Cultivation weakness of constitution. They have been reared in garden 
of Daffodils luxury and are suited to richer soil and more artificial conditions. 
If it had been otherwise, it is probable the hybridisation of 
Daffodils would have received a considerable check. Owing to 
the long period which has to elapse before a Daffodil seed 
becomes a flowering bulb, and that out of two or three thousand 
seedlings carefully raised to maturity—a process occupying from 
six to seven years—only one or two may be fit to enter the 
honourable ranks of “named seedlings,” it is a costly thing to 
produce a good new Daffodil. 
The successful culture of all sorts of Daffodils depends on 
attention to a few matters, foremost among which is drainage. 
In heavy soils deep well-drained beds should be provided, and it 
is better to have them raised about six or seven inches above the 
surrounding soil. Some sand or grit and a little wood ashes 
may also be advantageously worked in, together with, if pro- 
curable, plenty of fresh fibrous maiden soil. In soils of average 
strength, and where there is good natural drainage, the Daffodil 
flourishes, and its culture is a very simple matter. In very 
light and sandy soils additional moisture and nutriment must be 
provided. The extra moisture is best secured by placing a 
layer of manure, stable or farm, below the bulbs, but it must be 
at least twelve inches below the level at which the bulbs are 
planted, for it is not intended for a stimulant, but to act as a 
sponge for retaining the moisture so necessary to Daffodils, but 
which must not be of a sour or stagnant nature. With regard 
to providing extra nutriment, nothing is better than fine crushed 
bone, of the quality called ‘quarter inch crushed bone,” and it 
can be either mixed with the soil, or sprinkled over the surface 
on which the base of the bulbs rest, when planting in trenched 
98 
