pay. However, there are a 

 few which should be forced and can be handled profitably. Among 

 them are Bicolor Victoria, Emperor, Empress, Glory ot Leiden 

 (which is a giant yellow throughout). Glory of Nordwyk, WiUie 

 Barr, Giant Princeps (a fine forcer), Mme. De Graff and Mme. 

 Plemp. 



