374 
. JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
May  2,  1901. 
Gadding  and  Gathering. 
“Here  awa’.  There  awa’.” 
Wordsworth’*  feelings  on  viewing  “  a  host  of  golden  Daffodils  ”  are 
shared  by  thousands  or  millions  who  are  somewhat  more  tongue-tied 
than  he  was.  Judging  from  the  admiring  throngs  who  cluster  around 
the  Daffodil  mound  to  the  east  of  No.  1  museum  in  the  Royal  Gardens 
at  Kew,  or  who  parade  upon  the  beautifully  adorned  parterre  in  front 
of  the  Palm  house,  the  public  taste  leans  heavily  in  favour  of  these 
magnifioent  spring  flowers.  Tons  and  tons  are  weekly  sold  in  London’s 
streets,  and  in  every  other  city’s  streets  in  these  islands.  The  love  for 
Daffodils  is  increasing  year  by  year,  and  better  varieties  with  finer 
characteristics  are  annually  being  offered. 
Daffodils  at  Long  Ditton. 
Of  course  it  takes  perhaps  from  eight  to  a  dozen  years  before  the 
primarily  high  priced  bulbs  fall  to  a  figure  within  the  reach  of  growers 
having  limited  means.  For  instance,  the  beautiful  Narcissus  Stella 
superba,  which  almost  everybody  falls  in  love  with  when  they  see  it, 
and  which  does  so  well  with  the  Messrs.  Barr  at  Long  Ditton,  was 
much  too  expensive  to  be  bought  by  any  but  enthusiasts  a  few  years 
back.  Now,  however,  a  dozen  bulbs  can  be  bought  for  5s.  or  6s. 
Narcissus  Monarch  was  priced  at  40  guineas  a  bulb  last  year.  Then 
the  varieties  Big  Ben,  General  Roberts,  Peter  Barr,  King  Alfred, 
Apricot,  Weardale  Perfection,  and  others,  though  they  have  been  shown 
by  the  Messrs.  Barr,  and  have  been  vastly  admired  by  envious  growers, 
are  as  yet  beyond  the  reach  of  the  general  buying  public. 
I  have  seen  these  new  varieties  growing  in  their  reserved  enclosure 
at  Long  Ditton.  About  100  crosses  are  effected  each  season  by  Mr. 
William  Barr,  and  out  of  this  number  perhaps  twenty  may  “  take,”  and 
produce  seeds.  Then  before  the  seedlings  are  brought  to  maturity,  and 
prove  their  characteristics,  a  few  years  elapse.  Mr.  Barr  (may  we 
entitle  him  the  Daffodil  Prince,  seeing  his  father  is  Daffodil  King  ?) 
has  one  exceedingly  handsome  plant,  not  yet  named,  which  has  been 
under  trial  for  fifteen  years.  This  is  about  three  times  longer  than  it 
ordinarily  takes  to  cross,  raise,  and  prove  a  seedling  Narcissus.  In  this 
variety  the  trumpet  is  very  prominent,  being  2§  inches  in  length, 
measuring  from  the  perianth,  while  the  expanded  diameter  of  the  flower 
is  4^  inches.  To  me,  it  was  simply  magnificent. 
Hybridisers  are  now  trying  to  improve  the  colours  of  Daffodils.  If 
the  orange  or  scarlet  shades  which  are  apparent  in  the  coronas  of  so 
many  varieties  can  be  deepened,  we  may  hope  and  expect  something 
very  startling  ere  we  are  much  older.  To  point  to  what  has  been 
already  done  in  this  direction  one  has  only  to  name  Narcissus  Apricot. 
The  flower  is  small,  but  when  this  variety  is  seen  early,  and  at  its  best, 
it  is  both  conspicuously  distinct  and  very  beautiful.  It  will  not  suit 
everybody’s  taste  of  course  ;  but  here  we  have  the  germ  of  a  promising 
future  strain. 
