April H, 1»\ ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
837 
the best of practical workers were successful, and their best work per¬ 
manent in proportion to their natural instincts, rather than to artificial 
training, although of course it was conceded that apt instincts and care¬ 
ful training as co-existent were better than either alone. The main 
fact remaining that while the poets lead all the progress, the practical 
men and the scientists follow, and illustrate the truth and force of the 
poet’s teaching. 
The lecturer here observed that much of floral history must ever 
rem.ain unknown. We may nowadays, for example, never know what 
■was the favourite flower of Helen of Troy, or that of the great Cleopatra, 
Egypt’s fascinating Queen, but he remarked that both these great and 
beautiful women must often have seen the clustered Narcissus 
(N. Tazetta), and even if blue eyed Helen did not, like Persephone, 
.stoop to gather it from the grass of the Grecian meadows, it was more 
than probable that incense loving Cleopatra when tired of fiery Pome¬ 
granate buds, had often worn clusters of the Narcissus in her blue black 
hair, just as do the wives and daughters of sunshiny Egypt and of 
Arabia to-day. 
Turning from poetry and speculative “ guesses at truth ” the lecturer 
next emphasised the fact that Mr. W. Flinders Petrie, the celebrated 
Egyptologist, had recently discovered—that is to say, in 1888 —at 
Haward in Egypt actual flowers of Narcissus Tazetta as before alluded 
to ; these blossoms having been deftly woven into funeral wreaths or 
votive garlands as long ago as the first century before the Christian era. 
These offerings to the honoured dead are supposed to have been made 
by Greek residents in Egypt, and are now preserved in the collections at 
Kew, where they may be seen. After the poets of Greece, however, in 
chronological order, come the early Greek physicians, such as Hippo¬ 
crates, and at a much later date Galen, both of whom recommended the 
usage of the poisonous or narcotic roots of Narcissus for ansesthetic and 
medical purposes. Theophrastus of Eresus (b.c. 374-286) describe! the 
plant, and he appears to have been the first to allude to its increase by 
means of seeds, which he tells us “ were sometimes gathered for sowing,” 
and he further says that the fleshy roots or bulbs were sometimes 
planted. As a beautiful and variable wild and garden flower in 
southern and western Europe, in N. Africa and in the East, there is no 
doubt but that this flower has ever been popular ; but so far as English 
gardens are concerned the Narcissus seems to have first become famous 
during or shortly previous to Elizabethan times, when all the greatest 
poets mention it, and during the same epoch both Gerard and Parkinson, 
the Royal herbalists of their day, illustrate or describe at least a 
hundred kinds, and of these old Gerard (1597-1633) especially writes 
that “ all and every one of them ” abounded in London gardens. No 
doubt the common yellow Daffodil of the woods and meadows in 
■“merry England” had been popular as a flower for the making of 
festive wreaths or garlands long before exotic kinds were introduced and 
cultivated in gardens, since these are mentioned by Chaucer and other 
early English poets just as they were by those of ancient Greece. 
When the great wave of early seventeenth century culture spread over 
Europe choice Narcissi were imported from Constantinople and the 
Levant generally, as Gerard quaintly tells us was the fact, “along with 
other bulbed flowers,” these latter including the then more attractive 
Tulip, and no doubt the Hyacinth as well. 
Mr. Burbidge next alluded to the old Dutch paintings of garden 
flowers, dating from 1590 to 1650, and in which many kinds of Narcissi 
And portraiture. He in particular instanced one picture, now to be seen 
in the Louvre (No. 477)—viz., “ Triomphe d’Amour,” the figures by 
Zampieri, the wreath of flowers surrounding them being by Segher’s 
Le jesuit d’Anvers,” this wreath containing life size portraits of four¬ 
teen or fifteen kinds of Narcissi and of Daffodils, some of which are 
the rarities of to-day. Other pictures exist in the “ Mushe des arts 
decoratifs,” in our own National Gallery, and other collections, public 
and private, in which these flowers find a place ; and even our English 
•Cleopatra (Queen Elizabeth) seems to have been fond of them, since in 
a portrait of her by Zucchero—hanging in the Examination Hall of 
Trinity College, Dublin—there is a flower of the purple ringed or Poet’s 
Narcissus painted in a prominent position by her side. Again, in the 
rare old folios and other books of the same epoch (1590-1650) many 
species and varieties, including several natural or wild hybrids, are 
illustrated either by wood engravings (mostly made at the then cele¬ 
brated Plantin or Plantin-Moretus press at Antwerp), or by copper 
plate etchings or engravings. Especial mention was made of the 
•works of the pre-Linnman botanists, such as L’Obel, Dodoens, L’Ecluse 
(who was one of the first and best of European plant collectors), Jean 
Robin, Gerard, and Parkinson. Mr. Burbidge also alluded to some rare 
works, such as De Bry’s and Sweert's “ Florilegia; ” the “ Hortus 
Floridus ” of Crispian Passe, jun.; “ Jardin du Roy,” and “ Theatrum 
Florse,” and to the ill-fated book of drawings issued by the Rudbecks 
in 1702, of which only two or three copies exist, most of the issue—wood¬ 
blocks, &c.—having been burned in the great fire at Upsala in 1702. 
