JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
314 
[ October 5, 1882. 
but attend to what are termed small matters and 
master them. ... ‘I promote,’ said Napoleon, ‘ tlie 
man who is capable of utilising small details; any 
elephant can lift a hundredweight, few can pick up a 
pin.’ ” Let that advice be followed, and the sentiment 
be remembered by all who wish to excel; it applies 
strictly to the subject in question. Master the small 
matters, and what is truly great will be attained'— 
success.—J. Wright. 
P.S.—By special request the above treatise, with such 
additions as will be appropriate, will be embodied in a 
pamphlet. This will be published at the lowest pos¬ 
sible cost consistently with defraying the expenses of 
publication, remuneration being neither sought for nor 
expected, the sole object being to place sound infor¬ 
mation on an important subject within the reach of all 
who are in a position to turn the plain teaching to 
profitable account.—J. W. 
STRAWBERRIES IN POTS. 
Strawberry plants should now have their crowns large and 
plump, the pots being well filled with roots. But much may 
yet be done in furthering their development, and careful cultiva¬ 
tion during the next month is as important as in any previous 
period. The freedom with which the Strawberry fruits in pots 
often causes these plants to be neglected after they have attained 
a fair size. Often large plants prematurely developed are not so 
good as those of a smaller size with thoroughly ripened crowns. 
The plants during the whole season should be placed so that they 
are freely exposed to light and sunshine ; at the same time weak 
stimulants may be given each time the plants require water. 
Stimulants are often given too early in the season while the 
plants have ample food in their pots if a good compost was em¬ 
ployed, yet in autumn they are neglected when they most need 
attention. It is from this time onwards that feeding is of the 
greatest importance, when the pots are or should be well filled 
with active roots. 
To satisfy myself as to the importance of liberal feeding 
these plants until thoroughly matured, I took two batches of 
plants of the same variety, equal in every respect as far as 
appearance when selected. One lot was watered well and as 
frequently as required with clear water, while the other batch 
was supplied with weak guano water every time watering was 
necessary. At the end of the season the latter batch had a little 
the finest crowns. In spring the treatment of the two batches 
was exactly the same, but those supplied with stimulants had 
flower-stems very much stronger than the other plants, and the 
difference in the size of the fruit was equally conspicuous. Our 
plants were layered in their fruiting pots early ; they grew 
rapidly without a check, well filled the pots with roots, and liberal 
feeding has been practised for some time. This has been the 
most sunless season I have experienced since I took charge of the 
gardens here. Rain fell so frequently that at one time before the 
pots were full of roots we feared the soil would be saturated. In 
spite of the weather, however, the plants are now of a large size, 
with well-developed crowns and abundance of roots—in fact, so 
full that with the majority of the plants it is impossible to dis¬ 
cern the drainage at the bottom. 
Those layered first and kept in 5-inch pots are in a well- 
ripened condition, and already showing signs of rest. But those 
in pots of a larger size are not so forward, although some of them 
were layered at the same time. I have always been able to pro¬ 
duce fruit earlier and better from plants confined at their roots 
early in the season. When in large pots they continue growing 
for several weeks longer in the season. To bring these plants 
into a resting state by drying them at the roots and placing them 
under glass as practised in some gardens is a great mistake. How 
can plants be expected to fruit and do well when forced to rest 
while their growth is not mature ? To place them under cover 
for the purpose of sheltering them from autumn rains is a dis¬ 
advantage rather than otherwise. The protection of glass is not 
needed for Strawberries, as it only induces them to keep moving 
slowly until late in the autumn. Cold induces complete rest 
sooner and more naturally than any artificial treatment. A few 
sharp frosts are very beneficial to those plants required for early 
forcing, and the plants start with greater freedom and vigour into 
growth when introduced into the forcing house or pit. I used 
to fill shelves in my early Peach house when closing it for forcing, 
but have discontinued the practice, as the plants are better out¬ 
side for the three weeks or a month before fire heat is applied. 
