The worst thing daffodils have to fear when in flower is a hot drying wind 
which soon scorches and withers them, or at the very least burns out the 
beautiful orange and red edgings from the cups. The ideal exposure is one 
where there is morning and late afternoon sun but some protection from the 
mid-day blaze. The bare branches of deciduous trees help greatly and daffo¬ 
dils planted beneath them both look well and do well. All flowers contain¬ 
ing orange are particularly lovely when illuminated by the gently glowing 
rays of sunset. 
It is not necessary to dig daffodil bulbs every year, in fact we generally 
count on our best flowers from bulbs two and three years down, and the 
garden effect is most certainly better then. Some varieties multiply much 
faster than others and it is best to be guided partly by this and partly by 
the way the plants seem to be doing. 
When the drainage is good (and daffodils can not be expected to succeed 
unless it is), they do not object to reasonable watering all summer, while the 
poeticus-type and their hybrids are often appreciably the better for it. 
For most varieties a safe depth to plant is about lpz times the depth of 
the bulb measured in each case to the shoulder. 
Daffodils have their afflictions in the way of diseases and pests as do all 
plants. In some districts the big Merodon fly is quite a nuisance. Bulb 
mites and bulb nematodes should also be looked out for. Space does not 
permit discussion of these here but the interested reader will find ample 
treatment in the various standard books and bulletins on Narcissus, es¬ 
pecially the invaluable Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 304. 
In our garden the only serious daffodil trouble we have encountered for 
some years is comprised in the general category of “leaf-stripe”. Whether 
this is a single “mosaic” disease or a symptom variously induced, it is a 
most insidious trouble wthout any specific remedy. The careful grower, 
amateur or professional, can only maintain a rigorous watch for it and re¬ 
lentlessly rogue out and burn every bulb which fails to throw clean foliage. 
Commercial stocks of many well-known varieties, notably Sir Watkin, 
Soleil d’Or, and Paper White, are often so badly broken that all three and 
others as well are no longer permitted in our garden. The fight made shows 
pridefully in the remarkable cleanness of our stock, but no grower can safely 
guarantee that every bulb he sends out will never yield to the trouble. The 
disease is thought to be carried by some sap-feeding organism such as aphis, 
so a focus of infection may exist just across the neighbor’s fence or almost 
anywhere. 
Irises 
The culture of irises depends mainly upon the particular group or type to 
which the plants belong. That of the majority of the Pogoniris or bearded 
groups is very simple. Abstention from the use of retentive manure, a fair 
amount of lime in the soil, and good drainage are the principal points to 
attend to. The rhizome should be set in the earth at time of planting with 
the roots carefully spread and the soil well firmed about them, but the top 
of the rhizome only barely or not quite covered. They should ordinarily be 
watered well when first set, but more moderately thereafter. In Southern 
California the most successful iris growers are those who irrigate their 
plantations occasionally through the summer, perhaps every few weeks like 
a citrus orchard, following each watering with a light cultivation. 
For fertilizer we have found bone-meal, superphosphate of lime, wood 
ashes, and old plaster rubble all excellent. 
Occasionally someone reports inability to make established plants of irises 
flower. It is not always easy to assign a cause for this, but quite often too 
deep planting seems to be responsible, or again it may be too much shade. 
Sometimes just breaking up the clump and moving to a new position is suf¬ 
ficient to start it going in the right way. 
Under our brilliant sun it is often surprising how much shade some of the 
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