April 1, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
485 
Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER. F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , APRIL ist, 1899. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Wednesday, April 5th.—Shrewsbury Show. 
Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s Show in the 
Waverley Market, Edinburgh (2 days). 
J^AFFODILS AT THE ANTIPODES. —The 
Daffodil season is again upon us with 
all the uncertainties of our fickle climate, 
and the attendant cold and drought in place 
of the heat and drought of some previous 
seasons. It is interesting, however, to turn 
from our own difficulties with this most 
popular genus of spring flowering plants to 
study the experiences of an Australian cul¬ 
tivator in the Journal of the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society , Vol. XXII. Part 4, just issued. 
The author is Mr. G. S. Titheradge, 
F.R.H.S., of Melbourne,Victoria, Australia. 
The vast extent of this island Continent 
affords a great variety of conditions under 
which the Daffodil in its various forms may 
be grown. The climatic conditions of 
Melbourne are often of an arid character 
with scorching winds in summer, say from 
October to April, with moderate cold and 
occasional frosts as well as rain during the 
other six months, corresponding to winter 
at the Antipodes. It will thus be seen that 
their seasons are the reverse of ours. The 
lifting of the bulbs generally commences 
about Christmas, and the planting season 
is in February where the soil is sufficiently 
workable to enable it to be done, but in 
heavy soils it has to be delayed till rain 
comes. 
_ Experiments show that some of the varie¬ 
ties possess very peculiar characteristics at 
the Antipodes where the seasons of their 
native habitats are reversed. The varieties 
of Narcissus Tazetta, thatis, the Polyanthus 
Narcissi, flower during the same period as 
they do here, only in the neighbourhood of 
Melbourne they flower during autumn and 
early winter, while in Britain they do it 
during spring and early summer. The Joss 
flower (N. T. chinensis) is the first of the 
genus to bloom. It may here be remarked 
that all the Polyanthus Narcissi grow like 
weeds at Melbourne. This may be ac¬ 
counted for by the fact that they enjoy a 
distribution in a state of nature ranging 
from the Canary Islands in the west to 
China and Japan in the far east. Of course 
the varieties in a wild state are very numer¬ 
ous, and that fact alone would give them a 
claim to variability of constitution, since 
they are able to maintain their race in 
various temperate and warm countries. 
The temperature of Melbourne during sum¬ 
mer there often registers from ioo° to no° 
in the shade. 
The Tazetta varieties are not exactly 
Daffodils in the strictest sense of the term, 
but Daffodils proper, that is, those with a 
long or medium sized trumpet, are grown 
in abundance. N. maximus is the earliest 
of this section, and is considered the finest 
of all Daffodils at the Antipodes, where it 
blooms freely and regularly as well as early. 
In this country it is an early Daffodil though 
by no means the earliest, and often fails to 
flower. That it should behave so differently 
in Australia from what it does here is rather 
remarkable. It is followed in succession 
and in this order by Countess of Annesley, 
Ard Righ, obvallaris, Henry Irving, Queen 
Margherita, Golden Spur, King Umberto, 
Blondin, Princeps, Michael Foster, Pallidus 
praecox and nanus. The latter two flower 
late, whereas in this country they are early, 
as is Narcissus obvallaris, the Tenby 
Daffodil, which is one of the earliest forcing 
varieties, and comes into bloom before any 
other trumpet variety in Britain, when 
grown under natural conditions in the open. 
The variety Michael Foster in the earliest 
bicolor at Melbourne. The best bicolor is 
Empress, whereas Horsfieldi behaves so 
badly that it is unworthy of the trouble of 
cultivation. The best all-round yellow is 
given as Countess of Annesley. Com¬ 
panions for Horsfieldi, in being worthless 
and difficult to preserve, are the English 
Lent Lily, single and double, N. variiformis, 
cernuus plenus, minimus, moschatus, eystet- 
tensis or Queen Anne’s Daffodil, triandrus, 
albus, calathinus, &c. The orange colour 
of the trumpet of N. Nelsoni aurantius gets 
burnt out, it would seem by the sun ; at all 
events it flowers late, and is both colourless 
and worthless. Even in Britain the oraJnge 
in the trumpet of many varieties, including 
a large number belonging' to the Incom- 
parabilis section, gets burnt out in the course 
of a few days, as a rule, after coming into 
bloom, notwithstanding their handsome 
appearance when they first expand. Another 
peculiarity of Daffodils at the Antipodes is 
that many of them succeed best if first in¬ 
troduced to New Zealand, which has a 
climate in many respects similar to our own, 
and afterwards transferred to the warmer 
climate of Australia. This would seem to 
argue that they get acclimatised in the 
cooler country, after which they give far 
more satisfaction, when transferred to the 
warmer one. Some growers have been 
cross-breeding and hybridising Daffodils in 
Australia, so that in the course of a few 
years they should have a race of Daffodils 
suited to the climate, soil, &c., as in the 
case of Apples, which have mostly been 
raised from the pips of European varieties. 
- «i-- 
Mr. Alexr. Scott, for over one year foreman in the 
Gardens, Byethorn, Corbridge-on-Tyne (and pre¬ 
viously foreman for four years at Craig-y-nos Castle, 
Swansea), has been appointed head gardener to R. 
Charlton, Esq., of Linnolds Mill, Hexham. Mr. 
Scott enters on duty about April 18th. 
