THE DAFFODIL IN AUSTRALIA. 
489 
England, but is never certain. Up to the end of October this 
year (1898) it was ten inches behind the average. There was no 
rain near Melbourne, except a couple of showers, from October 
1897 until April 1898. 
It is usual to commence lifting Narcissus bulbs about 
Christmas, and when grown, as mine are, in very heavy soil, it 
is a well-nigh hopeless task to attempt to replant before rain 
comes. With a sandy soil one is not so handicapped. This 
year it was about the third week in April before the rains 
broke; as a consequence the bulbs, which do not do well 
out of the ground, suffered. The Joss flower, which in 
good seasons is blooming at the beginning of April, was not even 
planted. This variety recalls a peculiarity in connection with 
the Tazetta family, which may be worth mention : it is the first 
of the Narcissi to flower in the open at the Antipodes. Some 
Tazettas are in bloom there in precisely the same month as they 
are in England, it being autumn and early winter in the one 
country, and spring and early summer in the other. 
I have grown the Narcissus both in sandy soil and in a rich 
black, heavy loam, approaching to clay, and have no hesitation 
in saying that in the latter the flowers have been superior in 
substance and depth of colour, notably in the orange-reds. With 
some of the more delicate varieties I have used sand in 
planting. 
In Australia the bulbs should not be kept out of the ground 
for very long. When I state that last summer the temperature 
in Melbourne on nineteen days registered over 100 degrees in the 
shade, the maximum reaching nearly 110 degrees, the reason will 
be obvious. This heat was, of course, exceptional. There is 
nothing like early planting, and at a depth which will preserve 
the bulbs—if they are to remain for more than one season— 
from being scorched by the sun. In Brisbane, however, it is 
not advisable to plant in February as we do in Melbourne. The 
Director of the Acclimatisation Society’s Gardens, to whom I 
once sent a small collection, assured me that planting in 
February—which is generally the rainy season—would result in 
the stewing of the bulbs in the ground; though, away from the 
coast, in the higher districts it is possible to grow the Narcissus 
with some success. 
I have found that bulbs transplanted from Sydney to 
