102 



JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Poeticus ornatus. — The early blooming Pheasant's Eye. 

 The perianth is snow-white, and the cup edged with orange 

 scarlet. Increases fairly well, and has a fair constitution, but is 

 not so strong as the next, but most desirable for its earliness. 



Poeticus recurvus. — Almost an exact copy of ornatus, but 

 quite a fortnight later, and of more robust habit, and more 

 prolific. 



Double poeticus. — Sometimes called the Gardenia Narcissus ; 

 but a good average blossom is far more lovely than any Gardenia. 

 Pure double white, very sweet-scented. It increases quickly, and 

 is indispensable in every collection ; and of good constitution. 

 In wet weather the flower-stalks are hardly strong enough to 

 support the full double flowers. 



Ard High. — A very fine flower, and very early. Large golden 

 yellow trumpet and perianth. It has proved with me very robust 

 and prolific. 



Cernuus. — This is said in some soils to be delicate, but I have 

 not found it so. It is not so robust and strong growing as the 

 others, but it is necessary to make up the dozen on account of 

 its graceful habit and colour. Both trumpet and perianth are 

 white — not paper-white, but more the colour of white flannel ; 

 and I would advise everybody to try it amongst their thirteen. 



Troilus. — Very early ; a few days before Ard Righ. Strong, 

 upright, robust, most prolific. Trumpet golden yellow, perianth 

 sulphur. I name this instead of obvallaris, which it somewhat 

 resembles, because obvallaris with me is the very reverse of 

 prolific. 



In naming these thirteen, the particular points I have in view 

 are variety of colour, season, and form, good constitution, and 

 prolificness ; for nothing encourages a beginner so much as when 

 he digs up his clumps, two years after planting, to find he has 

 double or treble the number of bulbs that he purchased. If it 

 had not been so late in the afternoon, I am well aware that 

 Daffodil experts would criticise my list of thirteen, and say " Why 

 don't you include so and so ? " My only reply would be, that if 

 all my twenty thousand bulbs were destroyed to-morrow, these 

 are the thirteen varieties I should buy first to begin to re- 

 stock my garden. 



Mr. Baker remarked that he had listened with a great deal of 



