April 17, im ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
823 
Colleen Bawn, tortuosus, Madame de Graaff, very handsome, white 
sepals and pale yellow corona of capital form; Minnie Warren, mos- 
chatus of Haworth, Mrs, Vincent, Snowflake, albicans, and William 
Goldring. 
N. incomparahilis Varietieit. —Mostly with sulphur or yellow sepals 
and deeper coronas. C. J. Backhouse, King of the Netherlands, Sir 
Watkin, Cynosure, Autocrat, Hogarth, Beauty, Gloria Mundi, Queen 
Sophia, very handsome large expanded corona, orange, pale sulphur 
petals ; Frank MiiCs, Maurice Vilmorin, creamy sepals, rich orange 
corona, fading to the base. 
-V. Barri Varietiet. —With yellow sepals and broad spreading orange 
corona. Sensation, Flora Wilson, William Ingram. Mrs. Dyer, Con- 
spicuus, one of the best varieties in cultivation ; Miriam Barton, Crown 
Prince, and Maurice Vilmorin. 
A'. LeedH Varieties. — Charming pale creamy or white varieties, 
very delicate. Duchess of Westminster, Princess of Wales, Duchess 
of Brabant, Palmerston, Beatrice, Gem, Mrs. Langtry, Grand Duchess, 
Marie Magdaline de Graaff, and Katherine Spurrell. 
N. Hximei and other varieties.—OnQ class is devoted to the varieties 
of Humei, Backhousei, Nelsoni, montanus, Macleai, Sabini, Barnardi, 
and tridymus. Of Humei there are not many representatives, one 
termed Hume’s Giant differs chiefly from the type in the large size of 
the flowers. Backhousei also is not in strong force, but two varieties are 
notable— i. e., Wolley Dod, an excellent form with large flowers, fresh 
pale yellow sepals, and rich yellow corona, and William Wilks, which 
has more colour in the corona, with an undulated margin. Two varieties 
of Nelsoni attract attention—viz., Mrs. C. J. Backhouse, white sepals, 
the corona open and bright yellow, and aurantius, white sepals and 
deep orange corona. Examples also occur in several collections of 
N. montanus, N. Macleai, and N. tridymus, one of the last-named, 
termed Dr. M. T. Masters, being selected as distinct. Though class 7 is 
specially reserved for the graceful N. triandrus, it is not largely repre¬ 
sented ; the variety albus, with pure white flowers, bell-like coronas, and 
reflexed sepals is charming. 
The K. poeticKS and A". Burhldgei varieties. —Of the Pheasant’s 
Eye or Poet’s Narciss the varieties ornatus, poetarum, tripodalis. angus- 
tifolius, and radiiflorus are taken nearly in the order of merit, the first 
being extremely beautiful, the floral form excellent. Several of the 
N. Burbidgei varieties closely resemble N. poeticus. Some of the best 
are Baroness Heath, Ellen Barr, Mary, Falstaff, Princess Louise, Dandy, 
Mercy Foster, Crown Princess, Constance, and Model. The Campernelle, 
N. odorus, the Jonquil, N. jonquilla, and the distinct little N. junci- 
folius are included in this group 
A". Tazttta varieties .— Examples of these are scattered through 
several collections, but the Chelsea exhibit is the largest and best. The 
leading varieties are Soleil d'Or, yellow sepals, deep orange cup ; Grand 
Monarque, white sepals, lemon cup ; White Pearl, white sepals, creamy 
cup; Sir Isaac Newton, yellow sepals, orange cup ; Verlina, yellow 
sepals, deep orange cup ; Bathurst, bright yellow sepals, pale gold cup ; 
and Bazelman major, large flowers, white sepals, orange cup. 
Double Varieties. —Perhaps the only double Daffodils that possess 
any real claims to beauty are the old forms of N. incomparabilis and the 
Gardenia-flowered double N. poeticus, the last named being far the best 
of all. The former comprise the “ Codlins and Cream,” “ Eggs and 
Bacon,” and “ Butter and Eggs,” as they are familiarly termed by 
many in preference to such learned designations as aurantius plenus, 
albus p’enus, sulphurous, &c. Other double varieties are N. capax 
plenus, N. lobularis plenus, N. Telamonius plenus, N. odorus plenus, and 
N. cernuus plenus, all yellow with the exception of the last, which is 
white. These are all included in the collections at Chiswick. New 
varieties were shown by several exhibitors, and submitted to the Com¬ 
mittee, but their awards must be deferred until next issue. 
NOTES ON FRUIT TREES—APPLES. 
(^Continued front, page 296.') 
Soil and Situation. 
“Loose methods, unsystematic, unbusiness-like procedure,” 
writes Mr. Wright in the introduction of his prize essay “Profit¬ 
able Fruit Growing,” page 3, must give place to “ sounder prin¬ 
ciples and more intelligent lines ” of culture if the time is to 
come when “ we shall to a far greater extent than now, and far 
more creditably, share in providing our population wi*^h the most 
wholesome of food, which will be increasingly required—fruit ; 
the outcome of home effort and well applied labour in British 
gardens and orchards.” Those are sentences full of meaning and 
importance, every one of which I endorse, and I would bog to 
express my opinion (it may seem late and tardy) of the work itself 
—viz., “Profitable Fruit Growing,” that it is a mine of sound 
information and practical guidance on hardy fruit culture, which 
the roost experienced may consult. 
Soils are a compound of organic and inorganic elements, the 
mineral being the original. The inorganic substances in the soil 
are derived from the degradation or decomposition of rocks by the 
action of air, water, frost, grinding by glaciers, and chemical as well 
as mechanical action ; and the organic are mainly due to the decay 
of animal or vegetable matter, and are subsequent to the inorganic, 
therefore must have a conversionary action, as the first forms of 
organic life had to live on soils destitute of organic remains. 
Gardeners set much store on humus, the result of a gr^ual 
decomposition of animal or vegetable remains, but it is evident 
that the first plants which grew on the earth had other sources 
than humus from which they derived carbon. Carbonic acid, 
water, and oxygen acting on granite, in which are associated three 
distinct minerals—quartz, mica, and felspar—disintegrated, form 
the basis of a fertile soil. 
The inorganic basis of soils consists of substances derived from 
various kinds of rocks, the bulk of which are silica, clay, and lime 
mixed in no definite proportion. They afford, together with 
organic remains independently of saline matters, a diversity of 
soils. For technical purposes soils are classified, but for our pur¬ 
pose it will only be necessary to refer to those most in vogue with 
cultivators—viz., the indefinite terms sandy, clayey, marly, and 
calcareous. iSandy soils are extremely porous, afford a ready 
passage to air and water, as well as to the roots of plants, being warm 
and dry. When they consist of little lime, alumina, or humus, 
the sand mixed with gravel, they are very poor, yet with an 
addition of 3 to 5 per cent, of humus become available for root 
crops. With an addition of clay or marl sandy soils are rendered 
more compact, retain moisture for a longer period, manuring is 
more efficient; still they are too poverty stricken to be of use for 
fruit trees without incurring expenditure in fresh soil and humus¬ 
forming substances for which commercially considered there is no 
adequate return. Nothing short of loamy sands should content the 
