NARCISSI-CULTURE.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume VI, Issue 1, 15 January 1913, Page 80

NARCISSI-CULTURE.

W. H. Taylor.

These’ bulbous flowers are among the most highly prized denizens of our gardens, and rightly so, for are they not the harbingers of spring and the heralds of awakening Nature after her winter rest? Though in this favoured land the sleep of winter is not so deep as it is in countries that lie under snow and frost, still we almost equally yearn for the coming of spring and the rehabilitation of our gardens. It is a poor soul who does not love the flowers.

The alpha of the narcissi race is the 'Paper- bunch-flowered variety, Early Snowflake. The members of these march past in their glorious battalions till we get, as a rearguard, the beautiful - double pheasant-eye and the not-very-beautiful biflorous, the omega of the race. Again, they sleep, leaving the more varied hued flowers of warmer weather to .fill their places. Most people know narcissi under the all-embracing name of “jonquils.” This is quite wrong. But, after all, what does it matter ?—“ a rose by any other name would smell as . sweet! ” Whether they are called jonquils or any other name makes no difference to their appearance — not one particle from their beauty. Still, there is, to some, enjoyment found in more complete knowledge. How few there are who think of flowers other than as mere adornments to the landscape, or give any consideration to the vast amount of labour and thought that has contributed to the evolution resulting in flowers—the marvellous creations seen in present-day types! Many flowers are surrounded with a halo of romance. Particularly is this the case with narcissi. There is fanciful romance in the very name. To most people Narcissus would suggest the name of a girl : it is not so. In Greek mythology Narcissus was the son of Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. Being possessed of a more than ordinary share of good looks, Narcissus became very vain, and as a punishment was caused to fall in love with himself on seeing his face reflected in water. He is said to have died of love-sickness, pining after his own image, and his name was given to a flower that sprang up on the place where . he died. Thus the flower is shown to have been known in ancient times, and its first association was with punishment. And, strangely enough, the first notice we have of it in more modern but still far - away times

was again in connection ’with punishment, for the Romans, it is. said, caused the death of criminals by giving them a bunch of these flowers to smell. This serves to show what a great change has been wrought in narcissi by the skill of cultivators and the ■ evolution of time. I have no intention of writing an analytical dissertation on narcissi, nor to show the various changes that brought into being the modern types of flowers, but relate the foregoing particulars to show how ancient are the narcissi,. and how ■ worthy they are of more than the fleeting notice taken of them. As I have said, all the narcissi are commonly called jonquils. As a matter of fact, there, are really very few jonquils, which are distinguished by the foliage being like rushes, 'and being deep-green in colour. The large double flowers, like Von Sion, are daffodils ; all others are misnamed if -called anything but narcissi.

This article was prompted by having recently seen a lot of narcissi dug up and laid out to dry while the foliage was still perfectly green. The bulbs were thought to be in the way. There was no intention to destroy them, but anything apparently is thought good enough for them after the flowers are past. This practice is really very prevalent. Sometimes the tops are cut off and the bulbs left in the ground. Either practice is very injurious to the bulbs. . The function of the foliage is to build up the bulb again after flowering. In each bulb is stored up all the potentialities for the coming season. Cultivation

—with certain reservationswill make little difference to the bulb after it has ripened off. The flower is stored up within it, and if this work has been imperfectly done no cultivation can improve it. This is proved by the fact that bulbs will open their flowers perfectly in vases filled with clear water, .or in moist sand. This is a condition common to most true bulbs, but is not shared by corms, such as gladioli. The importance of a proper care of bulbs should be quite obvious. Briefly, cultivate the bulb and the flower will look after itself. There is no purpose to be : served in writing about the various classes into which narcissi are divided. Any nursery. catalogue will give them. ' .

