378 
■JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 9, 1889. 
AMONGST THE DAFFODILS. 
1 1 have never taken the “ ye low fever" very strongly; it may be that 
1 amt too old to take up a new fancy, or that I am bewildered by the 
fig. 00.—Narcissus bicolor empress. 
number of varieties ; but although I am a very sincere admirer of 
them, I have never been able to go the full length of a real Daffodil 
lover. I have greatly admired and wondered at the collections shown 
by Mr. Walker and others at the exhibitions of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and being a florist 1 can to some extent condone the multipli¬ 
cation of varieties, for I see the same in most florist's flowers. 
I suppose we owe a good deal of the revived interest of this old and 
common spring flower to the “ aesthetic craze,” another proof that 
although many things are carried to absurd lengths, yet their advo¬ 
cacy leads to some benefit,and leaves a residuum behind which somewhat 
atones for the extravagance of its advocates. The Sunflowers we did not 
thank them much for bringing to the front, but the favour bestowed on 
the Daffodil has done good service, although it does seem a strange 
thing that flowers so easily cultivated and with so many beautiful 
varieties should have been so neglected. 
Amongst those who have “ taken the ball at the rise ” and 
ministered to the increased taste for the Daffodil has been Mr. James 
Walker of Whitton, and the fine collections which he has exhibited at 
the Royal Horticultural Society’s shows have shown to how large an 
extent they have been cultivated by him ; and although, as I have 
said, I have never been so touched by the Daffodil fever a3 many of 
my friends, yet I was nevertheless very desirous of seeing Mr. Walker’s 
cultures. I had made an ineffectual attempt to do so early in April, 
and thought 1 had managed everything very well for a visit later in 
the month, when some other renowned Daffodilians were to pay Lim 
a visit, but alas! through some misunderstanding on my part, I went 
to Twickenham station, wkereas Mr. Walker met the party at Richmond. 
I was thus deprived both of his company and of my visit to Harr, 
and had to content myself with a visit to the Whitton grounds under 
the effective guidance of Mr. Walker’s son. The position of culture 
here is very similar in character to that of the Gladiolus at Fontain- 
bleau by my late friend M. Souchet. The great quantities were grown 
at Montereux, but the collections of all the best varieties were grown 
at Fontainbleau ; so Mr. Walker’s big battalions arc to be found at Ham, 
but small beds of all the varieties are grown at Whitton. I believe, 
however, that this will be the last season for this double culture, as 
Mr. Walker intends removing his household gods to Ham. 
I w r as first shown into the sheds wdiere large quantities of the golden 
flowers were being got ready for the morning market ; they were being 
neatly tied up in bunches, and would come under the hammer of the 
auctioneer at an early hour the next day. Along with them were con¬ 
siderable numbers of the bright scarlet flowers of Anemone fulgens, but 
the great mass of flowers was furnished by the Daffodil, and owing to 
the different times of flowering the season is considerably prolonged. 
Thus at the time of my visit some of the earlier flowering varieties, 
Emperor, Empress, Sir Watkin, were nearly over, but other beautiful 
variet es were in flower, or coming into full beauty. The collection 
at Whitton is grown on raised beds about 4 feet wide, and side by side 
may be seen all the principal sorts in cultivation, and comparisons 
can be made between sorts said to be identical. The soil is a rich loam, 
and probably would be too wet were it not for the system of raised beds, 
for I believe it is very generally admitted that the Daffodil likes a dry 
soil— i.e.. a thoroughly well-drained one. If this be the case it does not 
mind a good rich loam. The foliage was very fine, and with that pecu¬ 
liar glaucous tinge which gives a large quantity of them such a pleasing 
appearance as the wind sweeps over them. 
I learned here that the earliest of all the large flowered Daffodils was 
Ard-Righ, but it was over of course, as was that splendidly coloured flower 
Golden Spur. Princeps is another early variety which had passed. 
Grandis is another fine flower, later in bloom than Empress, which it 
much resembles ; the lip of the cup is much recurved and is very striking. 
Michael Foster is another of the fine bicolor Daffodils, with very large 
yellow trumpet and sulphur perianth. 
While many of the Trumpet Daffodils were over, those of the Leedsi 
and Barri Tncomparabilis sections were in full flower, and although not 
quite so showy as the trumpet flowers, yet for elegance of form and 
brilliancy of colour they are not to be surpassed. Thus in the Incom- 
parabilis section such grand flowers as Mary Anderson and Princess 
Mary of Cambridge were in fu 1 flower, the former—which also goes in 
some catalogues as Single Orange Phoenix—thedivisions were pure white, 
and the cup a bright scarlet, a beautiful contrast of colour. Princess 
Mary is a large white flower with a very large expanded orange cup, 
very distinct from any other Narcissus and most durable for cutting. 
Then there were Albert Victor and Sir Watkin, which is without doubt 
the largest of the lncomparabilis group, but there were but fevv flowers 
of it left, as it is rather an early variety of the Barri group. C'onspicuus 
is the most striking, the divisions sulphur white with orange cup richly 
stained with rich orange-scarlet, a most remarkable variety. Maurice 
Vilmorin and John Stevenson were also very pretty. Stella is also a 
grand flower of the lncomparabilis section, which must not be over¬ 
looked, although it had passed at the time of my visit. The Leedsi section 
was in full force. This is a very pretty group, although perhaps not so 
showy as some of the others. Ianthe is one of the latest Daffodils to 
flower, and is very beautiful. Katherine Spurrell has very broad and 
overlapping segments, white with bright yellow cup ; and Gem, a model 
flower, divisions white, cup white changing to primrose. The Nelsoni 
group is not only pretty in itself but valuable on account of the lateness 
of its flowering. Aurantius is a lovely variety, the divisions white, with 
a broad straight cup of bright yellow margined with orange scarlet, but 
it is scarce at present. 
In giving these few notes on some of the more remarkable varieties 
fig. 61.—Narcissus iiaworth's bicolor. 
of Daffodils at Ham, I feel that I have only skimmed the surface of the 
subject, and I can only regret that I am not able to do more. In one 
respect, as I have said, my visit was unfortunate. I missed the kind 
