How I Learned to Grow Good Daffodils- By Sherman r. Duffy, 



EARLY PLANTING THE KEYNOTE TO SUCCESS — AUGUST THE BEST MONTH, BUT AT ALL 

 EVENTS, PLACE YOUR ORDERS NOW FOR BULBS TO BE DELIVERED IMMEDIATELY ON ARRIVAL 



iin- 



NOW is the time to think about the 

 daffodils you would like to have 

 next spring. The great secret of success 

 is early planting. There are a few other 

 minor points, but early planting is the 

 chief fact. 



There is one sad feature about daffodils 

 and narcissus and that is their brief season 

 of beauty. A season of three months how- 

 ever can be had by judicious selection of 

 varieties ranging from the earliest Golden 

 Spurs of March to the double poeticus of 

 May — a continuous display of daffodils 

 and narcissus. 



There are a few dyspeptic members of 

 the narcissus family, such as Sulphur 

 Phoenix and the double poeticus, which 

 will not open their buds except in congenial 

 locations; but the majority of them readily 

 adapt themselves to whatever environment 

 is given them, settle down, flourish, and 

 raise large families! 



While the gardening knowledge necessary 

 to grow daffodils consists in the ability 

 to dig a hole in the ground into which to 

 drop the bulb, no garden subject responds 

 so quickly and so magnificently to good 

 treatment. I ran across a little book a 

 year ago that I consider one of the few 

 really valuable gardening books by an 

 American author. This is Kirby's "Daf- 

 fodils." 



Although I had grown various kinds of 

 daffodils and narcissus to my own satis- 

 faction for a number of years, a few hints 

 in this little book applied to one bulb border 

 produced the finest masses of bloom I ever 

 saw. Some bulbs responded more than 

 others, the new conditions being more to 

 their liking; a few of the varieties produced 

 no better bloom but were sturdier through- 

 out; and the coloring was brighter in all 

 of them. 



The two points to which I attribute the 

 improvement were a root run of thoroughly 

 decayed manure and leaves and a top dress- 

 ing of potash salt. A potash salt, accord- 

 ing to Kirby, gives a better color to the 

 flower and checks an over-luxuriant growth 

 of foliage. 



My daffodil collection consisted of the 

 cheaper varieties which can be secured 

 from almost any dealer, with a few of the 

 more expensive kinds. American cata- 

 logues offer a very scanty field for the 

 endeavors for any one feeling the first 

 symptoms of "narcisso mania." The 

 dealer's announce that as there is no de- 

 mand for the higher priced bulbs; conse- 

 quently, they do not offer them. If any- 

 body wants them, let him import them. 

 The ordinary citizen, although a majority 

 of him voted for the imposition of tariffs 

 on bulbs and other things, shies at estab- 

 lishing business relations with the adminis- 

 trators of the customs laws. Hence, few 



of the newer narcissi appear in the "com- 

 mon or garden variety" of amateurs' 

 gardens. 



I had thoughts of committing a few 

 extravagances, but after "Karbyizing" 

 my daffodils and finding out how much I 

 didn't know, I decided it might be well to 

 develop what I had as far as they would 

 go before tackling possible disappointments. 



The upper flower is Narcissus poeticus King Ed- 

 ward, much larger than the ordinary pheasant's 

 eye shown below 



The application of manure to the soil 

 was a question over which I hesitated for 

 some time. It has been my experience 

 that if I wanted to ruin daffodils, the 

 quickest way to go about it was to plant 

 them in soil into which manure had been 

 spaded. Manure of any sort always seemed 



14 



to be sure death at short range. I had a 

 pile of well-decayed manure which had been 

 mixed with leaves and lawn rakings and had 

 stood out over winter. With this compost 

 I took a chance, with some misgivings and 

 to be on the safe side trenched it in deep, 

 digging out the earth for eighteen inches 

 and then putting in three inches of the 

 compost and tramping it down. Upon 

 this layer the top soil was thrown with the 

 other soil on the surface. 



The soil is of a light sandy nature so I 

 planted the bulbs six inches deep above the 

 vegetable sponge. Most directions as to 

 growing daffodils recommend a moist, well 

 drained situation — paradoxical condition 

 in most gardens, for moist places usually 

 are not well drained and well drained 

 situations are not moist. A sponge is the 

 ideal moist, well-drained article, and the 

 layer of decaying vegetable matter will 

 hold moisture like a sponge and at the 

 same time be well drained providing the 

 soil beneath and around it is not soggy. 



The only way I was able to make Japa- 

 nese irises grow was to dig out a hole three 

 feet deep and construct a sponge of three 

 layers — three inches of well rotted manure, 

 three inches of soil, and another three 

 inches of manure above which a mixture of 

 soil and well-rotted fine manure was placed. 

 In this situation I have managed to make 

 even the finicky double Sulphur Phcenix 

 daffodils open its buds. 



The bulbs were planted early in Septem- 

 ber and three weeks afterward I gave a 

 light dressing of muriate of potash and 

 another one two weeks later. As I was 

 not altogether certain of the action of this 

 salt, I was a little sparing with it. 



Over the daffodils, I placed a fight mulch 

 of pine needles and leaves. A manure 

 mulch brings up the daffodils with yellow, 

 sickly-looking shoots and the same is true 

 of a heavy mulch of leaves. Deeper plant- 

 ing and no mulch seems to give the best 

 results for me; fresh manure seems to burn 

 and distort the young shoots. 



Following is my succession of varieties 

 for 191 1 with the results of special treat- 

 ment all the bulbs having been grown in 

 my border for at least two years. 



Golden Spur bloomed the first week in 

 March. The effect of the potash salt was 

 apparent. I never had such golden daffo- 

 dils before. They carried their leaves 

 later than usual and produced fine bulbs. 

 The flowers seemed to have more substance 

 than usual. 



Following closely after Golden Spur 

 came the big yellow trumpets Ard Righ and 

 Henry Irving, longer stemmed and of a 

 paler yellow. The increase in the size 

 of the flowers and a brighter yellow in the 

 trumpets was the chief point brought 

 out by better treatment. 



