10 
THE GARDENING WORLD- 
September 4, 1897. 
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
Con v all aria is a monotypic genus, and its solitary 
species, C. majalis, popularly known by the time- 
honoured name of Lily of the Valley, has thus no near 
relatives to share its glory. The plant is distributed 
naturally over Europe, including England, and 
Russian Asia from the Mediterranean nearly to the 
Arctic circle. It is safe to say that there is none of 
our indigenous plants that is more widely cultivated 
and more universally admired. In the months of 
April and May it scents our hardy flower gardens 
with its delicious fragrance, and, being so 
amenable to forcing, our plant houses know it well 
during the winter months. Millions of crowns are 
forced annually both by the trade for supplying the 
market, and by gardeners to meet the requirements 
of their respective establishments. Half a century 
ago Lilies of the Valley were largely grown for forc¬ 
ing purposes in the neighbourhood of Hamburg, and 
since that time great strides have been made. Even 
now the value of the Berlin crowns is recognised as 
being very high, but continental growers have by no 
means the monopoly of the market, for English 
growers are giving an excellent account of themselves. 
Of these the name of Mr. T. Jannoch will be familiar 
to all of our readers. At his huge establishment at 
Dersingham, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, many acres are 
devoted to this charming flower. 
A crown is a single rootlet bearing a bud, whilst a 
clump is a mass of roots bearing a number of buds. 
Clumps are to be preferred for the making of beds in 
the open air, whilst for forcing purposes selected 
crowns are to be desired. Crowns usually require three 
full seasons of growth before they bloom, but occa¬ 
sionally they may be induced to flower in two years 
by high cultivation, and under ordinary circum¬ 
stances will bloom every alternate year afterwards. 
The method of forcing is simple. When the 
crowns come to hand in October and November they 
are potted up at once. Twelve good crowns will do 
for a 5-in. pot, although those who force on a large 
scale employ boxes, allowing i in. of space between 
the crowns. After this the pots or boxes should be 
plunged in cocoanut fiore in a house having a brisk 
bottom heat, and an atmospheric temperature of not 
less than 8o° Fahr. Cover the crowns with moss, 
and keep this gently sprinkled or syringed with tepid 
water. The temperature may be increased to 90° or 
even 95 0 after the lapse of a fortnight, and subse¬ 
quently should never be allowed to rise above ioo° 
or sink below fco°. As soon as the growths are 2 in. 
in height, the moss must be taken away, and when 
the lower bells begin to open the plants should be 
removed to a cooler house, and syringing discon¬ 
tinued. Crowns treated thus will bloom in four or 
five weeks from the date of potting. 
The accompanying illustration, (see p. 9) for which 
we are indebted to Messrs. John Peed & Sons, Roupell 
Park Nurseries, West Norwood, S.E., shows a box of 
crowns forced in this way. When the plants are in 
flower they may, if desired, be taken out of the boxes, 
and put into ornamental receptacles for table or 
dwelling room decoration. The change does not 
hurt them, as root action is not very strong. 
In addition to the ordinary white form there is a 
variety with double flowers. Another form has 
prettily marked leaves, whilst the variety with pale 
rose-coloured flowers is also very handsome. 
NARCISSUS BICOLOR GRANDIS. 
When the yellow and golden-yellow trumpet 
Daffodils from N. maximus to N. minimus have 
passed across the scene and disappeared for another 
year, N. bicolor Grandis keeps up the succession for 
some weeks longer. It is the latest to flower of the 
bicolor Daffodils, and practically comes into bloom 
about ten to fourteen days later than N. Empress, 
N. bicolor Hortfieldi, and others belonging to that 
section. It is a robust Daffodil with very broad 
strap-shaped leaves recalling those of a Clivia, yet 
it is amongst the dwarfest of the trumpet Daffodils. 
The segments are pure white and the long trumpet 
of a full rich yellow. Its distinction from the 
Empress type consists chiefly in its broader leaves, 
dwarfer habit and later flowering, all of which 
render it valuable for beds bq the spring garden. 
Grandee is often used as the name of this variety. 
The accompanying figure was lent us by Messrs. 
Barr & Sons, and shows two flowers very much 
reduced 
Narcissus bicolor Grandis. 
sunlight; hence Daffodils should be planted in full 
exposure when in association with evergreen trees 
and shrubs. The accompanying illustration (see p.9) ol 
Daffodils on the grass and under cjeciduous trees 
serves to give an idea of what we mean, and was lent 
us by Messrs. Sutton it Sons, who give special atten¬ 
tion to this delightful form of gardening. 
The number of varieties suitable for this style of 
gardening is very great, but many of them are yet too 
rare for extensive planting. Many of the most 
effective, however, are both plentiful and well 
adapted for naturalising. Almost the sole attention 
they require is to see that the foliage is not mowed 
down before it is fairly mature. The wild Daffodil, 
or Lent Lily, is the only admitted British species, but 
strange to say it has not been much employed by 
planters. Other specie; which have become natural¬ 
ised in various pirts of the country are N. poeticus, 
N. biflorus, and N. incompa r abilis, which may be 
utilised by the planter with every hope of success. 
N. scoticus is a variety of N. Pseudo-Narcissus 
which grows wild in great abundar.ee in Scotland, 
and finds its way to the South in considerable 
quantity. N. poeticus ornatus is suitable for and 
highly effective on the grass. The same may be said 
of N. Telamonius plenus, N. maximus, N. nanus, N. 
incomparabilis, N. i. Sir Watkin (the Giant Welsh 
Daffodil), N. i. flore pleno, N. i. Cynosure, N. 
obvallaris (the Tenby Daffodil), N. Leedsii, N. 
muticus, and many others. All these should be 
planted in clumps, groups, and plantations of 
irregular outline to resemble Nature’s method of 
arrangement or disposal. 
Narcissus Bulbocodium citrinus. 
.Narcissus Johnstoni Queen of Spain. 
NARCISSUS JOHNSTONI QUEEN OF 
SPAIN. 
This is one of the most graceful of all the Trumpet 
Daffodils. The flowers are nowhere by comparison 
with Glory of Leiden and Madame de Graaff, but in 
that we think lies their special charm. Both the trun¬ 
cate trumpet and the reflexed and slightly twisted 
segments are lemon or clear delicate yellow, of a 
shade that few, if any other Daffodil, could exactly 
match. It may be grown in beds, or naturalised on 
grass, either in the open or under deciduous trees, 
where it appears to great advantage. The flowers are 
carried just clear above the foliage, and swing grace¬ 
fully in the lightest breeze. In Scotland it is gener¬ 
ally most liked as a pot plant for greenhouse or con¬ 
servatory decoration. The discovery of this Daffodil 
in Spain by Mr. Perer Barr, was one of his greatest 
triumphs while hunting for his favourite flowers 
Many thousands of it we have seen at Long Ditton, 
with Messrs. Barr & Sons, who supplied the illustra¬ 
tion. 
» t <- 
HOOP PETTICOAT DAFFODILS. 
There are numerous forms of these charming dwarf 
Daffodils, but all belong to one species, namely, Nar¬ 
cissus Bulbocodium, so named by Linnaeus. The 
segments of the flower are always small and 
relatively inconspicuous, while the trumpet is short 
but very much inflated, thus suggesting the popular 
name. Many varieties of the type differing in the 
size of the flowers or their earliness have been intro- 
Types of English Tulips. 
