41G 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  8,  1900. 
i  Chat  on  DaiTodils. 
A  Hietorical  Sketch  by  Peter  Barr,  V.M.H, 
{Concluded  from  page  396). 
The  Greeks  used  to  send  their  iunies  to  an  island  in  the 
Archipelago  where  this  plant  grew,  to  eat  the  roots  of  it.  Haworth 
was  a  scientific  man  of  many  studies,  and  a  prolific  writer  on  natural 
history.  He,  like  Parkinson,  undertook  the  task  of  setting  in  order 
the  Dafifodil  nomenclature,  and  prepared  a  monograph,  the  latest 
revision  of  which  I  am  the  proud  possessor,  and  I  know  of  no  other 
copy.  This  was  published  1828,  I  think  Haworth  died  the  following 
May.  The  earlier  edition  is  bound  up  in  Sweet’s  “  British  Flower 
Garden.”  The  1828  edition  has  one  error,  and  that  error  gave  me 
much  trouble.  N.  obvallaris — he  gives  its  habitat  as  Truby  instead 
of  Tenby,  and  I  was  in  consequence  many  years  in  tracing  up  this 
charming  and  popular  little  Daffodil  (fig.  114.)  Herbert  was  the  last 
of  the  set,  and  is  more  appreciated  at  the  present  day  than  when  he 
lived.  He  was  Dean  of  Manchester,  and  evidently  was  an  aristocrat  of 
aristocrats.  He  had  Salisbury  on  one  occasion  under  examination, 
and  came  to  the  conclusion  he  knew  much,  but  had  not  the  power 
of  arranging  his  matter.  It  has,  however,  been  shrewdly  suspected 
that  Salisbury  had  only  been  interviewed  for  brain  picking  purposes, 
and  he  led  Herbert  off  the  track.  Herbert  had  a  very  poor  opinion  of 
Haworth’s  work;  at  the  same  time  he  made  use  of  it  for  his 
Amaryllidae.  We  are,  however,  bound  to  place  Herbert  on  a  higher 
peg  than  any  of  his  contemporaries,  and  to  him  we  are  primarily 
indebted  for  all  the  beautiful  Daffodils  raised  up  to  1884.  When 
writing  his  Daffodil  monograph  he  took  a  more  critical  view  of  the 
whole  family  than  Haworth,  who  treated  all  as  species.  Herbert,  on 
the  other  hand,  felt  that  many  were  hybrids  and  corresponded  a  good 
deal,  especially  with  botanic  gardens,  to  get  seeds  of  certain  sorts, 
but  failed,  and  when  he  got  rid  of  his  book,  commenced  a  series  of 
experiments  by  crossing  the  Trumpet  Dafifodil  with  Poeticus.  The 
result  of  this  work  he  embodied  in  a  treatise  on  hybridisation  ( f 
vegetables  in  the  forties,  which  was  published  in  the  *’  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,”  and  I  have  no  doubt  many  took 
up  the  study ;  but  only  two  men  carried  their  work  to  the  goal — 
Backhouse  and  Leeds.  Herbert  wrote  a  monograph  of  the  Croci, 
which  is  to  be  found  in  the  Bindley  Library  of  the  R.H.S.  of  Britain, 
and  bound  up  with  it  his  Daffodil,  a  water  colour  painting,  the 
results  of  his  crossing.  Haworth,  in  his  monograph,  which  has  been 
followed  by  all  writers  since,  Herbert  included,  called  Pseudo-Narcissus 
of  Parkinson,  Ajax,  Incomparabilis,  and  Queltia. 
Baker  of  the  Royal  Herbarium,  Kew,  ever  ready  to  help  workers 
on  any  family  of  plants,  while  I  w'as  still  working  with  the  older 
forms  of  Daffodils,  prepared  a  monograph,  keeping  on  Haworth’s  lines, 
divided  the  family  into  Magni-Coronati,  for  Haworth’s  Ajax  and 
Parkinson’s  pseudo-Naicissus,  Medio-Coronati  for  Ha-worth’s  Queltia 
and  Parkinson’s  Incomparabilis,  and  Parvi-Coronati  fi  r  Poeticus  and 
Polyanthus  Narcissus.  This,  the  last  monograph,  is  certainly  the  best 
for  avoiding  confusion.  Taking  Baker’s  sizes  and  distinctions,  you 
readily  learn  to  distinguish  to  what  section  your  flower  belongs,  and 
by  this  means  you  may  run  down  the  names  of  the  variety,  and  in 
your  seedlings  you  can  tell  whether  you  have  an  Ajax,  an  Incom¬ 
parabilis,  or  a  Poeticus  form.  I  ought  to  name  here  an  arrangement 
my  friend  Shirley  Hibberd  attempted,  as  chalice  cup,  goblet,  &c.,  to 
my  thinking  a  little  too  fanciful,  but  it  pleases  some,  and  I  think 
anything  that  gives  pleasure  is  a  gain  to  the  individual,  even  if  a  loss 
to  science.  I  have  thus  dealt  with  what  is  known  of  the  older  Daffodils, 
and  those  who  have  worked  on  them,  and  this  brings  me  to  the  modern 
Dafifodil,raisers.  Backhouse,  who  raised  all  the  most  refined  flowers 
which  came  into  commerce  in  1884,  was  a  banker  at  Darlington, 
England,  a  man  of  great  refinement,  and  by  nature  nervously  sensitive. 