A Zealous Ornithologist.—From Nature Notes comes 
a pleasing little story of a wealthy gentleman in 
Norfolk, an enthusiastic bird lover, who had last 
year seven nests of that rare and beautiful little bird, 
the " bearded tit,” on his estate. So delighted was 
he with his find that he purchased 600 acres of 
adjoining land in the hope of getting more of this 
scarce feathered native. Whether he was rewarded 
or not for his whole-hearted zeal is not recorded. 
Miss Jekyll and her Primroses. —Miss Jekyll in her 
Surrey garden near Godaiming is a great lover of 
Primroses and annually raises them in large numbers, 
besides dividing, and replanting older and tried kinds 
every year. Sitting on a low stool with a knife in 
her hand it takes her two days to divide the old 
plants. A boy digs up and carries the plants to her 
side ; two men dig the piece of ground intended for 
the new plantation; and another carries away the 
newly made divisions in trays and carefully replants 
them. Thus it takes a boy, three men, and Miss 
Jekyll for two days to effect the annual renovation 
of the Primrose plot, which cannot be a small one. 
This is done in early summer when everything can 
be done with comfort or even pleasure in the 
open air. 
" When the Elmen leaf is as big as a farding 
'Tis time to sow Kidney Beans in the garding. 
When the Elmen leaf is as big as a penny 
You must sow Kidney Beans if you aim to have 
Frozen Plants — Professor Craig mentions in The 
Canadian Horticulturist a method pursued by a brother 
professor when he bad the misfortune to let frost 
into agreenhouse. He procured a quantity of Tobacco 
and filled the whole place full of smoke in order 
to break the force of the sun’s rays. He seems to 
have water laid on all over the house, for he turned 
it on so that a fine spray was delivered all over the 
house. Very few of his plants were killed notwith¬ 
standing their frozen condition. 
Storing Apples.—At a private luncheon given the 
other week at the Tavistock Hotel, Mr. W. H. White, 
of Covent Garden, spoke of the experiments his firm 
had been making in the cold storage of some thou¬ 
sands of cases of Newtown Pippins they had received 
from California. The Apples were kept at a tempera¬ 
ture of 35 0 Fahr. He advocated the use of this 
method of storage by British farmers; for after 
keeping Apples in this way for some months they 
could be sold with their full complement of moisture, 
flavour, and aroma, as if they had been quite recently 
harve;ted. 
A New Violet.—If reports are correct we are on 
the eve of making the acquaintance of a new double 
Violet of magnificent proportions. A correspondent 
of the Morning Leader, writing from Rome, says that 
Signor Emilio Borgiotti, an enthusiastic lover of 
flowers near Pistoja, has succeeded in raising a new 
Violet six centimetres in diameter, and having from 
70 to 100 petals. This would give a breadth of in. 
across the flower, which must make the variety a 
noble one. The raiser has presented some of the 
flowers to Queen Margherita, the Duchess of Aosta, 
and many ladies of the aristocracy. He still declines 
to place the flowers on the market or to reveal the 
cross by which he obtained the variety. 
Interesting Presentation.—When it became known 
that Mr. Thomas Turton was leaving Maiden 
Erleigh, Reading, to take over the charge of The 
Gardens at Sherborne Castle, Dorset, a feeling was 
manifested amongst his numerous friends in the 
gardening world that the occasion presented itself to 
show the high esteem and regard in which he was 
held. With this object in view a committee was at 
once formed, with Mr. J. Woolford as chairman ; 
Mr. J. Pound, Junr., hon. secretary; and Mr. Jas. 
Martin, hon. treasurer. The result of their labours 
was shown on Wednesday afternoon last, when Mr. 
and Mrs. Turton met a few of the committee in the 
committee room of the Abbey Hall, Reading, to 
receive from the hands of Mr. C. B. Stevens (the 
president of the Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Association), the presents set forth in the following 
address:—” Your numerous friends join in offering 
their hearty congratulation on your important 
appointment to the position of head gardener at 
Sherborne Castle. At the same time they are con¬ 
scious of the great loss the Reading district will sus¬ 
tain by your departure from Maiden Erleigh. In the 
prominent position you have occupied as chairman 
of the Reading Gardeners' Association,and as a mem¬ 
ber of the committees of the Reading Horticultural 
and Reading Chrysanthemum Societies, horti¬ 
culturists have had the benefit of your knowledge 
and wide experience. Especially do the younger men 
feel indebted to you for wise guidance and assistance 
on numerous occasions. It has been felt that your 
departure cannot be permitted without an expression 
of the high regard entertained for you as a successful 
exhibitor, a generous comrade, and a true friend, and 
you are now asked to accept the accompanying 
gold watch and chain with a purse of money as a 
token of good will and esteem from those friends whose 
names are hereafter appended. We also beg Mrs. 
Turton's acceptance of a tea and coffee service. We 
again heartily wish you continued success in your 
new sphere of labour.” There were upwards of one 
hundred subscribers to the testimonial, from horti¬ 
cultural friends in all parts of the country. Messrs. 
A. W. Sutton, W. Lees, A. Dean, T. Neve, G. 
Stanton, and J. Martin offered some words of con¬ 
gratulation to Mr. Turton, and with a vote of thanks 
to Mr. Stevens for so ably making the presentation a 
pleasant meeting was brought to a close. 
