THE TRAIL OF THE DAFFODIL 
I T Was Long, Long Ago that "Queen Daffidowndilly” first came to town. Llowever far back 
we may delve into old horticultural literature we find the daffodil blowing in gardens and filling 
them with radiant light. Many hundreds of years before the Christian era that great gardener, 
Theophrastus of Eresus, grew these flowers from seed, and that the small-cupped and cluster flowered 
sorts were grown by the Egyptians before history began to be recorded we know from the fact that 
wreaths of them have been found in the ancient tombs. Two thousand years ago the Greek and 
Roman poets wove them into their songs, and the poets of all the ages since have continued to make 
use of them. All mankind delights in these lovely flowers of the spring—-they are the most important 
and most beloved flowers of the young season, as they seem to typify all that our winter-jaded senses 
crave—rejuvenescence, freshness, a new start. They seem to have been in ancient times among the 
few flowers suffered in gardens for the sake of their beauty alone, for their medicinal virtues were 
few if any, even in that far day when practically every plant was credited a cure. It was for some¬ 
thing more spiritual that they were valued. More than fifteen hundred years ago Mohammed wrote: 
"He that hath two cakes of bread let him sell one and buy flowers of the narcissus, for bread is but 
food of the body, and narcissus is food for the soul.” 
William Turner, the father of British botany, who lived in the troubled days of the early six¬ 
teenth century, was the first to describe the daffodil and its kinds at length in the English tongue. 
He enumerated all the kinds then known—and they were but twenty-four. Parkinson, noted gardener 
of his time and apothecary to James the first, in his great "Paradisus in Sole Paradisus Terrestus, 
written less than a hundred years later than Turner’s work, describes nearly a hundred species and 
their varieties. By the time John Rea wrote his "Flora” in 1665, their numbers had so increased that 
he made no attempt to do ought but describe the best of each type. 
Then came the period when a purely artificial style of gardening held the public fancy—when 
colored sand and pebbles took the place of flowers in the knotted beds, or during that later period 
when stolid ranks of calceolaria, geraniums and dusty-miller were the ideal of artistic expression. 
During these periods the popularity of the daffodil suffered partial eclipse. But happily during these 
seizures of gardening madness hundreds of bulbs found haven in the gardens of folk who loved 
and treasured them, from whence they could be brought forth when the world once more recovered 
and was able to appreciate the sweet and comely things. 
The great day of the daffodil began during the middle of the last century, when Dean Herbert 
of Manchester, England, "In order to find out which varieties he should class as natural species crossed 
for his own satisfaction a trumpet with a poet produced a flower intermediate between the two.” 
This was the birth of the Incomparabilis. From then forward the great daffodil names flared forth 
from time to time against the horticultural firmament—Backhouse, Leeds, Peter Barr, Englehart, 
Williams, deGraaff, Mrs. Backhouse, van Waveren, Barr & Sons, Guy Wilson, the Brodie of Brodie. 
Great names indeed, and what do we not owe them? New daffodils came dancing and fluttering to our 
gardens from all directions. Every spring added to the lovely throng and they are still an ever increas¬ 
ing company. Exquisite new forms continually make their appearance, enchanting new colorings, 
better textures, new stability and hardiness—types for every situation and use—for the rock garden, 
the borders, the meadow, the streamside, the woodland path, the greenhouse, the show bench, for 
cutting. 
And the season of the narcissus is being extended at both ends. This is indeed a boon. The 
longer we may have them the happier we shall be. 
If you are the proud possessor of a copy of Parkinson’s "Paradisus,” and also of that fine modem 
work on the daffodil, by Albert E. Calvert, it would interest you to compare the illustrations in the 
two. Only thus is it possible to realize the great changes that have taken place in the world of 
daffodils. 
The daffodils listed in these pages reflect this great advance in daffodil breeding. The varieties 
listed represent the best, 'irrespective of cost and are the results of years of study and comparison. 
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