354 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



neighbour has perhaps ten or twenty thousand flowers of a sort 

 to select his best dozen blooms from, the amateur has not a 

 hundredth part of the number to choose from ; but given only the 

 same number of bulbs, and the tradesman's exhibit would, I 

 think, be no whit in advance of the amateur's. And I hope all 

 visitors to this Conference will bear it in mind that the great 

 majority of all the beautiful sorts of Daffodils to be seen here to- 

 day may be as easily grown by themselves as by those who 

 exhibit them now. And this seems to me one of the great points 

 of merit which Daffodils possess — anyone can grow them, and 

 many of them grow better in our much-abused English climate 

 than in any other country in the world. There are no glass 

 houses, no skilled gardener, no expensive manures or applica- 

 tions wanted, but the veriest beginner in gardening can succeed 

 with the great majority of varieties if he will only follow one or 

 two very simple rules. To begin with, he must procure his 

 bulbs as early in the autumn as possible, and plant them at 

 once. I always like to plant not later than the first week in 

 August, although they will do very fairly well planted even as 

 late as November ; but early planting produces robust growth, and 

 helps the multiplication of bulbs, which is such a delight to the 

 amateur. How he rejoices to dig up in July three bulbs where he 

 only planted one last August ! And this I count as a second 

 point of merit Daffodils possess : Most of them increase very 

 rapidly by side-bulb growth. 



Almost the only other rule a beginner (and I only venture to 

 speak to quite beginners) requires to know is that the Daffodil, 

 though it will bear a little rough treatment, and at best requires 

 but little attention, still will not thrive if absolutely neglected. 

 No one must think that the bulbs once planted may be left for 

 good and all to take care of themselves. A lady the other day 

 said to me, " Oh, Mr. Wilks ! Daffodils won't bloom with me ; can 

 you tell me the reason ? They do very well for a year or two, and 

 then grow nothing but leaves." " When did you move them last ? " 

 I inquired. She answered, " I have not allowed them to be dis- 

 turbed since they were planted eleven years ago! " I am afraid 

 I was rude enough to just shrug my shoulders and say, " Mais 

 voila ! " The truth is that Daffodils will submit to inattention 

 for two or three years together, but they increase so fast that 

 if left undivided for longer than that they gradually cease to 



