4 THE BOOK OF THE DAFFODIL 



In later times Dean Herbert in his " Amaryllidacese " 

 (1837), and his contemporaries, Hawarth, Salisbury, 

 EUacombe and others, dealt with the characteristics and 

 arrangement of the different forms and varieties of the 

 plant. 



But until quite recent times the love of the Daffodil 

 and the knowledge of it as a garden flower was, with 

 the large majority of people, confined to a few of the 

 commoner sorts in cottage gardens or wild gardens and 

 herbaceous borders. Then there arose a band of 

 enthusiasts such as the Rev. C. Wolley Dod, Rev. W. 

 Wilks, Messrs F. W. Burbidge, Peter Barr, Johnston, 

 and Tait, Miss Ellen Willmott, the Rev. G. H. 

 Engleheart, Messrs Bennett Poe, Scrase-Dickins, J. C. 

 Williams, James Walker, Dorrien-Smith, Hartland, De 

 Graaff, the Rev. Arthur Boscawen, the Hon. J. 

 Boscawen, Percy Williams, W. P. Milner, and many 

 others who, as cultivators, students, collectors of wild 

 forms and raisers of new seedlings, have rapidly 

 enlarged and extended the knowledge and popularity of 

 the plant. Fine varieties are now common enough. 

 The Royal Horticultural Society has extended its 

 fostering care to our flower, and other special Daffodil 

 Societies have been formed. There are now choice 

 Daffodil gardens in almost all parts of the country, and 

 the time seems fast approaching when everyone who has 

 any pretensions to be a gardener will grow some at 

 least of the finer varieties. 



The last work of importance dealing exclusively with 

 the Daffodil is that by Mr F. W. Burbidge on "The 

 Narcissus" (1875), which is full of interesting information 

 and has been of the greatest value to Narcissus lovers, 

 while Mr J. G. Baker's classification of the Narcissus in 

 his " Amaryllideae " (1888) evolved order where there 

 wias much confusion before, and is accepted as the 

 standard authority at the present time. 



