316 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



wholly unremunerative. We have got our stock of bulbs, and 

 have therefore obtained a considerable start of others. 



Let us consider, in the event of a failure, how we should fare. 

 Before the industry commenced there was very little shelter and 

 no glass I may say. Now the essence of flower-growing is shelter, 

 and shelters — Escallonia, Euonymus, and Veronica hedges — 

 are becoming general all over the islands, and glass is on the 

 increase ; so that if the trade fails, our islands will not be un- 

 sheltered and exposed to all the winds of heaven (they say there 

 are five here, N., E., S., W., and one from above), but we 

 shall have sheltered islands from all save the fifth wind, and 

 plenty of glass ought, I think, to stop that, and we shall then be 

 in a position to take every advantage of the mild and temperate 

 climate which has been given us. 



It will be a curious thing if an industrious, thrifty, and 

 contented population cannot manage to turn these advantages 

 to account, and so be enabled to carry on the welfare and 

 prosperity which at the present time smile upon these islands, 

 and which I hope, under Providence, may long continue. 



SEEDLING DAFFODILS. 



By Bev. G. H. Engleheabt, M.A., F.R.H.S. 



I must ask you to kindly pardon the fragmentary and " off- 

 hand " character of my brief discourse, for it so happens that I 

 have of late been occupied with other things than Daffodils, and 

 have therefore been unable to prepare a paper for this occasion. 

 Fortunately, however, the great variety of flowers here before 

 us, and the yearly addition which is being made to our stock of 

 knowledge by the increasing number of workers among the 

 Narcissi, make it not difficult to say a few words which may 

 prove of some interest. 



Our knowledge of the results of cross-fertilisation, and there- 

 fore of the certain or probable origin of the existing hybrid forms 

 of Narcissi, is rapidly advancing. It is not long ago that we 

 could speak but dubiously of the parentage of certain varieties 

 in the collections of Messrs. Barr and others, to whose parents 

 we can now point with great confidence. It is true that Herbert, 



