SOMETHING MORE OR LESS ABOUT DAFFODILS. 



93 



bedding-out plants, and which is in shade from eleven o'clock to 

 four, but which has either the morning or the evening sun. 



To those who have more ground at their disposal I would 

 say, Kemember that Narcissi come from all manner of altitudes 

 and situations, and do try and give them some of the conditions 

 under which they naturally grow. Nothing is more ridiculous 

 than to see, what I have been doing for years, Narcissi from all 

 parts growing on a flat piece of ground with water within three or 

 four feet of the surface in the winter, and with no protection from 

 sun or wind when they are in flower. The beautiful small 

 varieties are best grown in rockeries made in imitation of nature, 

 with a good solid bottom, plenty of drainage and plenty of soil, 

 and not a contract abomination which is nothing but a rubbish 

 heap and a breeding place for snails. On the west coast of 

 England and Scotland, and south of the Thames, a well-made 

 rockwork, with good soil composed of loam, leaf-mould, and sharp 

 sand, covered with Narcissus nanus, minor, mimimus, triandrus, 

 and Bulbocodium varieties, rupicola, juncifolius, moscliatus, and 

 cyclamineus, would be a thing of beauty. But, as far as my 

 experience goes, on the east coast, in a colder climate, and wet 

 in the autumn and winter, such an experiment is only a loss of 

 money, labour, time, and temper. With the larger varieties, 

 learn which like heavy soils and which light ones ; and even 

 more than this, learn which varieties resent being taken liberties 

 with and those which do not so much mind rough treatment. 

 Two years ago I was taking up my bulbs for planting in a new 

 place to get the varieties for comparison more together, and it 

 came on to rain for a fortnight. Instead of waiting till another 

 year for a favourable opportunity I went on ; the new roots 

 had grown some inches, and four or five valuable varieties so 

 resented this treatment that practically I have lost them. The 

 period during which bulbs are at rest in a wet summer is very 

 short, if indeed there is any such period at all. 



I would now say a word to those who force Narcissi, that is, 

 who grow them in pots for decorative purposes under protection. 

 With the commoner sorts do not be at the trouble of saving the 

 bulbs, but with the more valuable varieties keep them growing on 

 under protection after they have flowered, and do not put them 

 out of doors till the end of May or the beginning of June. Almost 

 invariably they will rot if you do. Knowing very little what to 



