396 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
November  1,  1900. 
With  Langley  Pippin  I  have  not  had  much  experience  at  present, 
but  80  far  a  favourable  opinion  has  been  formed  concerning  the  variety. 
The  parentage  of  the  Apple  would  render  it  a  subject  of  interest,  as  it 
is  recorded  to  be  the  result  of  a  cross  between  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
Cox’s  Orange  Pippin.  That  the  pollen  parent  has  had  a  material 
effect  is  shown  by  several  characters,  amongst  them  being  the  rich 
flavour  of  a  well-matured  fruit.  As  an  August  Apple  I  anticipate  that 
this  will  become  a  favourite  in  many  gardens. 
The  varieties  noted  are  essentially  August  and  September  dessert 
Apples,  and  unless  otherwise  stated  they  are  adapted  for  bushes  on  the 
dwarfing  stock. — R,  Lewis  Castle,  Ridgmont. 
A  Cbat  on  Daffodils. 
A  Historical  Sketch  by  Peter  Barr,  V.M.H. 
The  first  extended  printed  notice  we  have  of  the  Daffodil  as  an 
amateur’s  flower  is  in  “  Parkinson’s  Paradisis,”  published  early  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  wherein  is  described  about  100  varieties  ;  but  in 
those  early  days  a  number  of  bulbous  plants  were  called  Daffodils 
which  are  now  placed  in  other  families,  such  as  Sternbergia  lutea. 
With  their. deduction  there  remained  three  to  tour  score  Daffodils,  most 
of  which  are  now  in  cultivation.  Parkinson  remarks,  when  introducing 
the  family  in  his  “Paradisis,”  that  he  was  setting  the  Daffodils  in 
order,  as  no  two  catalogues  agreed  as  to  names.  The  amateurs  of 
Parkinson’s  time,  I  take  it,  were  very  much  as  the  Daffodil  amateurs 
Irom  then  till  the  second  half  of  this  century,  semi-botanical,  as  I  shall 
hereafter  show,  and  the  catalogues  he  speaks  of  were  merely  private 
lists  of  the  individual  amateurs ;  and  I  might  just  mention  what  we 
now  call  old-fashioned  flowers  were  much  cultivated  by  amateurs  of 
Parkinson’s  day,  such  as  Primroses,  Cowslips,  Oxlips,  Tulips,  Carna¬ 
tions,  and  a  host  of  other  things,  which  would  delight  the  hearts  of 
amateurs  of  the  present  day.  1  almost  wonder  that  some  enterprising 
publisher  does  not  reprint  “Parkinson’s  Paradisis.” 
Before  Parkins  m’s  day  we  had  Gerard’s  “Herbal,”  with  one 
Daffodil,  Pseudo-Narcissus,  of  English  meaiows.  Since  Parkinson’s 
aajr  many  works  have  been  published,  and  curious  information  given  as 
to  doubling  of  Daffodil  flowers;  but  these  works,  so  far  as  I  have 
looked  into  them,  were  largely  copies  from  Parkinson,  so  far  as  the 
Daffodil  IS  concerned.  We  may  safely  say  from  Parkinson’s  day  till 
the  beginning  of  last  century  little  or  no  addition  to  our  Daffodil 
knowledge  was  made.  When  the  Daffodil  was  taken  up,  early  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  by  Salisbury,  Ellacombe,  Sweet,  Haworth,  Herbert, 
and  others,  considerable  progress  was  made  in  adding  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  Daffodil.  Salisbury,  who  grew  his  Daffs  at  St.  John’s,  near 
London,  was  a  Yorkshire  man,  and  reputed  a  good  botanist  of  some 
standing,  but  worked  somewhat  in  a  corner,  and  would  have  been 
quite  forgotten  but  for  his  friend,  Mr.  Gray,  of  the  British  Museum, 
who  captured  all  his  manuscripts  when  they  were  about  to  be  burnt, 
and  placed  the  same  in  the  British  Museum,  where  they  can  now  be 
referred  to.  Gray  made  some  extracts  from  these  MSS.,  and  circulated 
the  same  privately,  with  the  view  of  showing  the  character  of  the 
man,  and  giving  a  short  biographical  sketch  of  bis  life. 
