Daffodils Worth $75 tO $250 a Bulb-By Thomas McAdam, 



New 

 Jersey 



WHY THESE SUMS ARE SO LARGE FROM ONE POINT OF VIEW AND SMALL FROM ANOTHER — BREEDING 

 DAFFODILS A FASCINATING PURSUIT FOR AMATEURS — WHAT MAKES QUALITY IN DAFFODILS 



LAST fall I noticed in the leading daf- 

 fodil catalogue of the world thirteen 

 varieties that were offered at $75 a bulb 

 or more. A beginner is puzzled to know 

 why anyone should be willing to pay as much 

 as $250 for a single bulb of a new variety. 

 The explanation is simple. 

 These are new varieties 

 which are believed to be 

 better than any other vari- 

 eties in at least one important 

 respect. Sometimes only one 

 bulb is in existence. 



Who buys such varieties ? 



First, the very keenest 

 nurserymen who plan to get 

 the whole stock, multiply 

 the bulbs and sell them 

 when they can get enough 

 to offer to the public at a 

 comparatively low price. 



Second, plant breeders, 

 especially amateurs, who see 

 a chance of producing still 

 better daffodils by using these 

 in crossing. 



Sometimes it is easy to tell 

 simply from a catalogue that 

 a new variety is worth $250, 

 especially if the whole stock 

 consists of one bulb. 



the nearest approach to a pure white yet se- 

 cured and this variety is popularly supposed 

 to represent the greatest advance in constitu- 

 tion. In other words, the best chance of get- 

 ting a race of all-white daffodils that will 

 produce as many flowers and as large ones as 



A WHITE DAFFODIL WORTH 



$250 



For instance let us take 

 the all-white trumpet daf- 

 fodils and try to see why 

 Peter Barr should be worth 

 $250 a bulb in 1907, whereas 

 moschatus is worth only 

 $4 a hundred. 



There are about fifty of 

 these all-white, large trumpet 

 varieties, and they are all 

 supposed to be derived 

 from Narcissus moschatus 

 and N. pallidus-prcecox, 

 which are still the best for 

 naturalizing in the grass, 

 largely because they are the 

 cheapest. 



But all these white varieties 

 possess in varying degrees 

 three limitations. 



First, they are of weak con- 

 stitution and therefore must 

 be grown in well drained soil. 

 (The best soil is a gritty 

 loam containing a good deal of leaf mold). 



Second, the substance, or texture, of the 

 flowers is poor and therefore the flowers last 

 only a few days unless grown in partial shade. 



Third, not one of them is pure white when 

 it opens, but all of them have more or less of a 

 yellow tinge which fades as the flower unfolds. 



The English papers say that Peter Barr is 



Bedouin, a daffodil worth $150 a bulb when first offered in 18S8 A spectacular white 

 flower with an orange-scarlet cup. Belongs to the giant incomparabilis section. 

 The flower, measuring four inches across is shown in actual size 



the all-yellow varieties, would seem to be 

 through Peter Barr and its progeny. This 

 is reason enough why a single bulb of Peter 

 Barr should cost $250 in 1907 or $63 in 1909. 



FIFTEEN YEARS' WORK NECESSARY 



Indeed, it is a question if every new variety 

 that contributes a real improvement is not 

 339 



worth more than $250. For every new 

 variety takes seven years from seed to flower 

 and after that the public must wait about 

 eight years for the bulbs to be common 

 enough to be sold at a reasonable price. 

 Would you be willing to devote fifteen years 

 to anything for so small a 

 sum as $250? 



The actual time spent in 

 caring for the bulbs in any 

 one year may seem a small 

 item, but the odds against 

 your getting anyreal improve- 

 ment are enormous. You are 

 lucky if you get from 1,000 

 seedlings one new variety 

 worth naming. It takes a 

 long time to make enough 

 crosses to produce 1,000 

 fertile seeds. It takes a 

 deal of time to record those 

 crosses. And there 's many 

 a slip between the seed and 

 the flower. 



I do not doubt that the 

 new varieties here pictured 

 are worth $75 a bulb or 

 more to some one, but as a 

 rule it is difficult to tell from 

 catalogue descriptions, or 

 even from pictures, wherein 

 the improvement consists or 

 what governs the prices. 



A WHITE DAFFODIL FOR FIFTY 

 DOLLARS 



For example, compare the 

 two all-white daffodils Peter 

 Barr and Henri de Vilmorin. 

 Why should the latter cost 

 only $52.50 a bulb this year 

 when its flower is four and a 

 half inches across, or hah an 

 inch wider than that of Peter 

 Barr? Moreover, its flower 

 has a better carriage, for the 

 trumpet is horizontal and the 

 petals spreading, whereas 

 Peter Barr nods so percep- 

 tibly that the petals sag 

 downward and inward. Of 

 course, the flower does not 

 actually droop, like the dog- 

 eared daffodils, but the ten- 

 dency is easily seen in the 

 accompanying photograph. 

 And the florists prefer the 

 showier type. Indeed, they 

 get a daffodil that looks 



would like to 

 right up at you! 



ANOTHER ONLY SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS 



The only high-grade white daffodil that has 

 been offered in America is Mme. de Graaff, 

 which was catalogued in 1907 at seventy-five 

 cents a bulb. This is a big drop from the 



