«3eptkmbbr 28, 1912. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



743 



POETAZ NARCISSI. 



The extremely powerful and aromatic fra- 

 grance of the bunch-flowered or Tazetta 

 narcissi put these free-flowering varieties 

 out of court for pot culture in many homes 

 and gardens, and it unfortimately often hap- 

 pens that bad weather, which leaves a solid 

 one-flowered daffodil practically unharmed 

 makes a sad mess of the heads of closely 

 clustering blossoms of a Tazetta variety. 



II esses 



The 



ihein, are absent from the newer and finer 

 PoeUz narcissi, though I must not toe too 

 emphatic concerning the weather-resisting 

 capacity of the varieties, because, so far, 1 

 have grown but fe\v of them freely out of 

 doors. As pot plants, however, and for 

 cultivation in fibre in fancy bowls, there 

 are no daffodils easier to manage and 

 more likely to give general satisfaction 

 in the home or the conservatory. 1 sup- 

 pose everyone understands that the title of 

 Poctaz is a hybrid one, indicating that the 

 origin of the race is due to a combination 

 of Tazetta with Poet's daffodils. *One might 

 be forgiven for imagining that Poetaz com- 

 memorated a hero of some picturesque eas- 

 tern fable. 



r 



There is no difficulty in cultivating these 

 free-flowering, strong-growing, beautiful 

 varieties. Ordinary methods suffice, though 

 it is worth remembering that the pots 

 should not be crowded with bulbs, and that 

 hard forcing is not desirable, owing to the 

 rapid growth made and the consequent lia- 

 bility of the stems and leaves to elongate 

 unduly under the influence of much artifi- 

 cial heat. Other things being equal, the 

 Poetaz daffodils will require rather more 

 water than the trumpet and poeticus sorts. 

 It is a good plan to give each spike a very 

 slender stick and a couple of ties toy way 

 of support, because some damage may toe 

 quickly done if a pot or howl full of un- 

 supported spikes is moved quickly from 

 place to place when the flowers are ready 

 to expand or have fully opened. 



With very few exceptions, the Poetaz 

 ^arieties are of DutcJi origin, and tlie 

 .Messrs. Van der Schoot have been the lead- 

 jnf; raisers of this race. Mr. P. D. Wil- 

 liams has, however, produced a beautiful 

 gncot-yelloAv, red-crowned variety named 

 ^arlet Gem, but for the present I admire 

 this afar, for the price is " too high for me, 

 ' cannot attain unto it.'' Mr. Engleheart 

 ^responsible for Orient, a beautiful variety 

 ^jth large white flowers, each with a red- 

 ^^l^red crown. 



spike often carrying as many as nine 

 flowers; Sunset, soft yellow, with orange 

 crown, quite large for this race, and some- 

 times producing a cluster of six fine 

 flowers ; Triumph, white, with golden, 

 frilled crown, flowers large, generally three 

 together; and Lucia, deep yellow, with 

 darker yellow crown. 



This section will probably be greatly en- 



WORK FOR THE WEEK. 



ed 



THE ORCHID HOUSES. 



ONCIDIUMS.— The genus Oucidium is 

 sure to be represented toy plantvS in flower, 

 no matter what the tinio of year, os])ecially 

 if well grown. One very pretty and useful 

 specios now in flower is O. obryzafuin, its 

 long and niany-branchod spikes carrying a 

 large quantity of pretty golden-yellow 



This 



and 



!s Jaune a Merveille, the finest yellow 

 "ety, a rare beauty, carrying six or eight 

 'lapeiy blooms on a tall, stout stem. This 

 's well illustrated herewith, from a photo- 

 g aph by Mr. G. W. I^ak, representing 



Three varieties that everyone ought to 

 d.ff^li-T'P^P"^'"^ ^'ish to grow Poetaz 



dJkp n '''''' ^^Pasia, Elvira, and Klon- 

 sta.^' ^'"^""ot do better than make a 



^rnall " 1 ^^'hether on a large or 



cmtrL'^^'l. • '^spasia is white, with yellow 



formal fl S™'''" l"g^' ^"ely- 

 or fo,^ are borne in clusters of three 



• *-lv:ra is of similar colouring, and A. fine Poetaz variety. 



GM3I9 



h;jc fl^ IS or similar coiounnp;, and 



stltiT''.*"^ good size, particularly suto- 

 varipH I^s^ng- ■ Klondyke is a yellow 



XJJNE A MERVEILLE. 



ien- crowned flowers, borne 

 spikes. 



in clusters on stout 



ed 



oom 



^f^vpn ' P^V^^^^ng large clusters of six or 

 Th^" ./^"^^% golden-crow] 



Soofl ^nk^'^'i ""J^ ^^^^^-^T^^ should make 



Othe '^^dding. 



S^inl^*^*'*^^^ ^^^^ possessing some 

 flouors i '' '''''^ Alsace, white and yellow, 

 ^^W' wi/TT'^; ''^"^'ly in threes; Ideal 

 or sevpn ^^^^""^ generally 



' ^^Jtn orange crown, very free, a 



tivo when the multi-flowered varieties are 

 not only produced by crossing Tazetta with 

 poeticus forms, tout also Tazetta with the 

 more substantial Barri and Leedsi varie- 

 ties, and also re-cro&sing the present fine 

 Poetaz sorts with such beautiful things as 

 Homespun and Buttercup, for instance. At 

 any rate, I for one ha^ 

 future popularity of these bunch-flowered 



C. H. Curtis. 



The 



e great faith in the 



flowors, spotted with light brown, 

 plants belonging to the O. crispum section, 

 namely. O. Forbesi O. curtum, 0. Gardneri, 

 O. Marshallianum, and 0. crispum itself, 

 are known by their rough, wrinkled pseudo- 

 bulbs. O. Marshallianura produces its flowers 

 during late spring and early summer, Avhile 

 the others display their beautiful 

 during late summer and autumn. 



0. VARTCOSUM KOGERSI.— Among the 

 many beautiful and free-flowering members 



sprays 



