DAFFODIL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION. 



293 



has been collected to substantiate the fact that bulbs which at 

 one time produced only single flowers might have previously 

 produced, and might again afterwards under certain conditions 

 produce, blooms in all stages of doubleness. In connection with 

 this question seedlings have been raised from the variety known 

 as Telamonius plenus, some of them single, some double. 



In the year 1887 the attention of the Committee was called 

 to a disease then very prevalent among Narcissi, described some- 

 times as the "rootless" disease, the results of which were so 

 disastrous that attention was specially invited to the subject, with 

 a view to ascertaining its origin and the means to be adopted for 

 prevention or cure. Since then, however, there seems not to have 

 been much general opportunity for observation, consequently no 

 conclusions have been come to in the matter. 



The second part of the work of the Committee is that con- 

 nected with garden varieties, hybrids, seedling, and selected wild 

 forms. Any such that are submitted are carefully examined, 

 and if considered to possess sufficient distinctive merit are passed 

 as standard varieties, and "registered" under a suitable name. 

 A coloured drawing is made for reference hereafter, and a descrip- 

 tion of each, drawn up by Mr. J. G. Baker. Up to the present 

 time fifty-four have been registered in all, including eleven 

 registered yesterday, the names of which are given in the 

 schedule attached. It must be clearly understood that the Com- 

 mittee do not attempt to deal in any way with Narcissi which 

 can be described botanically as sub-species or typical forms, and 

 to which Latin or Latinised names may be given. 



The advantages of this method are that the nomenclature is 

 kept in as regular and simple a form as possible ; only the best 

 varieties are sanctioned, and a check is placed upon the possi- 

 bility of the same form being brought out and distributed by 

 different people under different names. The decision of the 

 Committee with regard to one of the white Ajax having been 

 challenged in 1887, it was arranged to plant side by side at 

 Kew all the white forms submitted, in order to prove whether, 

 under precisely similar conditions of soil and climate, the 

 variation would prove constant which was claimed for the 

 different forms. These have been watched each year, and the 

 result of the observation has been drawn up as a separate report 

 (p. 295). 



