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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



misshapen. Often one stripe will run some distance up the leaf and 

 others parallel to it for a much shorter distance. One side of the leaf is 

 more often affected than both sides. Two stripes on one side are more 

 common than one on each side of the middle of the leaf. If both sides of 

 the leaf are striped the attack is generally a severe one. When the leaf 

 is held to the light the yellow stripes are more translucent than the rest 

 of the leaf, and sometimes the appearance presented is not unlike that 

 caused by the celery fly when a whitish grub burrows through the leaf of 

 the celery ; but no grub is to be found in the daffodil leaf. 



Yellow- stripe is generally most noticeable in the part about half way 

 up the leaf, and it will often be found that both base and tip of the leaf 

 are free from stripe though the central part is affected. Yellow- stripe is 

 quite distinct in appearance from the fading or the yellowing of the leaf 

 which takes place every summer. This begins with the upper end of the 

 leaf and gradually proceeds downwards. It is also distinct from the 

 yellowing of the tips of the leaves caused by basal rot. 



Y'ellow- stripe appears to be common only in certain garden varieties of 

 daffodils. Among the trumpets I have noticed it in ' Princeps,' ' Hume's 

 Giant,' 1 M, J. Berkeley,' and 1 Matson Vincent '; in the Incomparabilis 

 section in 1 C. J. Backhouse,' ' Sir Watkin,' ' Queen Catherine,' ' Flora 

 Wilson,' 1 Flambeau,' ' Beatrice,' ' Mrs. C. Bowley,' and a few others ; in 

 the Poeticus section, if I except a doubtful case of ' Cassandra,' I have 

 only noticed it in ' Almira.' 



Whether yellow-stripe be itself a specific disease or merely a symptom 

 that something is wrong with the plant, or a sort of daffodil ana?mia — that 

 is to say, an indication of inherent debility in the varieties affected by it — 

 is the subject of the present inquiry. Whatever its nature, a bad case is 

 always accompanied by other signs of weakness. 



If it be a specific disease we might fear it likely to prove infectious to 

 other bulbs, and the method of treatment would be either to destroy all 

 affected bulbs or to seek for some specific treatment to combat the malady. 

 If it arise from unsuitable environment of the plant, each case would 

 require to be studied and an appropriate remedy applied. If it is an 

 inherent debility in the variety, perhaps the sooner we ceased to grow 

 that variety the better. 



Yellow-stripe seems to have attracted notice only recently ; at all 

 events, it is not mentioned by the older writers on daffodils. Messrs. 

 I'.urbidge and Baker ("The Narcissus, its History and Culture," 

 2nd edition, 1875) and Mr. Bourne ("The Book of the Daffodil," 1908), 

 both treat of the diseases of the daffodil, but neither of them refer to 

 " yellow-stripe." 



Attention was called to yellow-stripe in the " Commonplace Notes " 

 contained in vol. xxviii. of the Journal R.H.S., published 1904. The 

 "multitude of divergent opinions" as to the origin of the trouble is 

 referred to, and the absence of any fungus disease in the plants affected 

 noted. It is also stated that certain varieties — e.g. 1 Princeps,' ' C. J. Back- 

 house,' and ' Sir Watkin '—are very liable to the disease, and 1 Horsfieldi ' 

 slightly so. I think all growers will agree with this. In my own 

 ex] "nc< ' M. I. Berkeley ' is one of the most prone to attack. 



In the spring of 190G, which was in my garden the worst year for the 



