DAFFODIL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION. 



309 



idea is that the hybrids of the old books were natural ones 

 brought into gardens from their native European habitats, just 

 as we obtain our* N. Johnstoni and Bemardi, varieties of to- 

 day. 



Herbert tried all he could to encourage practical work in this 

 new field, as the following extract will testify : "It is desirable 

 to call the attention of the humblest cultivators, of every labourer 

 or operative who has a plot of garden or a ledge to his window, 

 to the infinite variety of Narcissi that may thus be raised, and 

 most easily in plots at his window, if not too much exposed to 

 sun and wind, offering him a source of harmless and interesting 

 amusement, and perhaps a little profit and celebrity." 



Although Dean Herbert was first in the field, and by far the 

 most philosophical of all his compeers interested in Narcissi, yet 

 he was closely followed by others in this interesting work of 

 creation. Thus we find that prior to 1850 Mr. Edward Leeds, 

 of Longford Bridge, Manchester, had reared at least six very 

 distinct and curious hybrid or cross-bred Narcissi. 



After considerable experience in rearing Narcissi, Mr. Leeds 

 wrote : " There is no end to the varieties and elegant forms that 

 may be obtained " ; and I think to-day, nearly half a century 

 after he penned those words, we may say that the same is true, 

 and that we are as far off the end of the journey as ever. 



It has many times, and by many people, been taught that 

 Mr. Leeds and Mr. W. Backhouse were induced to rear seedling 

 Narcissi by Dean Herbert's example and precepts, to which I have 

 before alluded. I am well aware that Mr. Backhouse alluded to 

 Herbert's writings, and that they were well known to Mr. Leeds 

 is quite certain, since he alludes to them at least once in the 

 Gardeners 1 Magazine of Botany (Moore and Ayre's) for 1850. 

 My own opinion is that Mr. Leeds, however inspired, had com- 

 menced raising cross-bred Narcissi before Herbert's remarks 

 appeared in 1843-7, since, when his own seedlings were illustrated 

 and described in 1850-1, we are distinctly told that he had 

 been engaged in rearing seedlings many years before that date. 

 Be that as it may, certainly one of the most interesting of all 



* The Kev. G. H. Engleheart has quite recently flowered a remarkable 

 garden hybrid of this group. It is a seedling between N. Emperor and N. 

 triandrus albus, and, apart from its own merits, throws a strong light on 

 the natural origin of the wild Spanish varieties of N. Johnstoni, &c, &c. 



