152 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
KoVelnber 7 , 1885. 
TRUMPET DAFFODILS. 
What are these ? it may be asked. They represent 
a section of very fine single Daffodils, having long 
trumpet-shaped corolla, bold and striking. At the 
base of the flower, and at the point of the flower stem, 
there is a ring of florets which is known as the perianth, 
and from the centre of this issues the long tubular- 
shaped trumpet or corolla, forming a single Daffodil. 
They are all very beautiful, and singularly handsome 
in the spring months when in flower. 
This section of Trumpet Daffodils is divided into 
four groups. There is first of all what is known as 
Medusa’s Trumpet Daffodils, or N. Bulbocodium or 
Hoop-Petticoat Narciss. This is the rush-leaved Hoop- 
Petticoat Daffodil of southern Europe, and it is said 
there are many varieties all easily recognised by the 
expanded crinoline-like corona, and green rush-like 
leaves. Why termed Medusa’s Daffodil I cannot say. 
The three best forms, and those most easily obtainable, 
are the Medusa’s Golden Trumpet, rich golden yellow, 
valuable as an edging or for pot culture ; Medusa’s 
Silver Trumpet, rich clear sulphur-yellow, and further 
the same with pure snow-white flowers, both suitable 
for pot culture ; the latter should be grown wholly in 
pots. When planted in the open ground, the Hoop- 
Petticoat section should have a light, moist, sandy loam, 
and be planted fairly deep in the soil. 
The Golden Trumpet Daffodils form the second group, 
the best are Abseissus, perianth sulphur-yellow, 
trumpet very long and deep rich yellow, late flowering. 
Emperor, perianth deep primrose, trumpet full yellow, 
and very large ; Lincolnshire Yellow, perianth and 
trumpet full yellow ; Major, deep rich yellow, large 
and fine; Maximus, perianth rich yellow with an 
elegant twist, trumpet deep full yellow, very large and 
gracefully recurved at the brim ; Nanus, rich fine yel¬ 
low, very dwarf and early ; in March the flowers of 
these miniature Daffodils thickly bespangle the ground 
like golden stars. Obvallaris or the Tenby Daffodil, 
perianth and trumpet rich yellow, flower medium size, 
and possessing all the finer qualities of a florists’ flower ; 
Rugilobus, perianth primrose with full rich yellow 
trumpet, in colour and form not unlike Emperor ; 
Spurius, almost deep yellow, perianth broad, imbri¬ 
cated and hooded, lying forward on a large expanded 
trumpet; and Thomas Moore, perianth light yellow, 
trumpet rich yellow, long and narrow, and regularly 
lobed at the brim. 
Of the Golden Trumpet Daffodils the finest is N. 
maximus, which in good rich light soil attains a height 
of from 2 to 3 ft., bearing its great golden flowers aloft, 
alike in wind and rain. Emperor is also a stately 
variety, but paler in colour. The two commonest of 
the dwarf kinds, N. minor and N. nanus are confounded 
with each other in gardens, but N. nanus is easily known 
by its broadly imbricated perianth segments, while in 
N. minor the segments are narrower and barely overlap 
each other. The most robust and effective of the 
garden Daffodils for ordinary garden culture, are N. 
maximus, N. major, N. rugilobus, N. Emperor, N. 
obvallaris, N. abseissus, and N. nanus. 
