March  28,  1901. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
267 
Fair  Daffodils. 
It  is  easy  to-day  to  say  what  Hower  the  Daffodil  is,  but  not  by  any 
means  easy  to  determine  what  folks  three  or  more  centuries  ago 
thought  it  was.  The  word  its*  If  has  caused  no  end  of  trouble  to 
philologists,  and  whether  derived  In  m  “  Asphodel,”  or  old  English 
“  A ffody l,”  or  French  “  d’Affrodyle,”  each  one  in  making  a  choice  will 
find  him-elf  in  good  comiMny.  Lvte  who  is  generally  a  safe  guide  to 
follow,  names  four  “  AffndyL  or  Diffedi  s,” — the  “  male”  (Asphodelus 
albus),  the  “yellow”  (A.  luteu),  the  “female”  (Ornithogalum 
pyrenaicus),  and  the  “white”  (Narcissus  poettcus).  Mr.  Henslow 
the  latest,  writer  to  tack  e  He  matter,  refers  it  in  “Medical  Works 
of  the  XIV.  Century”  to  Asphodelus,  and  perhaps  no  better  origin 
than  that  has  yet  been  found  But  though  Lyte  makes  the  Affcdyl 
and  Daffodil  interchangeable,  in  a  honk  of  m  dical  recipes  somewhat 
near  the  date  when  he  wrote,  a  warning  is  given  that  “  you  must  be 
careful  that  you  take  not  Daffodil  for  Affodill,”  from  which,  and  from 
other  remarks,  one  gathers  that  the  Aff  still  of  apothe¬ 
caries  was  either  Asih-delus  or  Orniihogalum,  and 
Daffodil  the  Poet’s  Narciss.  The  D  iffa-down-dillv 
was  one  of  the  favnurte  flow.os  of  Spenser,  and  of 
other  Elizabethan  po*ts,  and  by  them  the  Dame 
was  crystallised  into  English,  though  for  a  long 
time  after,  as  appears  bom  a  line  of  Dryden  : — 
“The  short  Narcis-us  and  fair  Daffodil.” 
The  common  Daffodil  of  to-day  had  not  yet 
appropriated  the  designation.  Parkins'  n,  who 
attempted  to  classify  the  family,  and  who  com¬ 
plained  that  the  true  Daffodils,  among  which  he 
included  the  incomparabilis  sec  i  n,  tne  now  well- 
known  Sir  Watkin  King  even  then  in  existence, 
had  been  mixed  with  the  “  pseudos  ”  or  bastard 
Daffodils,  strangely  enough  a  m  tied  as  true 
Daffodils,  Sternnergia  lutea,  -S.  Clusiana,  and 
Amaryllis  Jacobaea,  and  placed  Pancratiums  closer 
even  than  these. 
We  have  been  afforded  one  or  two  glimpses  of 
the  names  by  which  the  flowers  were  known 
previous  to  their  hiving  appropriated  iho-e  of  other 
plants.  They  are  twice  referred  to  in  “Toe  King’s 
Quhair  ”  as  “  J  mettis,”  not  improbably  the  same 
as  the  old  French  “Jan  tte;”  and  “Primerose 
Peerelesse”  is  also  a  very  old  designation.  Then 
while  the  yellow  Asphodel  was  yet  the  yellow 
Daffodil,"  the  Pseudo-N  reis-*,  which  by-and-by 
obtained  that  name,  was  known  as  “Crowbel”and 
Yellow  Crowbels.” 
The  beauty  of  the  flowers  with  their  delightful 
scent  caused  them  to  be  selected  as  one  of  the 
garland  flowers  in  so  mu  h  request  at  one  period, 
and  no  doubt  for  this  purpose  alone  they  would 
be  largely  cultivated  in  old  English  gardens.  Both 
Spenser  and  Shakespeare  named  them  as  garland 
flowers,  and  the  latter  as  a  flower  to  mike  nosegiys. 
The  roots,  moreover,  were  u-ed  in  medicine. 
As  a  garden  plant  they'  were,  in  not  a  few 
varieties,  in  cultivati  n  before  the  time  of  Gerarde, 
and  when  Paikinson  wrote  they  were  highly 
esteemed,  thereafter  sinking  into  a  less  prominent 
position,  Evelyn,  for  exunple,  nuning  only  five 
kinds;  and  it  is  only  iu  these  late  times  that  the 
enthusiasm  exhibited  by  the  florists  300  years  ago 
has  been  revived  and  their  lists  of  cul  tivated  sorts 
outrivalled.  The  bulbs  were  planted  at  that  early 
date  in  the  beds  reserved  tor  t  e  choicest  flowers, 
and  their  idiosyncracies  were  so  w*  11  known  that 
Parkinson  says  the  bulbs  coul  1  be  kept  out  of  the 
ground  till  the  NewYe^r,  and  if  planted  then  would 
succeed;  also  th  it  it  is  one  of  the  few  bulbous 
plants  that  may  be  li  ted  when  coming  into  flower  without  seriously 
endangering  their  welfare. 