The cultivation, of bulbs is quite simple/so long as one’s operations are confined to the family in general and are not extended to certain delicate members, or a few others that are not delicate but require special conditions. For instance, the double-flowered Poeticus, known as “ gardenia-flowered,” is less frequently seen in flower than perhaps any other variety. It is said to require a considerable amount of water at flowering-time, and cool conditionsto be, in fact, a semibog plant. It is the latest, or almost the latest, to flower, and naturally comes when' days are getting warm. The conditions of our climate are not favourable to it, consequently the flower-head usually withers soon after it shows above ground.

Nearly all bulbs, as well as narcissi, require-a soil -of a non-binding description, well drained, and deeply worked. Though a certain richness -of soil is required, rank manure should not be in ’ close contact with the bulbs. If manure is dug into the beds it should be put. deep down, so that the roots will not reach it until the bulbs have been growing some timein fact, these would have to travel for it, when by the time they reach it much of its rankness will have departed. The best way to renovate worn. soil is by the addition of new soil from an old pasture. This, if taken from the top spit, contains the roots of the grasses and .fibre, and gives * new life to the old soil. Bonedust in moderate quantity is good to add with the new soil. Top-dressing may be done in winter, or after the flowers are past, and may consist of any light vegetable mould, sand, remains of rubbish-fires —anything, in fact, that tends to keep the soil open. Best of all would be in most cases a mixture of top-spit soil mentioned above with leaf mould and sand mixed with it, -and a 6 in. pot full of bonedust to each barrowful. The soil should be of such a character that the roots can work freely in it, the bulbs swell easily, and the foliage break through easily. As the bulbs like cool soil to work in during summer they • should be planted deeply. The depth of soil above the bulbs should mainly be determined by the -size of the bulb. The advice given by the late Mr. Peter Barr, one of the greatest celebrities in the narcissi, world, is to make the hole three times as deep as the bulb is high, which means that there should be a depth of soil above the bulb equal to twice its height. Thus, some bulbs will be in holes 6 in. or 7 in. deep.

* The time for planting begins earlier than many people think, for the polyanthus, or bunch-flowered sections,, scarcely rest at all, the old. foliage . being scarcely dead when the new roots appear. This indicates ' that these sections, if treated naturally, should scarcely be out of the ground at all, and if they are to be lifted it should be done before the foliage is quite dead. If this is done, there appears to be little objection to keeping them out for a time, though doubtless the correct treatment is to replant immediately, while no advantage is gained by keeping any long out of the ground. In dry summers it is often very difficult to keep the soil from cracking above the clumps, the soil about the bulbs, having been undisturbed for some months, being liable to contract. This is a bad condition for various reasons. .For ■one thing, it gives harbour to slugs, wood-lice, and other pests. A little loose soil of a sandy nature put over the clumps will rectify . the evil. It is in any case a good plan to put a pile of sand over • the . clumps ' after the foliage is off: it serves to mark the spot, prevents cracking and drying--...-and no weeds will grow in the sand, or, at any rate, very few. Before the bulbs are due

to show above the surface this can be levelled down, and no diggingout of weeds is then required, the obvious ■ risk of damage being averted. When planting the bulbs, if the soil is not of so '* kindly a nature as is desirable, a compost should be provided to cover the bulbs with. The chief characteristic required in the compost is a free non-binding property and comparative fineness. A first-rate mixture is provided by old potting-soil, meaning that which has been knocked out of pots that have been occupied by such things, for instance, as cinerarias, or by the soil left at the bottom of boxes that have been used to grow seedlings. . .

The Fertilizing . Action of Sulphur (Jour. d’Agric. Prat., sth September, 1912).Previous experiments in France had shown that flowers of sulphur added in very small quantities to soil in pots caused a notable increase in the yield of the plants, and that the action of the sulphur was very weak when the soil. had been previously sterilized. The present experiments showed the fertilizing action of the flowers of sulphur to be due to its stimulating effect on the bacteria which convert organic nitrogen compounds into ammonia, and also on the nitrifying organisms of the soil.