Cultivators  of  Narcissi  differ  in  opinions,  as  doctors  do.  It  is  a 
widely  prevalent  belief  that  the  bulbs  are  next  to  useless  unless  they  are 
planted  by  the  end  of  November  at  latest.  Well,  I  certainly  do  not  wish 
to  propagate  a  system  of  late  planting,  but  wherever  circumstances 
conspire  to  retard  the  proper  season  for  doing  so,  it  may  be  taken  as 
quite  a  safe  practice  to  plant  even  so  late  as  January,  provided  good 
and  well  kept  bulbs  are  bought.  At  Long  Ditton  a  numerous  assort¬ 
ment,  including  all  sections  of  Naroissi,  were  planted  by  way  of 
experiment  in  January  this  year.  At  the  present  time  they  are  flowering 
at  the  same  time  as  others  that  were  inserted  six  weeks  or  two  months 
before  them.  The  size  and  other  characters  of  the  flowers  are  such 
that  one  could  scarcely  say  they  were  inferior  to  the  best.  A  knowledge 
of  this  datum  may  induce  gardeners  and  others  to  lay  hold  of  the 
cheaper  stocks  of  these  bulbs  for  naturalising  in  the  grass,  or  for  any 
form  of  extensive  planting.  Two  specially  fine  Narcissi  for  disposal  in 
grasslands  are  Frank  Miles  and  John  Bain,  the  former  being  an  incom- 
parabilis,  and  the  latter  a  Burbidgei  variety.  Of  course  the  Poet’s 
Naroissus  cannot  be  exoelled  when  seeD  on  a  verdant  slope.  One  of  the 
recent  novelties  at  Long  Ditton  is  a  variety  of  the  Poet’s  Narcissus 
named  Glory.  In  size  it  is  larger,  but  it  does  not  appeal  to  me  as 
having  any  other  extra  quality. 
Before  concluding  these  cursory  notes  the  names  of  a  few  of  the 
choicer  introductions  may  be  appended.  It  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  Weardale  Perfection,  priced  at  twelve  guineas  a  bulb,  has  not  yet 
gone  far  afield.  It  has  a  future  before  it,  however,  and  will,  like  the 
old  Horsefieldi,  be  in  every  garden  some  day.  It  is  a  magnificent 
bioolor  trumpet.  Madame  de  Graaff,  with  palest  creamy  trumpetand  bold 
broad  perianth  segments,  furnishes  another  magnificent  and  rare 
novelty ;  while  Peter  Barr,  which  is  almost  on  the  same  lines,  has  yet 
its  way  to  make.  Apricot  I  am  thoroughly  in  love  with,  as  no  doubt 
these  notes  amply  demonstrate.  Hon.  Mrs.  Jooelyn,  King  Alfred,  Glory 
of  Leiden,  J.  B.  M.  Camm,  Victoria,  Countess  of  Annesley,  are  all  of 
them  trumpet  Daffodils  of  the  first  water. 
Then,  what  of  its  section  beats  N.  incomparabilis  Gloria  Mundi  F 
Out  of  a  soore  of  varieties  which  have  lasted  for  fully  a  week  in  a  cut 
state,  this  one  proves  the  freshest  and  the  best.  For  massing  in  beds  it 
has  a  brilliant  and  telling  effect.  The  beautiful  Leedsi  Maggie  May  has 
also  won  many  admirers,  and  with  it  may  be  included  Lobster,  which, 
however,  is  altogether  distinct.  This  is  one  of  Rev.  G.  H.  Engleheart’s 
seedlings,  but  has  not  maintained  its  first  high  standard  of  attractive¬ 
ness.  Nevertheless,  it  too  is  conspicuously  beautiful  when  closely 
planted.  Madame  Plemp,  Henry  Irving,  Duchess  of  Westminster, 
Barri  oonspicuus,  Leedsi  Catherine  Spurrell,  and  Stella  superba  must 
also  be  named ;  and  though  the  list  is  now  lengthy,  it  should  be  borne 
in  mind  that  these  are  only  the  names  of  the  improved  (and  approved) 
varieties  of  the  past  few  years.  They  have  all  an  individuality  of  their 
own,  and  it  would  be  well  for  our  gardens  to  see  many  of  them 
flourishing  far  and  wide. — Wandering  Willie. 
Mr.  David  Taylor  Fish. 
We  have  to  record  the  death  of  one  of  the  doyens  of  horticulture, 
a  personality  highly  distinguished  as  a  practitioner,  and  one  of  the  most 
versatile  and  pleasant  horticultural  literateurs  we  have  had — Mr.  David 
Taylor  Fish.  His  initials,  “  D.  T.  F.,”  were  familiar  in  all  of  the 
gardening  journals  ;  and  his  desire  was  always  that  gardening  should 
be  brought  to  a  greater  perfection,  to  the  state  of  a  real  art  and  science. 
It  is  four  years  ago  since  he  practically  retired  to  the  home  where 
he  died  in,  at  12,  Fettes  Row,  Edinburgh.  His  peaceful  decease  occurred 
quietly  at  five  o’clock  on  Monday  afternoon,  April  22nd. 
His  early  career  was  a  prosperous  one.  He  was  born  in  the  village 
of  Old  Scone,  Perthshire,  on  September  25th,  1824  Like  his  elder 
brother,  the  late  Mr.  Robert  Fish,  his  natural  tendency  drew  him  to 
gardening,  and  being  within  call  of  the  Earl  of  Mansfield’s  world- 
famous  estate  of  Scone  Palace,  he  became  apprenticed  in  the  gardens 
there.  At  Putteridge  Bury,  where  Robert  Fish  was  for  so  long  famous 
in  flower  gardening  and  in  every  other  department,  David  joined  his 
brother,  this  being  his  first  venture  from  Scotland,  and  at  an  eaily  age. 