When  wildernesses  came  into  fashion  Diffodils  formed  one  of  the 
subjects  tnat  were  used  to  plant  among  the  trees  and  shrubs,  and  it  is 
no  doubt  to  this  custom  that  in  old  places  col  mies  of  Narcissus  have 
been  found  established.  It  was  in  one  such  situation  that  the  great 
Incomparable  Diffodil  (Sir  Watkin)  was  discovered.  How  long  it  had 
been  lost  to  cultivation  is  difficult  to  sai,  though  a  beautifully  etched 
figure  of  the  flower  appeared  as  late  as  1759  in  “Elen.”  The 
varieties  of  Tazetta  have  long  been  cultivated  as  pot  plants  ; 
Suleil  d’Or,  for  instance,  bein2  a  very  old  variety.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  it  was  the  cu-t<  m  ol  Dutch  gr  wers  to  bring  over  to  England 
annually  a  stick  of  these  and  other  bulos  for  sale.  Good  in  one  way, 
its  effect  was  to  limit  the  number  of  sorts  cultivated  to  those  that  it 
best  paid  the  Dutchman  to  p  oduce  tor  sale,  and  so  the  home  grower 
contented  himself  with  th  se,  mean  v’nile  forgetting  that  dozens  of 
equally  beautiful  sorts  more  easy  to  cultivate  were  being  neglected. 
These  Polyanthus  Narci-s  ,  h  >wever,  besides  being  forced  in  pots, 
were  also  lar  ely  grown  in  beds  in  the  flower  garden,  and  we  find 
Soleil  d’Or  and  B  z  ernan  major  recomm  nded  as  good  sorts  to  grow  in 
water,  though  others  m  the  pan  e  section  were  also  amenable  to  treat¬ 
ment  of  a  like  nature,  Irom  which  it  wou  d  appear  that  water  culture 
for  Narcissi  is  not  so  novel  as  many  might  naturally  suppose. — B. 
Royal  Horticultural  Society. 
Drill  Hall,  March  26th. 
The  meeting  of  the  R  >yat  Horticultural  Society  on  Tuesday  last 
was  of  an  exceedingly  interesting  eti  tracer.  The  morning  had  a 
record  of  16'  of  frost  in  various  districts  around  London,  but  the  cold 
did  not  deter  th& 
nurserymen  and  pri¬ 
vate  growers  from 
sending  their  beet 
plants,  and  plenty  of 
them  too.  Sunshine, 
coming  after  the 
previous  day’s  fear¬ 
ful  8iorm  and  snow, 
quite  brightened  the 
appearance  of  every¬ 
thing, and  the  usually 
dull  atmosphere  of 
the  Drill  Hall  was 
well  illuminated,  and' 
for  once  did  justice 
to  the  flowers. 
Orchids  were  not 
so  numerous  by 
about  half,  compared 
with  that  of  the 
previous  meeting  on 
the  12th  of  the 
month,  but  seldom 
has  better  all-round 
quality  been  dis¬ 
played.  Messrs. 
Hugh  Low  &  Co., 
and  Messrs.  Veitch 
and  Sons,  Ltd.,  were 
the  principal  exhi¬ 
bitors.  Sir  Trevor 
Lawrence,  Bart.,  had 
kindly  furnished  a 
basket  of  “mcon 
spiouons  flowered 
Orchids”  to  illus¬ 
trate  the  essay 
which  had  been  pre¬ 
pared  by  his  Orchid 
grower,  Mr.  W.  H. 
Young,  on  this  subject.  It  was  also  exceedingly  kind  of  the  president 
to  undertake  to  read  Mr.  Yeung’s  paper,  as  the  latter  was  suffering 
from  a  severe  sore  threat. 
Of  course  spring  flowers,  including  a  wonderfully  fine  exhibition  of 
Hyacintl  s  from  Messrs.  Cutbush  &  Son  of  Hiybgate,  were  very  strongly 
in  evidence.  Most  of  the  leadii  g  hardy  \  lant  growers  had  brought 
collections  of  seasonable  plants,  all  of  which  were  a  source  of  gieat 
pleasure,  while  some  new  and  interesting  subjects  appeared  here  and 
there.  Miss  Willmott,  for  ii  stance,  bad  a  lovely  little  Himalayan 
Primrose  in  pi  ts,  which  certaii  ly  diew  all  the  fanciers  around  it,  as 
well  as  a  batch  of  artists  with  their  pencilp,  and  the  general  visitors, 
without  knowing  that  it  was  rare  or  u>  ique,  all  stopped  to  admire  the 
lovely  little  gem.  A  note  appears  about  it  in  our  list  of  the  plants 
certificated. 
Stepping  over  to  Messrs.  Wallace  &  Co.  s  stand,  one  found  a  large 
assortment  of  the  early  bulbous  Irises,  dwarf  Narcissi,  especially 
N.  pallidus  pi  roc  x,  Saxifrage,  and  Fi  i  illar  iaa.  The  latter  caught 
everybody’s  eyes,  and  w.  11  worthy  we. e  t hey  of  the  encomiums  bestowed 
on  them.  F.  pudica  was  exceedingly  sweet  with  its  golden  drooping 
corollas.  Here  also  was  shown  a  new  dwarf  Tulip-  Tulipa  Korolkowi 
bicolor,  which  received  an  award  of  merit  (see  certificated  plants). 
This  species  is  very  dwarf  and  sm  ill. 
In  the  afternoon  forty-two  new  Fellows  were  elected. 
The  Fruit  and  Vegetable  Committee 
awarded  a  cultural  commendation  to  the  Earl  of  Ilchester  (gardener, 
Mr.  C.  Dixon),  Holland  House,  Kensington,  for  a  dish  of  Beurre  Easter 
