5 i< 
THE FLORIST’S JOURNAL. 
ON NARCISSI. 
We are led to offer some remarks on this very popular tribe of 
plants by the inquiries of a correspondent in the present Num¬ 
ber. Our observations, however, must be confined to their 
management for the flower-garden alone, as we find space be¬ 
coming more valuable each month. The term popular is un¬ 
questionably due to this family, for we do not believe there is 
an individual connected with the management of a garden but 
will admit their beauty, or, to use a gardener’s term, their 
“ usefulness,” in the early spring months : every one is then 
naturally desirous of having flowers in the parterre; and from 
the very limited number of plants sufficiently robust to with¬ 
stand the piercing cold usual in March, and produce flowers at 
the same period, it is equally desirous that the very few that 
will do so should receive the necessary encouragement to the 
full development of their beauties. 
The great objection to the more extended culture of Nar¬ 
cissi is their untidy appearance in the beds or borders 
through the summer, a time when everything should be in per¬ 
fection or approaching it, and when, certainly, the seasonal 
decay they naturally exhibit would mar the efforts of the most 
skilful to make the adjoining spots look pleasing. This objec¬ 
tion would be fatal, was it necessary they should remain so to 
disfigure the otherwise gay scene : but it is not; they may be 
removed, but not in the manner too frequently employed, by 
taking them up with the spade as soon as the blooming is over, 
and carrying them off to some out-of-the-way part of the garden, 
there to become a prey to the slug and the wire worm. This 
mode is attended with the worst results, for the growth of the 
plants is thus arrested at the time they are making their most 
vigorous exertions ; and it must be apparent to every one at 
all conversant with the subject that the production of flowers 
in the ensuing season depends solely on the growth of the pre¬ 
sent: if the proper strength of the bulb is maintained or increased, 
and the necessary time is allowed to mature the accumulations, 
an abundant bloom may be expected, but the contrary must 
result from an arrested growth. 
All this may be avoided, the necessary strength insured, and 
the bulbs removed with greater facility, whenever the space 
