340 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1909 



Henri de Vilmorin, an all-white daffodil with 

 flowers four and a quarter inches across, which has 

 now come down to $53.50 a bulb. 



price of Peter Barr, yet I have searched 

 pictures, magazines, and catalogues in vain 

 for any suggestion of intrinsic inferiority in 

 Mme. de Graaff , save that the trumpet con- 

 tains more of the sulphur color when young. 

 It is also about a week later than Peter Barr. 



Yet Mr. Kirby in his book on daffodils 

 tells us that Mme. de Graaff has an unusually 

 large flower, splendid substance, is unsur- 

 passed in grace of carriage, a strong grower, 

 free bloomer, and pure white when it opens. 



Of course, Mme. de Graaff is older and 

 therefore should be more plentiful and 

 cheaper. And it is quite possible that Peter 

 Barr may be intrinsically better in several 

 important respects. My only point is that 

 life is more wonderful than any account of 

 it and our horticultural records are very 

 imperfect. 



THE COSTLIEST DAFFODIL OF IQOQ 



The costliest daffodil I know of to-day is 

 Bedouin, which is offered at $150 a bulb, 

 although it does not belong to the large 

 trumpet section at all. But it must be a 

 spectacular flower, with its orange-scarlet 

 cup set off by white petals. It is certainly 

 a very refined and distinguished flower; 

 witness the flaring and fluted cup in the 

 illustration. The flower is not the largest of 

 the medium-crowned section, as Sir Watkin 

 sometimes measures five inches and only four 

 inches is claimed for Bedouin. But then, 

 Sir Watkin does not have a red cup and these 

 red cups are very interesting, because they 

 suggest the possibility of an all-red daffodil! 



CAN WE HAVE A RED DAFFODIL? 



The possibility is so remote that nobody 

 likes to talk about it, but every advance 

 toward it makes a new stir at the shows. We 

 now have plenty of low-priced daffodils 

 with orange cups and some with a decided 

 tinge of scarlet in them, but these high colors 

 fade quickly in the sun. So sensitive is the 

 daffodil, that the bare branches of a nearby 



tree will furnish shade enough to make the 

 blossoms appear a week later. 



In fact, nearly all daffodils last longer and 

 have a better color if shaded from the 

 midday sun. 



THE FLORISTS' IDEAL 



In every group of flowers the professional 

 florist works toward an ideal which is 

 illustrated by the C. H. Curtis daffodil here 

 shown. The showiest flower is one that has 

 broad, overlapping petals, as opposed to a 

 starry one, which shows daylight between the 

 petals. Also the florist likes a daffodil with 

 a very large trumpet and a flared and fluted 

 rim. 



This tendency may be carried to such an 

 extreme that we shall have heavy, formal 

 daffodils. Personally, I do not enjoy the 



C. H. Curtis, worth $78.75 a bulb. The florist's 

 ideal. Very showy because of extra-wide, overlap- 

 ping petals. Note flared and fluted rim 



technical perfection of such varieties as C. H. 

 Curtis as much as the easy grace of Emperor 

 and Empress,which anyone can afford to buy. 



Undoubtedly Emperor and Empress are 

 less showy, but they have more spirit. This 

 is due to the fact that the petals are 

 not absolutely flat as in C. H. Curtis but 

 wavy enough to make them a beautiful 

 spectacle when stirred by the breeze. 



Besides, a flower three and three-quarters 

 inches across is big enough for me. All I 

 want from daffodils is armfuls to give away to 

 everyone who calls. I spent $22 a few years 

 ago for 500 bulbs of Emperor and 500 of 

 Empress and they will last for many, many 

 years. 



HYBRIDIZING AND RAISING SEEDLINGS 



The art of hybridizing is very simple. It 

 consists simply in transferring the pollen of 

 one species to the stigma of another. But in 



practice many refinements are necessary. 

 Kirby in his book on daffodils devotes six 

 pages to this subject. He indicates some of 

 the most important improvements still to be 

 made, describes the process of emasculation 

 and hybridization in detail, and tells when 

 to sow the seed and how to care for seedlings. 



The greatest profits from daffodil breeding 

 are to be derived, I fancy, not by aiming at 

 great, spectacular changes, like an all-red 

 flower, but by getting varieties which are a 

 great improvement in ease of culture. For 

 the cheaper the bulbs the more folks there 

 are to buy. The features that make for 

 cheap bulbs are all summed up in constitu- 

 tion, which includes robust growth, ability 

 to propagate rapidly, freedom from disease, 

 and hardiness to all sorts of adverse condi- 

 tions. In this work the professional has the 

 advantage in his great scale of operations. 



On the other hand, the amateur has more 

 time and often-more imagination. Only an 

 amateur would think of trying to get a red 

 daffodil by attempting to introduce the blood 

 of an amaryllis. Yet the genus Hippeastrum 

 is botanically not so very far removed from 

 Narcissus. This cross has been attempted 

 many times and it is barely possiWe that it 

 may succeed somehow. 



JUNE THE BEST TIME TO BUY 



June is getting to be a great month for 

 bulb buying. Everyone who wants bulbs 

 in quantity for naturalizing should order in 

 June so as to get the best varieties and 

 largest bulbs. It is not safe to wait until 

 October. 



Anyone who wishes rare varieties should 

 order them as early as June or they may 

 be gone. It is important that new varieties 

 should be planted much earlier than old ones. 



Peter Barr, a daffodil worth $250 a bulb in ]907 

 and $63 in 1909. The grandest all-white, large- 

 trumpet daffodil. Flower four inches across. 



