DAFFODIL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION. 



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is A 1, and, growing as it does here, is the admiration of every- 

 one. 



I am not sure that I should not put Sir Watkin next ; and 

 then I have two sent me by Mr. Barr, called Bastomil and Santa 

 Maria, which are beautiful, and succeed admirably here. I have 

 also put my own seedling, Tridymus " A. Kawson," in No. 1 list, 

 not because I think my geese are all swans, but because of its 

 good habit, striking flower, and fine foliage, all of which, added 

 to its lateness, make it a very desirable variety. 



The cemuus section do not do well here. They have a 

 troublesome way of disappearing, but they are very beautiful. 

 Colleen Bawn and Minnie Warren are in high favour. I have 

 one also, a variety of pallidm prcecox, called Asturicus, which 

 is very fine. 



With regard to the small sections, triandrus, Corbularia, 

 &c, I find they must have protection here, to grow them in per- 

 fection, or the frost injures the bloom. It is the same with the 

 Algerian varieties, scrotimis, clegans, viridiflorus , &c, which 

 should certainly be under cover in summer as well as in winter, 

 on account of the too great abundance of rain. They succeed 

 very well with pot culture. I believe the secret in growing them 

 is not to over-pot them ; leave them alone in the pots for two 

 or three years, and finish them off, if possible, in a cool green- 

 house, where no frost can reach them. When the foliage dies 

 down I place the pots (not plunged) under a handlight, in the 

 hottest place in the garden I can find ; there they remain till 

 September, when I remove the top soil down to the bulbs, plunge 

 them overhead in a water-tank for an hour, put them to drain 

 for a day, then top-dress with rich compost, plunge overhead in 

 cocoa-nut fibre refuse in a cold frame, and think nothing more 

 of them till they show signs of growth in February. After that 

 they require the ordinary attention of plants in pots, and just 

 before the bloom comes on I take the pots into the greenhouse, 

 place them in pans with half an inch of water at the bottom, 

 and now and then give them a pinch of any of the artificial 

 soluble manures ; and this method of treatment I find suits them 

 to perfection. There are, however, two varieties which as yet 

 beat me — N. dubius (the true sort) and C. monophylla. I used 

 to grow the last one well, and, indeed, was the first to exhibit it, 

 some years ago, in any perfection ; but my hand " has lost its 

 cunning." The true N. dubius is a charming little flower, but 



