312 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



foliage, and probably a better result could be obtained with the 

 finer Narcissus by wood walks and open copses, which abound in 

 so many English country places. With the great group of forms 

 of the common English, Irish, and Scotch Daffodils I have had 

 good results ; they thrive better and the flowers are handsomer 

 than in the wild plant — not uncommon in Sussex. The little Tenby 

 Daffodil is very sturdy and pretty, and never fails us. The only 

 one that has failed is the Bayonne Daffodil. A very delightful 

 feature of the Narcissus meadow gardening, is the way great 

 groups follow each other in the fields. When the Star Narcissi 

 begin to fade a little in their beauty the Poets follow, and as 1 

 write this paper we have the most beautiful picture I have ever 

 seen in cultivation. Five years ago I cleared a little valley of 

 various fences, and so opened a pretty view. Through this field 

 runs a streamlet. We grouped the Poet's Narcissus near it, andin a 

 little orchard that lay near, and through a grove of Oaks on one 

 side of the field. We have had some beauty every year since ; 

 but this year, the plants having become established, or very 

 happy for some other reason, the whole thing was a picture such 

 as one might see in an Alpine valley ! The flowers were large 

 and beautiful when seen near at hand, and the effect in the dis- 

 tance was delightful. This may, perhaps, serve to show that this 

 kind of work will bring gardening into a line with art, and that 

 the artist need not be for the future divorced from the garden, as 

 he has been before, by geometrical patterns which cannot pos- 

 sibly interest anybody accustomed to drawing beautiful forms 

 and scenes. I need say no more to illustrate the capacities of 

 this magnificent group of plants for wild gardening, many places 

 having much greater advantages than mine in showing their 

 beauty in the rich stretches of grass by pleasure-ground walks. 

 Various kinds of places may be adorned by Narcissi in this way 

 — meadows, woods, copses, wood walks, and drives through 

 ornamental woodland and pleasure grounds, where the grass 

 need not be mown until late in the summer. 



Dog's Tooth Violet. — This beautiful and delicate-looking 

 plant surprises me by the free way it grows in grass in several 

 places where I have planted it, varying a good deal, according 

 to the soil, in its size, but never failing to interest by its 

 beautiful leaves and flowers. It withers rather early, and is a 

 perfect plant for meadow culture. 