The two-coloured or bicolor Daffodils are all beautiful 
and deservedly admired. The leading and best obtaina¬ 
ble varieties are, Empress, large white perianth of great 
substance, large, rich, full, yellow trumpet; Grandis, 
perianth pure white and imbricated, trumpet large, 
full, and yellow, this is considered the finest of the 
two-coloured section ; Dean Herbert, perianth full 
primrose, changing to sulphur, trumpet, rich yellow, 
very large and distinct ; Horsfieldii, perianth pure 
white, trumpet full yellow, very large and early ; and 
James Walker, large sulphur white perianth, elegantly 
imbricated, large, rich, full yellow trumpet. The fore¬ 
going are all varieties of N. bicolor, the remainder of 
the group which are recommended, are, Cambricus, 
perianth sulphur-white, trumpet yellow, very neat and 
early ; Pseudo-narciss (the Lent Lily), whitish perianth 
and yellow trumpet; Prineeps, sulphur white perianth, 
very large yellow trumpet ; and Scoticus (the Scotch 
garland Lily), whitish perianth and the full yellow 
trumpet, elegantly serrated. Undoubtedly this group 
comprises some of the most effective varieties ; they are 
mostly distinguished by having a white perianth round 
a golden crown or trumpet. Empress, grandis, Hors¬ 
fieldii, and Dean Herbert are very fine, perhaps the 
third is the best of all of this section for general culture 
and enect in gardens. Horsfieldi is also well adapted 
for growing in pots for spring flowering in the green¬ 
house ; it is one of the most showy of all hardy bulbs, 
and roots of it potted up will bloom in March quite 
readily. 
The white Trumpet Daffodils form a smaller group, 
at least, such of them as we can commend for garden 
culture. They are, Albicans (the great white Spanish 
Daffodil), the perianth white, the trumpet primrose, 
passing off to white ; Cernuus (the drooping white 
Spanish Daffodil), perianth silver-white, trumpet sul¬ 
phur, changing to white ; Cernuus pulcher, perianth 
silver-white, with a large white spreading trumpet, 
sulphur, passing to white ; and Pallidus praecox, sulphur- 
perianth and trumpet, the earliest, and considered by 
many growers to be the most beautiful of the Trumpet 
Daffodils. 
The white Daffodils have a peculiar charm of their 
own, and are very beautiful when grown in pots in the 
greenhouse ; but it should be borne in mind, however, 
that artificial heat is not necessary to their culture, 
all they require being shelter from wind and rain. In 
warm, light, rich soils they are perfectly hardy. Park¬ 
inson tells us that originally these lovely white Daffodils 
came from Spain. 
In his lecture on the Narcissus, Mr. F. W. Burbidge 
says, in regard to the culture of Daffodils :—“ It is of 
the most simple kind, and one of the most pleasing of 
all the spring. Effect in our gardens is absent where 
they are not. Even a clump or two of the common 
double yellow kind in a cottage garden brightens up all 
around it; and planting bold beds or masses of these 
bulbs among the margins of woods, or even in the grass 
of lawns and in home meadows w'here they do not 
naturally exist, is a means of adding beauty to natural 
vegetation of such localities, for, as someone well said, 
a group of golden Daffodils on the young grass is as 
‘ sunshine in a shady place. ’ ” When planted in 
quantity, one of the results gained is a plentiful supply 
of flowers for cutting, and of ail spring blossoms 
these are the best for the indoor decoration of vase or 
pitcher. 
A handful of common yellow Daffodils, with a good 
length of fluted stalk, placed daintily in an old brown 
jug with a few green leaves, or with slender willow 
shoots when silvery buds or “pussies” grace them, is a 
picture that all may enjoy. There is no garden so 
small, no home so humble, in which these golden Daffo- 
down dillies may not be grown and enjoyed. In large 
country places they should be planted along the grassy 
margins of walks, “beside the lake, beneath the trees,” 
where they may dance, and sway, and nod, and flutter, 
as well beeometh the joyous sisters of “an April 
Daffodilly.” 
The Daffodil is supposed to be one of the flowers 
which Proserpine was gathering when she was seized 
and carried off by Pluto. The earth, at the instigation 
of Jupiter, had brought forth the lovely blossom for a 
lure to the unsuspecting maid. Shakespeare, in “A 
Winter’s Tale,” alludes to this story :— 
‘ ‘ 0, Proserpina, 
For the flowers now that, frightened, thou let’st fall 
From Dis’s waggon ! Daffodils 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty.” 
Other accounts of a similar legend, slightly varied, 
state that it was at the instigation of Venus that Pluto 
employed the Narcissus to entice Proserpine to the 
lower world.— R. D. 
-- 
THE YEWS, WITHINGTON. 
