SEEDLING DAFFODILS. 



99 



Seedlings of "Tenby" are more constant, though they, too, 

 vary. Some of my young seedlings of Horsfieldi give flowers in 

 form like N. princeps, and among seedlings of cernuus pulcher 

 I have reversions to pure cernuus. 



One of the lessons of these reversions and variations is, that 

 we must certainly sow large breadths of seed for the chance of 

 obtaining a few really superior flowers. And I will conclude with 

 advice that we shall do well not to neglect the latest " scientific 

 methods" in our seedling-raising. In Darwin's beautiful book 

 upon the effects of cross- and self-fertilisation in plants, he gives, 

 as one of his important summaries, the inference that the most 

 robust offspring results from the marriage of plants which are 

 different varieties of the same species, and which have been 

 grown under varying conditions of soil, climate, &c. If, then, 

 to take an instance already given, we desire to cross Emperor 

 and Maximus, we shall do well to obtain our pollen from another 

 garden or another part of the country, if possible, or to let one 

 of the parents be a plant imported from another locality the pre- 

 vious summer. If we were to cross the robuster Narcissi of our 

 gardens with the finer varieties freshly collected from the 

 Pyrenees and other distant stations, we should perfectly fulfil 

 Darwin's demand of varying conditions of life in the two parents. 



Darwin has collected evidence to indicate that true hybrids, 

 i.e., crosses between different species of a genus, are commonly 

 weak in constitution or in fertility, or in both. Extremely bad 

 results are fortunately uncommon in hybrid Narcissi, although 

 we can see that in them Darwin's rule holds good to some extent. 

 Thus, to mention some of our modern hybrids, N. Leedsi 

 Beatrice — with me, at least — is both entirely sterile and of 

 little vigour. The varieties Stella, Cynosure, and most of 

 the Incomparabilis class, are vigorous and of rapid root-increase, 

 but sterile or very unprolific in seed-bearing. But the Pyrenean 

 Bernardi (so far as my experience goes), and such garden 

 hybrids as Princess Mary, are both robust and free seed- 

 bearers. 



Herbert pointed out, nearly half a century ago, how much 

 pleasure the amateur might find in the occupation of raising new 

 Narcissi from seed, and this still holds true. For the more 

 scientifically minded there is still the parentage of some of the 

 ancient hybrids to be more certainly verified, and still new 



