SOMETHING MORE OR LESS ABOUT DAFFODILS. 97 



shape to some ideal, and constitution to some special hardiness 

 or adaptability to climatic circumstances. Flowers for exhibition 

 should be grown naturally, not forced open by immersion in 

 steam, nor highly coloured by being watered with dies. Tricks 

 have been played in such ways, but the study of cause and effect 

 was taken out of me at an early age. A Spartan schoolmaster 

 that I was under, who rejoiced in the North-country sandy hair, 

 and who abhorred the effeminacy of a debased age, was one day 

 inveighing against the genus school-boy, instead of hearing us 

 our lessons, and informed us, amongst other things, that when 

 he was a boy he greased his hair with his Sunday pat of butter. 

 I remarked to my neighbour, unluckily, in a stage whisper, " That 

 accounts for its colour," for which study of effect I was flogged. 

 If it were not for this I might have been enabled to enlighten 

 you further on this subject of artificial colourisation. 



We can scarcely tell the proper effect of Narcissi when got 

 up for show. We see the flowers shown staged in a bundle, all 

 faces turned to a certain focus, and the foliage obscured, like the 

 top of the grand stand at Epsom on the Derby day when the 

 horses have just reached the distance. Many a beautiful outdoor 

 flower is unsuitable for house decoration, and many Narcissi 

 that are useful for decoration are ungainly when seen growing, 

 from the length of their legs and the scantiness of their petti- 

 coats. Again, we must remember that many varieties suitable 

 for the private garden are unsuitable for market purposes. As, 

 for instance, the Burbidgei type — the most beautifully coloured 

 of its race, but so fragile and tender that the flower is often 

 crushed by its own weight in the bed, and if sent to market it 

 is reduced to a shapeless pulp. I do wish that more people came 

 to these Royal Horticultural Society exhibitions, and that they 

 would learn to discriminate between the sorts of Narcissus 

 shown. They would not then go to a florist's shop and pay the 

 same price for the commonest varieties and the more valuable. 

 The labourer is supposed to be worthy of his hire, but the 

 Daffodil-grower has often to live at a loss. 



Something ought to be said about the special enemies of the 

 Narcissus, as well as the diseases the bulb is liable to, and the 

 remedies to be applied. 



The only special enemy I know is the Merodon equestris, 

 which is in appearance like a small bumble-bee. How it lays 