Nearly  all  the  other  Daffodil  amateurs  entrusted  their  collectings 
of  Daffodils  to  Mr.  Anderson,  curator  of  the  Physic  Gardens,  Chelsea, 
London,  who  was  a  famous  botanist  and  a  great  centre  of  botanic 
thought  in  his  day,  and  there  all  resorted  to  study  their  lavourite  flower. 
Ellacombe  was  a  missionary  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Leicester  Square, 
and  latterly  became  Rector  of  Bitten,  in  Gloucestershire,  and  there  he 
grew  all  the  Daffodils  he  could  get  together,  and,  when  removed  to 
another  parish,  was  succeeded  by  his  sou,  now  Canon  Ellacombe, 
whose  garden  is  lamous,  and  who  has  been  a  contributor  to  the 
garden  papers  for  long  years,  and  who  has  contributed  in  book  form 
to  the  gardening  world  a  good  deal  of  garden  lore.  The  elder  Ellacombe, 
after  leaving  Bitten,  made  bells  a  study,  and  told  me  he  did  missionary 
work  amongst  the  famous  bellringers  of  the  midland  and  northern 
counties  of  England.  By  becoming  a  famous  bellringer  himself,  and 
through  taking  part  in  bell-ringing  contests,  he  was  able,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  reform  the  drinking  habits  of  this  class.  When  I  last 
saw  him,  bordering  on  ninety  years  of  age,  he  told  me  he  was  still 
able  to  mount  the  highest  towers  in  Europe,  but  could  not  walk  one 
mile  on  level  ground.  Sweet  was  eminent  as  a  botanist,  compiled  a 
valuable  botanical  dictionary,  which  is  still  much  referred .  to,  and 
wrote  an  illustrated  work  entitled  “  The  British  Flower  Garden  ” — a 
work  much  sought  after  for  libraries  at  the  present  day.  It  is  scarce 
and  expensive,  and  contains  some  excellent  Daffodil  illustrations. 
Sweet  died  in  a  lunatic  asylum,  and  his  friends  say  that  it  was  owing 
to  his  having  paid  his  old  friend  Ellacombe  a  visit  at  Bitten  when  the 
Daffodils  were  in  bloom,  and  got  so  confused  with  the  number  and 
variety,  on  his  return  to  London  he  had  to  be  put  under  restraint. 
Often  when  working  on  the  Daffodil,  friends,  solicitous  of  my  well¬ 
being,  used  to  remind  me  of  poor  Sweet,  and  to  see  I  did  not  go  the- 
same  way.  My  answer  was,  “  I  grow  a  bed  of  Helleborus  antiquorum 
close  at  hand  as  corrective.” 
To  be  concluded. 
- *  m%m  I - 
PrepariDg  Botanical  Speciniens. 
The  following  directions  for  the  preparation  of  botanical  specimens 
which  we  reprint  from  the  September  number  of  the  “  Journal  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  of  Western  Australia,”  cannot  fail  to  be 
of  interest  to  readers  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture. 
Specimens  for  the  herbarium  are  prepared  by  pressing  plants  or 
parts  of  plants  between  sheets  of  absorbent  paper.  The  whole  plant 
with  roots  should  be  preserved  whenever  practicable,  but  if  too  large 
the  most  important  parts  are  to  be  taken — namely,  the  flowers,  fruit, 
-leaves,  and  in  some  cases  the  root.  A  flowering  branch  of  a  tree  or 
shrub  may  suffice,  while  long  thin  plants  maybe  doubled  up  once  or 
oftener  before  pressing,  and  very  bushy  ones  should  have  their 
branches  thinned  out ;  but  each  specimen  after  it  is  pressed  should 
not  exceed  16  inches  in  length  by  about  10  inches  in  width.  The  leaves 
■  springing’  from  the  top  of  the  root  should  be  preserved  as  well  as 
those  situated  higher  up,  and  also  the  root  itself,  especially  if  different 
from  the  ordinary  fibrous  form.  Specimens  should  be  so  chosen  as  to 
furnish  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  information  about  the  plant 
represented,  and  should  be  so  prepared  as  to  preserve  as  far  as  possible 
the  natural  appearance  of  the  plant. 