Bearing in mind what has been done with the 
Cyclamen during the last ten years, the ease with 
which in the hands of a skilful cultivator the seed is 
sown, the young plants reared, and a good flowering 
plant presented in a period of froin twelve to sixteen 
months, it may, perhaps, be rank heresy to say that a 
Cyclamen is not at its best till it is three or four years 
old, and that from that age till the plant has passed 
from ten to twelve summers is the time when the 
greatest perfection is attained, and the display of blooms 
is at its highest development. And yet such was the 
statement made to me only yesterday by one who 
certainly, so far as his own success is concerned, is 
qualified to speak on the matter, Of course no reason¬ 
able man could or would pretend to express anything 
but surprise and satisfaction at the plants as now 
produced by the great growers in the south, and, in 
fact, in other districts also. They are objects of 
wonderful skill, and always gather around them a host 
of admirers ; and then they pass into the hands of 
others, the first season are moderately grown and 
flowered, and afterwards discarded. 
That is the time, says Mr. Hastings, the gardener at 
The Yews, Palatine Road, Withington, when they 
should be taken in hand ; and certainly fifty plants 
now at this place under Mr. Hastings charge would 
fully seem to bear out all he said respecting them. I 
must confess to some scepticism at first; but when im¬ 
mense bulbs, or, more correctly speaking, conns, 6 ins. 
in diameter, grown in 8 and 9-inch pots, some of which 
were twelve and sixteen years old, and covered with 
vigorous and healthy foliage of splendid colour, and 
with flov r er buds now coming up by, not merely scores, 
but hundreds on a plant, there was little room for 
further doubt that here, at least, Cyclamen culture is 
a pet hobby, and that great success attended such care¬ 
ful and persistent labour. These fifty plants are now 
rapidly pushing up their flowers, and in a month or 
six weeks’ time will be a picture worth seeing, and one 
that will, I venture to think, give some surprise to 
beholders. After flowering, say, in February or March, 
the foliage losing colour, &c., the bulbs are just dried 
a short time, and then, about May, are potted and 
stood on a shelf in a vinery ; here, with such treatment 
as good vine culture demands, they soon start away, 
and develope fine foliage. On this shelf they remain 
till about September, when, on account of more air and 
less heat being needed, they are placed in a house 
where double Primulas, &c., are grown, and there they 
are to-day, many measuring 18 ins. across. 
Of Primulas there are about 300 plants in flower ; 
the double, semi-double, and single forms being each 
and all represented by numerous sorts. Such a mass 
of Primula flowers were most interesting ; the different 
shades of colour in some, and the purity of the white 
more or less in others was very noticeable. The double 
ones were the most advanced in regard to flowering ; 
the trusses of flowers being stout and strong, and 
well up above the foliage. Among these were Mar¬ 
chioness of Exeter, beautiful pure white, fine, and large ; 
atro-rosea plena, rich crimson ; King of the Purples, 
a very effective variety ; alba plena fimbriata and alba 
plena. There were also many forms of the single- 
flowering type, white, rose, and salmon ; the whole 
making a display that was most interesting and 
effective. 
Of Fuchsias, Gustave Dore, Le Cygae, and Wave of 
Life were still well in bloom. The two former are splen¬ 
did double varieties with white corollas. In a fernery 
adjoining the vinery a Lapageria rosea is loosely sus¬ 
pended from the roof, and the ends of the growths 
hang down over and among the Ferns, and are now full 
of its bright showy blossoms. The Ferns here are mostly 
of the greenhouse varieties, with such plants as Poly- 
pouium vulgare cambricum, Woodwardia radicaus, W. 
cristata, &c., of the more choice of the hardy species. 
Of course a few Orchids are present, Pleiones being 
represented by about a dozen pots ; Dendrobium densi- 
florum, a plant 4 ft. over, with twenty new leading 
growths ; D. chrysanthum, full of bloom ; D. 
Schroderii, just finished plumping up its bulbs ; Lielia 
purpurata, very strong ; Oncidium Barkerii, in flower, 
