NARCISSI IN NEW ZEALAND. 
337 
NARCISSI IN NEW ZEALAND. 
By Rev. J. G. W. Ellis, F.R.H.S., LaAvience, Otago, N.Z. 
If any apology be needed for the appearance of this paper may I suggest, 
then, that even if the Fellows of this Society are not interested in New 
Zealand they are interested in Narcissi ; and if an interest in New Zealand 
as a place for growing them can be awakened I shall be satisfied, though 
beyond that the knowledge of how luxuriantly many of the varieties 
(including some of the reputedly delicate ones) grow may be of value to 
many of the enthusiastic growers in the Society ? 
In the Hon. W. P. Reeves's book on New Zealand, called " Ao-Tea- 
Roa," which being interpreted means "The long white cloud," and is a 
]Maori designation of these islands, English readers are " warned not to 
expect in the aspect of New Zealand either a replica of the British Isles 
or anything resembling Australia. The long, narrow, mountainous 
islands . . . are so far from being the antipodes of Britain that they lie 
on an average twelve degrees nearer the Equator. New Zealand has no 
warm Gulf Stream to wash her shores, neither is she chilled by east 
Avinds blowing upon her from the colder half of a continent. The western 
coast of New Zealand is one of the rainiest parts of the Empire, even the 
drier east coast only now and then suffers from drought." 
A Narcissus grower, whose home like my own is in the Southern 
Province, Mr. A. Wilson, M.A., Rector of the Boys' High School, Dunedin, 
who is not only an enthusiastic grower and a recognised authority, but 
the pioneer of the province in Narcissus culture, says : " What the 
Dafibdil seems to want is a climate where there is everything by turns 
and nothing long ; an eager and nipping air, constantly in motion, for 
the most part violent and always brisk. Abundance of moisture well 
distributed throughout the year ; a grey sky for the most part, with a 
sunny day at measurable intervals ; a boisterous summer, a settled 
autumn, a tolerable winter, and a variable spring seem to be the weather 
conditions suited to the Narcissus." What Mr. W^ilson says might be 
taken as descriptive of the Otago climate. It follows then that the 
Narcissus is suited as to climate here, and if one needed evidence of the 
fact it was furnished on September 26 of last year at the Dunedin Society's 
Spring Show, where there was a display that every enthusiast might well 
be proud of. The Narcissus needs " a cool bottom " in the matter of soil 
and situation, and this, too. New Zealand can furnish ; there is no fear of 
the bulbs " stewing in the ground," as they are reported to do sometimes 
in Australia, and the effect of this " cool bottom " is, perhaps, to produce 
41 size of bloom which, when described to the Australian, makes him think 
that New Zealanders exaggerate. This size of bloom is particularly 
noticeable in those varieties that in England have a tendency to coarseness. 
New Zealand possesses several enthusiastic growers of this lovely 
flower, perhaps more than England does in proportion to its population ; 
though the colony is much behind the Motherland in many things 
