472 



THE GAKDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



seen so beautiful as when so grown. N, triandrus, 

 and its choice ivory-white hybrids, are exquisite 

 under pot culture, as also are the dwarf kinds, 

 such as N. juncifolius, N. rupicola, N. minimus, 

 and N. cyclamineus. 



Gathering the Flowers. — Narcissus flowers 

 should be cut just as the perianth lobes expand 

 at their tips, placing them in water in a light 

 shed or greenhouse, at a temperature of 65° or 

 70°; the buds rapidly expand, and the result is 

 larger and cleaner flowers than if they had been 

 left to open outside. 



If required for sending away, the buds may 

 be packed in shallow boxes after having been 

 an hour or so in water, and thus many more 

 can be sent, and they carry better, than if sent 

 fully open. On arrival, place the stalks in tepid 

 fresh water, and they will open fresh and fair, 

 and show but slight traces of the longest jour- 

 ney. 



Nearly all bulbous flowers may be cut early, 

 and treated in the same way. 



Water Culture. — All the varieties of N. Tazetta, 

 and even the larger Daffodils, mav be grown in 



Fig. 580.— Daffodil grown in dish of water. 



water-glasses like Hyacinths, or in bowls of 

 water and sand or stones (fig. 580). They may 

 also be grown in pots or vases of wood moss, 

 cocoa-nut fibre, or in Jacloo for special purposes. 

 In China, and in the Chinese quarters in 

 America and California, the water culture of 

 the " Sacred Narcissus ", or Joss Lily, has long 



been popular, the bulbs being specially grown 

 in China for the purpose. The Joss Lily is 

 simply an eastern variety of N, Tazetta, a white 

 form with a yellow crown. The bulbs are large 

 with several offsets attached, and these blossom 

 as well as the main bulb. Placed in bowls 'of 

 water and stones, and set in the sunny window 

 of a warm room, the leaves and scapes grow 

 16 inches high, and develop their flowers in 

 about forty-two days, or six weeks. There is 

 no mystery nor magic about it, for nearly any 

 well-ripened bulb may be grown and flowered 

 in water-glasses, or in bowls of water and stones. 



Narcissus for the Wild Garden (fig. 578).- — Of 

 late years very fine effects have been made at 

 Kew, and in the London Parks; at Warley 

 Place, and at Gravetye Manor, as throughout 

 the whole country, by the bold and artistic 

 grouping of these bulbs on the grass. All the 

 strongest, and even some of those reputed deli- 

 cate and uncertain in cultivated beds or on 

 borders, thrive and bloom vigorously on meadow 

 or lawn in the grass. 



The best kinds are the Daffodils, iV. poeticus 

 and N. incom/paraUlis, and in most good gardens 

 the natural increase of stock will supply the 

 necessary bulbs for this beautiful phase of 

 spring gardening, which affords at once a 

 natural and beautiful use for the overflow from 

 the garden proper. 



The main point in planting out bulbs of Nar- 

 cissus, or other kinds, on grass, is to do it as 

 naturally as possible. If one looks at the wild 

 Lent-Lily in a Kentish orchard or meadow, it 

 groups itself without a trace of formality. There 

 may be dots on the fringe of denser groups, 

 but there are no lines, half-moons, nor circles. 

 In planting, lead the large groups into each 

 other, and see that each group or colony has a 

 focus spot, i.e. one group or mass of bulbs of 

 greater importance than the rest. An irregular 

 cloud-like effect is the one to aim at, strong at 

 one point, and shading gradually away from 

 that to the margin. A large expanse of ground 

 covered with bulbs in an equable manner never 

 pleases an artistic eye, and in nature we never 

 see bulbs or other plants in forest or field equally 

 distributed. 



WILD SPECIES. 

 Group I. — Magnicoronati. 



Large-cupped or Trumpet Daffodils. Crown as long, or longer, 

 than the perianth divisions. 



(a) Flat-leaved. 

 N. cyclamineus. — A small species from Oporto, with 

 bright-green flat leaves and golden flowers, the perianth 

 lobes turned back as in Cyclamen. Portugal. 



