SOME OLD FAVOURITES AND NEW 77 



cissus unknown to us now is the red flower, native 

 to the West Indies, mentioned by Parkinson. It 

 is true he classes it reluctantly in accordance with 

 the then taste for classifying rather than with his 

 own conviction, and with the remark, "Even so 

 until some other can direct his place more fitly, I 

 shall require you to accept of him in this, with this 

 description which followeth." And the description 

 certainly does not apply to our idea of a red nar- 

 cissus, that desideratum of all modern growers. 

 The growers of the past do not seem to have been 

 so anxious to produce a red variety, but to-day it is 

 the ambition of all professionals and many amateurs. 

 So far one cannot say they have been successful, 

 the variety Will Scarlet, a short- crowned flower 

 belonging to the incomparabilis section, is the 

 nearest, but it is not satisfactory, and is of a very 

 poor shape. 



In Holland Narcissi are put in the ground just 

 as summer turns to autumn. In the fields they 

 are set from three to four inches deep, and during 

 the severe weather protected by a straw covering 

 some three inches thick. At least that is found 

 sufficient for the hardier roots, the more delicate 

 polyanthus varieties want more, many of them re- 

 quiring as heavy a covering as is given to hyacinths. 