Tt was stated that the only complete copy of this last work is that! n 
the Sherardian Library at the Botanical Gardens, Oxford ; but there is 
also a copy, less perfect, in the Banksian Library, British Museum, 
which contains all the woodcuts illustrating the Narcissi. It was also 
stated that portraits of two of the beautiful White Spanish Daffodils 
were seen by Salisbury (a noted authority on these flowers about a 
century ago) in the palace at Fontainbleau. They were worked in 
coloured silks on a fire screen, said to have been given by Henry IV. to 
La Belle Gabrielle. Salisbury especially tells us in the “ Transactions 
of the Royal Hort. Society,” vol. i., that these representations were most 
natural and life like, the legend worked beneath them being “ Coque- 
lourdes Blancs, 1598,” or the year before John Gerard, the barber 
surgeon, published his famous “ Herbal,” which, bulky as it was, gave 
a great impetus to the general study of botany and gardening in England 
for years and years after it first appeared. 
Mr. Burbidge then dealt with the history of the cultivated and wild 
Narcissi, and to the now numerous and ever increasing garden hybrids 
and seedlings, as also to the men like Herbert, Leeds, Backhouse, and 
Nelson, &c., who have in the main enriched our modern gardens with 
the most beautiful forms and phases of this flower. A considerable and 
valuable portion of Mr. Burbidge’s paper consisted of a chronological 
history of the genus from the days of Homer to those of Oscar Wilde ! 
In this tabulated list mention is made under dates of all the principal 
poets, physicians, philosophers and botanists who have alluded to the 
odour, beauty, uses, &c., of this now fashionable flower, or with whose 
names it has become connected. Mr. Burbidge did not read this por¬ 
tion of his masterly paper, as being too long and too full of dates and 
detail, but as it will probably be published in the Journal of the Royal 
Horticultural, which will be issued as soon as possible after the Con¬ 
ference is over, it may then be perused by all interested in the subject 
on which it treats. It forms a concise and popular index to the principal 
men and books, and will be found handy for reference purposes. 
The Rev. G. H. Engleheart, M.A., who has given much attention to 
the Narcissus fweticus group, then gave some interesting particulars 
respecting the chief varieties and their relationship to the other groups, 
and after a short discussion the meeting terminated for the day. 
On Thursday, April 17th, Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R S., took the chair 
shortly after two, and opened the proceedings with a short address, 
referring to the botanical classification of the genus, and to the fact 
that with regard to the Daffodils generally they are now out of the 
hands of the botanists and in those of the hybridists. He mentioned 
that when he first began to give his attention to Daffodils they were 
only seen as wildings or in small numbers in gardens, and it was very 
satisfactory to see the progress made and the popularity they had now 
attained. 
The Rev. Wolley Dod proceeded to review the characters, distribu¬ 
tion, and classification of the varieties of Narcissus pseudo-Narcissus. 
Much interesting matter respecting the geography of Daffodils was 
given, especially with regard to their introduction to Ireland. He 
stated that many had been puzzled to account for the number of distinct 
good varieties found wild in Ireland, but he thought it was probably 
due to the fact that at one time Daffodils were supposed to possess 
some medicinal properties, and the old Italian or Spanish monks 
would be likely to take bulbs or obtain them from their friends for 
planting around their residences. With regard to the classification of 
the varieties he adopted the following sections :—1, Discolor, in which 
the perianth and corona were differently coloured. 2, Concolor, in 
which the distinction of colouring was not observable—that is, the 
perianth and corona were uniformly of some yellow tint. 3, Pallidus ; 
4, Albus ; and 5, Muticus. Mr. Wolley Dod then mentioned the chief 
varieties under each section, describing their characteristics. 
Daffodils for Market. 
Cultivators present on Thursday evidently appreciated Mr. .Tames 
Walker's brief, pithy, practical paper; it was listened to with the 
