2 BARR’S HARDY DAFFODILS AND THEIR STORY. 
BARR’S HARDY DAFFODILS, DAFFAD1LLIES, DAFFODOWNDILLIES. 
(NARCISSI.) 
The Daffodil is the most beautiful of all hardy Spring flowers, and the most popular ; it has for centuries 
adorned our gardens, and withstood uninjured our severest winters. Its blossoms suffer less from frost, snow, 
rain, and wind, than any other spring flower, and Shakspeare must have observed this when he wrote 
‘'Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty. " 
For filling beds or growing in groups in mixed borders and shrubberies, no flower of spring can com- 
pare with the Daffodil, and when naturalized in woodland walks, or forming large groups in grass, or on 
sloping banks, the effect is splendid. All the strong growing Daffodils are adapted lor naturalization, and 
these include such fine sorts as Emperor, Empress, Horsfieldn, Moschatus varieties. Sir Watkin and all 
the varieties from Incomparabilis to Poeticus, etc. ; their noble or chastely coloured flowers, in such situ- 
ations, are seen to great advantage. The slender and dwarf-growing sorts, such as Minor, Nanus, Minimus, 
Juncifolius, Triandrus albus, Corbularias, Cyclamineus, etc., naturalize well on rockwork, and in mountain- 
ous districts, on slopes facing the south. For culture under glass, m pots, the Daffodil ranks with the 
Hyacinth, and when 3 to 6 bulbs of the strong growing sorts are cultivated in a pot, the effect is splendid ; 
of the dwarf growing kinds above enumerated 6 to 18 bulbs in a pot give a fine eflect. The small growing 
Daffodils, especially N. minimus, Cyclamineus, and Corbularia citrina make charming edgings. 
As a cut flower the Daffodil is unsurpassed, and greatly prized where cut flowers are required in 
quantity, and it is now in general use for ladies’ dresses, for bouquets, and filling vases, alone or associated 
W ' 1 Daffodil^ flowers can be had in abundance from January to June. Those for decoration in pots 
during January or February, should be potted up as early as possible, and receive the same cultural treat- 
ment's the Hyacinth. When the Daffodil is forced to cut from, the bulbs should be planted thickly, 
fa boxes about « 5 inches by 10, and 5 to 6 inches deep, the boxes placed out of doors and buried in cocoa 
fibre, there to remain till the bulbs have filled the boxes with roots, and have made some top growth. See 
^ Out of doors the^various kinds of Daffodils form a natural succession. In mild seasons, the 
varieties of N. Pallidus prxcox and N. Obvallaris flower early in February, and these are followed by others 
L succession, till the double white Gardenia-flowered Daffodil closes the season about the end of May N 
pallidus praecox var. asturicus, found by Mr. Barr in Spain, 1887, flowered 1S88, two weeks before 
N. pallidus praecox of the Basses Pyrenees; and another species we have named N. pallidus praecox 
var. Blond dore, a high Pyrenean var., also found by Mr. Barr, 1887, flowered nearly a week earlier. 
These two new forms of N. pallidus praecox, we recommend in preference to the one we introduced from 
the Basses Pyrenees, 1883, they represent a perfectly pure stock, and are no doubt the original breaks; 
while the variety from the Basses Pyrenees is simply the connecting link of the more north^ form^f ou» 
typical N. Pseudo-Narcissus. The other new species found by Mr. Bari, 1887, N. Santa Maria, 
proves to be the richest orange-yellow trumpet Daffodil known, and is very handsome; Calvas Ye o 
is a very fine variety ; and Oporto Yellow is wonderfully variable ; these three came into flower with 
N. Obvallaris ; N. Camoens, found by Mr. Tait, flowered four days later. Successional plantings of 
Daffodils will also give successional flowering of specific sorts. For example, we cut Trumpet Daffodils, 
etc., end of May, from plantings made in partially shaded places, in December and January. 
In arranging Daffodils for effect in the flower garden, or in potting up for indoor decoration, it is well to 
bear in mind that they form a natural succession, which is fully explained under the heading of each group, 
but is here noticed to show which groups flower together, as follows : First, the earliest are the Trumpet 
Daffodils, early-flowering Corbularias, and Triandrus varieties. Second, in succession, flowering together 
—Incomparabilis, Barrii, Leedsii, Odorus. Early-flowering Poeticus, and the Burbidgei type, and its early- 
flowering varieties. Third, in succession, flowering together— Nelsom, Tridymus, Backhousei, Bernard!, 
and the Jonquils. Fourth, in succession— Biflorus, late-flowering Poeticus, late-flowering Burbidgei 
varieties, Schizanthes orientalis and Gracilis close the Daffodil season. In the middle season, representa- 
tives from all the groups may be found in bloom at the same time, therefore those who come to see our 
collection at our Long Ditton Nursery, and can only make one visit, should do so in April. 
The New Daffodils offered in the present issue are distinguished by *,**, * andf. —Those Daffodils which 
have been awarded First Class Certificates are distinguished by — — . The raising of New Daffodils 
is the workof many years, and the amateurs who raised the new Daffodils marked with , > and +, have 
passed from our midst, but have left behind them glorious memories, not of ephemeral productions, but 
‘‘things of beauty,” that will enrich English flower gardens for centuries, as the older Daffodils have done 
from very remote periods. Those who desire to know more of the Daffodil than is recorded in these pages,^ 
will find in "Ye Narcissus or Daffodyl" (price I s.) much to interest them in the literature poetry ana 
hybridization of Narcissi. Purchasers of Daffodils to the value of 21s. and upwards, will have enclosed 
in the package, two large illustrations of groups of Daffodils, sketched and arranged by Miss Agnes Barr, 
for The Gardeners' Chronicle, of spring, 1888 and 1889. . ■ 11 r. „ 
The Daffodils or Narcissi enumerated and described in the following pages, comprise all the finest sorts 
in commerce. They are for the most part varieties, which we have been introducing annually, of hybrids 
and varieties raised by the late Mr. William Backhouse, and known as the Wcardale Oaffodils ,, and the late 
Mr. Edward Leeds, and known as the Longford Bridge Daffodils. The sorts indicated with , , and t , 
are new varieties mostly raised by the gentlemen named; these becoming the property of Mr. Barr, he 
arranged and named them, the names being afterwards revised by the Committee, appointed for that purpose, 
at the Daffodil Conference, held 1st April, 1884, under the auspices of the Loyal Horticultural -Society. 
I gw- THE two Separate Lists of Daffodils prepared for this Catalogue, comprise 
1st. No. 1 List embraces only highest class flowers, and a few specially distinct species or varieties. 
2nd. No. 2 List includes those we have large stocks of, and these are offered at leduccd prices 
to those who plant extensively for cut flowers, whether under glass or out of doors, also those 
who desire to naturalize Daffodils in grass, shrubbery borders, etc. I Barr and Son, 
