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PB ACTIO AL GUIDE TO GABDEN PLANTS naecissus 



From the earliest times the Narcissus 

 or Daffodil has been a popular flower, 

 and poets who were not gardeners, and 

 gardeners who were not poets, have sung 

 its praises. It is essentially a flower of 

 spring, and it is not astonishing that its 

 great hardiness and exq^uisite beauty of 

 form and colour have made it one of the 

 most popular of garden plants at the 

 present day. Thousands of bulbs are 

 now planted where some years ago there 

 were scarcely dozens. Gardens that were 

 once dull and iminteresting are now 

 clothed in spring with sheets of Daffodil 

 blossoms of various forms and hues, and 

 our public gardens attract by their means 

 thousands of plant lovers, and thus stimu- 

 late them to go and do likewise but on 

 a smaller scale in their own gardens. In 

 fact any one almost can grow Daffodils, 

 but as in other things some wiU grow 

 them much better than others. 



Position. — It does not matter much 

 where the Daffodil is planted : it is always 

 pretty ; in the border, or in beds, in groups 

 on the lawn, under trees, on grassy banks, 

 or by the sides of lakes or streams, or in 

 the wild garden or pleasure-ground. A 

 visit to the Eoyal Gardens, Kew, in March 

 and April will give an idea of the great 

 beauty of the Daffodil when planted in 

 hundreds in the grass and rising knolls. 

 In such positions a mixture of varieties 

 has a charming effect, but when grown in 

 beds each variety looks better by itself 

 than mixed with others. 



Soil. — Any kind of good garden soil 

 without peat wiU suit the Daffodil, but 

 such a soil as that recommended for the 

 Gladiolus, a deep and rather stiffish loam, 

 will give grand results. Although _re- 

 quirmg abundance of air and no stifling. 

 Daffodils prefer a partially shaded position 

 to a very sunny one, as their flowers last 

 a much longer time. 



WeU-rotted stable manm-e and leaf- 

 soil may be incorporated with the ground 

 to enrich it, but should always be placed at 

 least 9-12 inches beneath the surface, so 

 that the bulbs do not come in direct contact 

 with it. It is quite unnecessary to waste 

 money on expensive chemical manures. 



Planting. — Daffodil bulbs may be 

 planted from August to Christmas, but as 

 there is a ' best time ' for doing everythmg 

 in gardening, the month of September 

 will be found the best time for planting 

 most Daffodils to give the finest display of 

 bloom the following spring. The bulbs 



should be planted from 2 to 4 inches 

 beneath the surface and may be from 4 to 

 6 inches or even more apart. 



Harvesting. — As soon as the foliage has 

 turned or is turning yellow from May to 

 the end of June, the bulbs may be lifted. 

 It wUl be found that most of them have 

 produced 2 or 3 side bulbs. These may be 

 detached, and with the others stored in a 

 cool dry airy place until req^uired for 

 planting again. Except when it is 

 required to rapidly increase the stock, it 

 is not necessary to lift the bulbs every 

 year, but they should not be allowed to 

 remain longer than 3 years without 

 moving and dividing. They increase 

 rapidly, and after this length of time will 

 have fairly well exhausted the soil of 

 nutriment. 



Hybrid or Seedling Daffodils. — 

 Although of recent years there has been 

 a great influx of seedling and hybrid 

 varieties of Daffodils, the practice of 

 raising hybrids is very old, dating from 

 the time of John Parkinson who flowered 

 the first one he ever raised in 1618. The 

 late Dean Herbert of Manchester took 

 the matter seriously in hand and raised 

 a good many. Dr. Edward Leeds, of 

 Longford Bridge, Manchester (comme- 

 morated by the Leedsi group), Mr. AV. 

 Backhouse of Durham (after whom the 

 Baclchousei section is named), and Mr 

 John Horsfield, a Lancashire weaver, 

 who raised the ever-popular Horsfieldi, 

 are among some of the earlier hybridists 

 of DaffodUs. Of late years the Rev. G. H. 

 Engleheart of Appleshaw, Andover, has 

 set about the work of raising Hybrid 

 Daffodils carefully and scientifically, and 

 his laboiurs have been rewarded with some 

 of the finest, purest and most charming 

 varieties. Mr. Peter Barr, of London, Mr. 

 W. Baylor Hartland, of Cork, and Mr. J. 

 Allen of Shepton Mallet have also added 

 considerably to the large number of 

 hybrids in this country, while Mr. De 

 Graaf of Leiden, and Herr Max Leichtlin 

 of Baden-Baden, on the Continent, have 

 also enriched our collections. 



The process of raising hybrids is 

 carried out in the same way as for raising 

 Gladioli or any other class of plants. 

 The brightest, warmest, and most favour- 

 able days are chosen, and the fertilised 

 flowers marked. Where flowers of quite 

 distinct groups are crossed, the parentage 

 should always be recorded in a book kept 

 for the purpose, and any circumstances 