Leeds,  who  raised  many  fine  Daffodils,  but  all  more  or  less  coarse,  was 
a  ste  ckbroker  in  Manchester,  and  whose  house  can  yet  be  seen  almost 
opposite  of  the  gates  of  the  Manchester  Botanic  Gardens. 
These  two  seedling  collections  came  into  my  poesession,  and  were 
classed  and  named  by  me,  and  in  the  spring  of  1884  a  great  Daffodil 
Conference  was  held  by  the  R.H.S.  in  the  large  conservatory  at  South 
Kensington,  London.  After  the  Conference  a  committee  was  appointed, 
and  I  was  placed  on  my  trial  to  answer  my  compeers  for  the  dividing 
up  and  making  so  many  new  families.  Mr.  Baker,  of  monograph  fame 
referred  to,  was  in  the  chair,  and  held  a  brief  on  lehalf  of  the  botanical 
world,  and  I  was  called  upon  to  justify  my  divisions.  My  reasons 
being  considered  satisfactory,  Mr.  Baker  made  botanical  descriptions, 
had  flowers  pressed  and  examples  painted,  and  these  may  be  seen  in 
the  Herbarium  at  Kew  Gardens.  All  Daffodils  raised  since  1884  are 
jiaced  in  the  divisions  I  made,  which,  I  may  here  state,  are  purely 
artificial.  Leedsi,  for  example,  was  a  nanie  given  to  white  forms  cf 
incomparabilis  to  keep  Leeds’  name  green  ;  Backhouse!,  for  the  same 
rosou  ;  Barri,  to  preserve  my  own  name  as  the  classifier  and  namer  of 
all  new  Daffodils  up  to  1884;  Burbidgei,  in  compliment  to  Mr. 
Burbidge  for  his  labours  connected  with  the  literature  of  the  Daffodil ; 
Humei,  with  Mr.  Hume,  a  relative  of  Joe  Hume,  as  a  co-worker 
with  me,  and  who  would  have  attempted  a  popular  monograph ; 
Nelsoni,  after  the  Rev.  John  Nelson,  cousin  of  the  great  Lord  Nelson, 
the  most  sympathetic  co-worker  I  had.  Both  these  gentlemen  died 
before  I  had  completed  my  work. 
Seasonable  Hints  on  Florists’  Flowers. 
I  THINK  that  on  the  whole  the  fine  autumn  has  been  beneficial  to 
florist  flowers  in  general,  but  I  fear  that  the  number  of  those  who  are 
interested  in  them,  as  the  older  generation  was,  is  diminishing  instead 
of  increasing.  A  friend  buttonholes  you,  and  begins  to  talk  with  you 
of  the  beauty  of  Auriculas,  but  you  find  on  entering  into  the  subject 
that  he  is  thinking  of  fancy  and  border  varieties,  and  either  has  little 
knowledge  of  the  finer  varieties  of  edged  flowers,  or  speaks  of  them  in 
contemptuous  terms.  “  Oh  !  they  are  a  great  deal  too  formal,”  says  he. 
One  quickly  finds  that  much  of  the  enthusiasm  which  marked  the  growers 
of  former  days  is  wanting.  There  are,  however,  some  who  cherish  the 
old  ideas,  and  a  few  hints  on  their  treatment  at  this  season  may  not 
be  unacceptable. 
Auriculas. 
At  this  season  it  will  be  necessary  to  place  the  plants  in  a  frame  or 
pit  facing  the  south.  For  the  last  twenty  years  or  more  I  have  grown 
mine  in  a  low  pit,  into  which  I  could  get  without  difficulty,  and  have 
the  plants  on  a  level  with  my  eyes,  where  I  was  able  to  water  them  and 
do  what  other  things  were  necessary  without  much  exertion.  The 
plants  are  supposed  now  to  have  made  their  root,  and  to  be  prepared 
for  the  winter’s  rest;  all  dead  leaves  should  be  taken  away,  and  if 
there  be  any  appearance  of  aphis  on  the  leaves  it  must  be  brushed  off 
or  the  pit  or  frames  fumigated.  Care  must  be  taken  with  regard  to  the 
glazing,  so  that  there  is  no  drip  into  the  pots,  for  this  is  the  most 
injurious  of  all  things  to  the  Auricula.  If  severe  weather  come  on  the 
frames  or  pit  should  be  covered  with  mats  or  other  suitable  covering. 