While  the  specimens  are  still  fresh,  spread  each  out  on  a  layer  of 
several  sheets  of  absorbent  paper,  cover  carefully  with  another  layer 
of  sheets,  and  repeat  the  process  till  a  number  of  such  layers  are  built 
up,  taking  care  to  avoid  placing  the  thicker  parts  of  the  specimens  at 
the  same  spot.  Pressure  is  then  applied,  gentle  at  first,  but  increased 
the  next  day,  the  object  being  to  keep  the  parts  of  the  specimen 
spread  out  so  as  to  be-  well  displayed  when  dry,  without  unduly 
crushing  the  soft  and  delicate  tissues.  Harsh  spiny  plants  may 
require  to  be  placed  between  boards  and  stood  upon  in  order  to  flatten 
them. 
Next  morning  the  papers  will  be  quite  damp,  so  that  the 
specimens  must  be  chmged  into  dry  sheets  da'ly  for  the  first  three 
days,  then  every  other  day  till  the  eighth  or  tenth,  by  which  time  most 
{lauts  will  be  dry.  If  enclosed  first  of  all  within  a  folded  sheet  of 
strong  tissue  paper  or  the  thinner  qualities  of  newspaper,  this  sheet 
may  be  more  easily  transferred  from  the  damp  to  dry-paper  without 
disturbing  the  speciniens,  and  this  method  is  specially  desirable  for 
minute  or  delicate  plants,  or  for  those  that  show  a  tendency  to  fall  in 
pieces  while  drying. 
Fruits,  seeds,  bulbs,  sections  of  wood,  barks,  gums  and  malforma¬ 
tions,  if  detached  from  the  plant,  should  be  accompanied  by  or  labelled 
similarly  to  a  branch  (if  possible  with  flowers)  of  the  plant  bearing 
them,  and  they  should  be  wrapped  in  paper  or  placed  in  calico  bags 
when  dry. 
Each  specimen  and  bundle  of  specimens  should  be  labelled  from 
the  first,  especially  when  travelling,  with  the  place  and  date  of 
collection,  and  any  remarks  on  their  mode  of  growth,  prevalence,  soil, 
native  names  and  uses,  should  be  written  down  on  the  spot  if  possible. 
When  the  specimens  are  thoroughly  dried,  pack  them  in  single 
layers  on  sheets  of  newspaper,  make  up  into  a  parcel  protected  by 
pasteboards  on  the  outside  tied  on  rather  firmly,  and  securely  wrap  in 
paper  for  transmission  by  post  or  carrier. 
Materials  required. — Drying  paper,  usually  about  18  inches 
X  11  inches;  the  thick  absorbent  paper  used  by  grocers  does  very  well, 
or  folded  newspapers,  cut  to  the  required  size.  “  Spongia  ”  blotting 
paper  is  excellent,  and  stands  wear  and  tear  well.  Folded  sheets  of 
thm  unsized  paper  for  enclosing  specimens  to  be  pressed.  Paste¬ 
boards,  same  size  as  papers,  for  separating  different  parcels  or  pro¬ 
tecting  delicate  from  rough  specimens.  Pair  of  outer  pressing  boards  of 
well  seasoned  wood,  IS^-  inches  x  11|  inches.  Pair  of  straps  for  applying 
pressure,  or  stout  cord,  to  be  tightened  with  a  rack  pin.  Waterproof 
covering,  to  be  applied  under  outer  boards,  only  as  long  as  bundle  is 
exposed  to  wet  weather. 
Ancient  Timber. — Experts  seem  to  be  divided  as  to  which  of 
the  two  hard  woods — Jarrah  and  Karri — of  Western  Australia  is  the 
more  durable.  Jarrah  wood  piles  2  feet  2  inches  square,  driven  thirty- 
three  years  ago  at  the  Largs  Bay  pier,  were  found  on  examination  to  be 
as  sound  as  the  day  they  were  put  in.  Some  specimens  of  Karri  wood 
taken  from  a  fence  were  examined  in  London,  and  though  the  wood  had 
been  underground  for  twenty-five  years  it  was  perfectly  sound.  A 
specimen  of  Jarrah  wood  under  similar  circumstances  showed '  serious 
decay.  Timber  of  the  Tamarisk  has  been  found  perfectly  sound  in  the 
ancient  temples  of  Egypt  in  connection  with  the  stonework  which  is 
known  to  be  at  least  4000  years  old. 