Forcing here is commenced gently when the Strawberry plants 
are introduced, and we can gather earlier under this system than 
by placing them under glass early in November. The change 
from the cold and complete rest they enjoy outside to the gentle 
warmth of any house in which they are to be started soon starts 
them. But the secret of early forcing is, early runners to com¬ 
mence with, early matured growth, which can only be obtained 
by employing small pots in a wet locality, and early rest.— 
W. Bardney. 
SINGLE DAFFODILS. 
Daffodils have already begun to put out new roots in pre¬ 
paration for their spring flowering, and will continue in active 
growth all winter, so that the best time for dividing and trans¬ 
planting them is already past; but as many gardeners have not 
yet ordered their bulbs for spring flowering it may not be too late 
to say a few words about them. The single kinds are most in 
favour now. Some of the more elaborate bulb catalogues offer a 
list of them quite perplexing from its length, and it becomes more 
difficult every year for beginners to make a selection. We find 
them offered at all prices, from 5s. or more to 2d. or 3 d. each, and 
some of the best are to be found amongst the cheapest. 
The genus Narcissus may be divided for convenience into five 
sections, though the limits of each section are by no means defi¬ 
nitely marked. They are, first, the Daffodils proper, called 
pseudo-Narcissus or False Narcissus, because they wrongly claim 
to be the flower into which the youth Narcissus, who died of 
admiring himself, was fabled to have been transformed. Of this 
section the common single wild Daffodil of our meadows and 
orchards is taken as the type. The second section is the N. in- 
comparabilis, the Nonsuch or Nonpareil Daffodil, with a broad 
open flower and shallow crown, of which there are now a very 
large number of varieties, both double and single, though scarcely 
one of them is handsomer than the old type of the section with 
yellow petals and rich orange-coloured crown, of which the origin 
is unknown. Next comes the Jonquil section, the name of which 
is derived from the French form of the Latin word juncillus, a 
little Rush, because many of them have Rush-like leaves. The 
type of this section is N. odorus, the large Campernelle Jonquil. 
The fourth section comprises Narcissus proper, or Poet’s Narcissus, 
which passes through the well-known f< rm N. biflorus into the 
many-flowered section—the Polyanthus-Narcissus, called by Lin¬ 
naeus N. Tazetta, a class which contains florists’ or local varieties 
of perhaps older standing than those of any other section. It is 
of the first section, or the Daffodils proper, and of the single 
forms of them, that it is proposed to speak more particularly in 
these notes. 
It is very difficult, and botanists almost despair of being able, to 
define accurately the limits of the different species of the genus 
Narcissus. Some treat of the Daffodils proper as if they all 
belonged to one species, of which, as I said above, the type is 
N. pseudo-Narcissus, the common wild Daffodil ; but from a 
gardening point of view the forms of the species are so very dis¬ 
tinct as to make their specific distinctions a matter of little im¬ 
portance to gardeners. In catalogues they are often classed as 
the “Ajax ” section, as a writer on the genus at the beginning of 
the century distinguished the members of it by the names of the 
Homeric heroes. It is also called the “Trumpet” section, from 
the trumpet-like form of the central tube. The number of varie¬ 
ties in this section is now very large, and as they are the hand¬ 
somest of the tribe I propose to mention separately about ten of 
the single varieties, including those most distinct from one another 
in form and colour, and selecting those which may be bought 
from any large bulb shop at a low price—from 2d. to 5d. each. I 
will first mention N. Bulbocodium (which means “bulb with a 
small trumpet”), the Hoop-petticoat Daffodil, not because I can 
give much hope of its being successfully cultivated as a perennial 
occupant of English gardens, but because it is so pretty and may 
be bought so cheaply that it is worth trying. It is peculiar in its 
requirements of soil and climate, and none of us know what they 
are. As it flourishes well in some parts of Northumberland it 
cannot be cold alone which causes it to fail. 
The others I shall mention as nearly as I can in the order in 
which they flower. The earliest of them is generally N. nanus, 
the common old dwarf Daffodil of gardens, often sold under the 
name of N. minor, which begins to flower soon after the Snowdrops 
and continues a long time. It is not more than 3 or 4 inches 
high, and should be planted close to the edge of the bed. In good 
soil it increases fast. Next comes N. obvallaris, the Tenby Daffo¬ 
dil, which has been established abundantly in some meadows near 