Later,  Mr.  D.  T.  Fish  was  engaged  in  the  nurseries  of  Messrs.  Backhouse 
and  Son  at  York,  and  Messrs.  Knight  &  Perry’s  of  London,  a  firm  now 
non-existent.  In  these  nurseries  he  mastered  the  cultural  data  of  the 
hardwooded  and  other  plants  which  fifty  years  ago  were  muoh  more  in 
favour  than  we  find  them  to-day. 
Mr.  Fish  began  early  to  prepare  himself  as  a  ready  writer,  and  as  a 
lecturer,  by  attendance  at  gardeners’  mutual  improvement  associations, 
which  were  then  rather  sparse.  His  first  essay  before  an  audience 
was  on  the  culture  of  that  homely  vegetable  “  Celery.”  He  proved 
himself  to  have  been  critically  observant,  for,  whereas  the  practice- 
hitherto  had  been  to  grow  Celery  in  rather  porous  beds,  Mr.  Fish 
strongly  insisted  on  a  semi-aquatic  system  of  culture,  with  abundance 
of  manure.  His  theory — and  he  was  correct — was  that  as  Celery 
is  always  found  in  wet  ditches  in  its  natural  state,  so  the  culture  ought 
to  follow  these  conditions.  During  the  term  of  his  probationship  at 
Scone  Palace,  he  and  a  companion  made  it  a  practice  to  meet  on  oertain 
nights  of  the  week  during  the  summertime,  to  discuss  horticultural 
topics  in  the  open  air.  That  was  the  first  “  mutual  improvement 
association  ”  with  which  he  was  connected. 
Our  late  friend  was  head  gardener  at  Brook  Hall,  Suffolk,  and  at 
Hardwick  House  in  the  same  county,  where  he  remained  during  many 
happy,  prosperous,  and  exceedingly  busy  years.  In  the  “  seventies,” 
when  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  held  its  provincial  show  at  Bury 
St.  Edmunds,  Mr.  Fish’s  efforts  toward  making  the  show  successful 
were  so  much  appreciated  that  the  Council  conferred  on  him  a 
40-guinea  life  fellowship.  In  his  earlier  years  he  was  a  very  successful 
exhibitor  of  vegetables,  fruits,  Orchids,  and  other  flowers,  for  which  he 
gained  many  prizes.  He  was  editor  of  the  horticultural  portion  of  the 
“  Agricultural  Economist  ”  for  forty  years,  as  also  the  section  devoted 
to  gardening  in  the  newspaper  named  The  Bazaar,  Exohange,  and 
Mart.”  This,  however,  he  gave  up  when  editing  '‘Cassell’s  Popular 
Gardening,”  a  superior  work  in  four  substantial  volumes. 
For  five  years,  from  1891,  he  gave  many  lectures  in  Cambridgeshire 
and  district  ;  while  since  he  settled  in  Edinburgh  he  has  lectured  on 
horticultural  subjects  in  Huntingdonshire,  also  Edinburgh,  Dundee, 
Broughty  Ferry,  and  other  places  in  Scotland. 
He  has  died  at  a  ripe  old  age  (77  years),  leaving  nothing  but  pleasant 
memories  of  his  oharac  er  and  actions  behind,  and  surely  it  may  truly 
be  said  that  his  labours  were  not  in  vain — he  left  horticulture  better 
than  he  found  it. 
“  To  all  who  dumbly  suffered 
His  tongue  and  pen  he  offered  ; 
His  life  was  not  his  own, 
Nor  lived  for  self  alone.” 
A  widow  and  grown-up  family  survive  him.  He  was  laid  to  rest  in 
Warriston  Cemetery,  Edinburgh. 
Mr.  John  Thomson. 
We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Thomson,  a  partner  in 
the  firm  of  Messrs.  Wm.  Thomson  &  Sons,  Ltd.,  at  his  renidenoe,  Tweed 
Vineyards,  Clovenfords,  on  Saturday,  April  27th. 
Mrs.  J.  G.  Baker. 
We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Mrs.  Baker,  wife  of  Mr.  John 
Gilbert  Baker,  F.R.S.,  F-L-S.,  late  keeper  of  the  Kew  Herbarium. 
Death  occurred  on  Tuesday,  April  23rd,  at  her  home  in  Kew.  The 
J  interment  took  place  on  Thursday  in  Kew  Churchyard. 