I  daresay  the  plants  would  stand  many  degrees  of  frost,  but  I  think  the 
flowers  would  be  defective.  Where  offsets  have  been  taken  off  in  the 
spring  these  might  now  be  removed  to  thumb  pots,  kept  close  for  a  few 
days,  and  then  placed  in  the  shadiest  pait  of  the  pit  or  frame.  Little 
watering  will  be  required  during  the  winter  months,  and  care  must  be 
taken  when  it  is  given  that  it  does  not  get  into  the  heart  of  the  plant ; 
air  should  be  admitted  freely  except  in  very  severe  weather. 
Carnations  and  Picotees. 
That  enthusiastic  lover  of  these  flowers,  Mr.  Martin  R.  Smith,  has  done 
a  great  deal  to  encourage  their  culture ;  he  himself  grows  a  very  large 
number,  and  has  generously  distributed  seeds  to  the  members  of  the 
Carnation  and  Picotee  Society,  of  which  he  is  president.  Many  of  these 
flowers  are  large  and  well  formed,  and  by  their  vigour  of  constitution 
and  striking  colouring  commend  themselves  to  some  growers.  Many 
persons  do  not  now  take  the  trouble  to  layer  their  Carnations,  but 
treat  them  as  annuals,  sowing  fresh  seed  every  year  unless  they  have 
some  peculiarly  well  marked  variety,  which  they  will  layer  in,  the  usual 
way.  Where  layering  has  been  resorted  to  the  plants  which  are  singly 
or  in  pairs  in  pots  should  be  placed  in  frames  or  pots  facing  the  south, 
receiving  air  when  it  is  possible  to  give  it  and  in  mild  weather.  The 
spot,  which  is  the  greatest  enemy  which  the  Carnation  has  during  the 
winter,  may  be  avoided,  I  think,  by  giving  the  plants  plenty  of  air,  and 
when  it  does  appear  dusting  the  leaves  with  flowers  of  sulphur. 
Gladioli. 
It  is  now  time  to  lift  and  store  the  corms  of  Gladioli ;  as  far  as  I  can 
judge  they  are  in  good  condition.  When  lifted,  they  should  be  hung  fora 
short  time  to  dry  in  some  frost-proof  shelter.  Where  there  is  a  desire 
to  increase  them  the  small  corms  should  be  rubbed  off  and  put  in  paper 
bags  until  the  spring.  The  old  stocks  ought  to  be  laid  out  in  trays  or 
on  shelves  and  not  put  into  bags,  as  this  is  apt  to  encourage  growth, 
which  is  prejudicial  to  their  after  well-being. 
Ranunculus. 
The  Turban  varieties,  which  are  more  robust  than  the  Persian, 
should  now  be  planted.  They  thrive  well  in  any  ordinary  garden 
soil,  and  the  tubers  must  be  4  inches  apart  in  rows  about  5  inches 
asunder.  The  Scarlet  Turban  makes  a  gorgeous  bed,  which,  when  the 
sun  shines  on  it,  is  perfectly  dazzling. 
Tulips. 
Here  again  we  find  how  taste  has  altered.  A  well-known  London 
firm  has  tried  lately  to  bring  them  again  into  fashion,  but  I  fear  all 
efforts  are  unavailing.  In  the  North  the  love  for  them  still  continues, 
though  I  am  told  even  there  it  is  not  what  it  used  to  be.  The 
late  Dr.  Hogg  bad  an  excellent  collection  in  Sussex,  but  I  cannot  call 
to  mind  any  grower  in  the  south  who  now  cultivates  them.  The  20th 
November  is  the  orthodox  time  for  planting  the  florist  varieties,  but 
the  early  flowering  ones  may  be  planted  a  little  earlier.  The  early 
flowering  Tulips  may  now  be  planted,  and  where  place  can  be 
afforded  beds  of  one  variety  such  as  Keizer’s  Kroon  are  mest  attractive. 
The  ground  should  be  well  dug,  trenched  if  needful,  and  the  bulbs 
planted  about  6  inches  apart.  The  wonderful  open  weather  which  we  are 
now  experiencing  is  favourable  to  all  kinds  of  planting,  and  the  ground 
is  very  dry.  Those  who  have  not  tried  Parrot  Tulips  with  their  quaint 
form  and  brilliant  colouring  should  certainly  grow  them. —  D.,  Deal. 
