Golden Daffodils 
pretty quickly, and are soon large enough to be of value, 
as will be shown later good sorts of narcissi are 
big prices at the present time. 
It is very often possible to pick up good lots of 
cissus bulbs at auction sales for a ridiculously low figur< 
These are sometimes lumped together in parcels 
of fifty or one hundred, and a few dollars will 
make one the possessor of a very decent stock to 
commence work with. There is quite a chance 
And 
selling 
for 
nar 
The famous While Trumpet 
Daffodil, Peter Barr 
than confirm this state¬ 
ment. Although the pres- 
ent boom in the lovely 
flowers has not eclipsed the 
tulip mania which swept over 
Holland three centuries ago 
yet some of the highest prices 
obtained seem more than 
substantial when we realize 
a grower’s stock of seedling bulbs that they stand for a single 
that one might light upon a really good variety, a 
kind which may be standing at a high price upon 
the catalogues, and if so, there will be a chance of 
making a handsome profit right away. Either the 
bulb may be taken straight away to a reliable dealer 
and an offer solicited or better still a private collector 
questioned on the matter. Or on the other hand, the 
bulb may be held back and the stock increased by 
means of the offshoots as has been described above. 
This last is a fairly safe method as rare narcissi do 
not depreciate quickly in value. A case in point 
will illustrate this. An amateur grower purchased 
a fine variety of narcissus for twenty-five dollars. 
He grew the bulb and by means of offshoots in three 
years time he had four other specimens. The 
variety was still worth the same amount, the bulbs 
were sold and of course a respectable margin was 
realized on the transaction. 
It has been said that rare narcissus bulbs fetch 
big prices and a glance at any catalogue would more 
bulb. All the desires of the 
specialists at the moment lean towards a pure white 
daffodil, and although there is not such a thing in 
existence at the moment, the nearest approach, Peter 
Barr, has been sold for no less a sum than two 
hundred and sixty dollars. Another variety of the 
same class sells at one hundred and five dollars, its 
name is Henri Vilmorin. Specimens at seventy- 
five, fifty and twenty-five dollars each can he counted 
by the score in any priced list of rarities, and more¬ 
over if the date of introduction be observed it will 
be noticed that none of these are really very new 
proving, as has been hinted, that the values keep up 
well. 
Finally it is certain that there are no more lovely 
plants to cultivate than the narcissi. The flowers 
are unsurpassed for grace and beauty and must 
always rank first amongst the spring blooms. Quite 
apart from any other motive there are few more 
fascinating pastimes than daffodil growing, simply 
for the love of the thing. 
229 
