THE EVOLUTION OF THE DAFFODIL

Shannon News, 10 September 1926, Page 3

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DAFFODIL

In present day gardening the daffodil holds the position of the Queen of Flowers of Spring. To-day it has simply come into its own. As long ago as 2000 years the poets of Greece and Rome sang its praises, and it was known .and used in Egypt before [ the birth of Christ in funeral ceremonies as it is to-day, while all the poets of the Old Lands have weaved into their poems thoughts which it ! has suggested. But the daffodil of those hy-gone days was not the daffodil as we know it to-day. In those days nothing but the bunch-flowered type, known as Polyanthus or Tazetta was considered worthy of mention. But now different to-day. The last and by far the most interesting stage in the life history of the daffodil began in the forties, when Dean Herbert of Manchester, in order to find out which varieties he should class as natural species, crossed for his own satisfaction a trumpet with a poeticus, and the result was a flower between the two, now known as "incomparable." Then came Leeds and Blackhouse, who in their leisure hours busied themselves .with hybridising and raising seedlings, with the result that pretty well all the first generation of. new and beautiful garden forms were' their seedlings. All their work, however, may have been lost to the world but ior the hand of the great Peter Barr, the Daffodil King, for he in no figurative sense made the daffodil. He travelled for it, he worked for it, and he advertised it, and in 1884 he classified every known variety, and before he died in 1909 he had introduced a new race of daffodils which practically wiped out all the seedlings of both Leeds and Backhouse. The inspiration born through the success of this great hybridist was .broadcasted far over the earth; and the quest of the perfect daffodil brings forth fresh adventurers from far and near, and such men as Engleheart, Dean Herbert, Williams, De Graff, Baydon, C-rosfleld, Worsley, Gopeland, Cane, Sydenham, and many others have done much to. raise the daffodil to the pedestal it occupies to-day. Amongst their introductions, the most expensive were Sir Watkin, 3s 6d a bulb, Emperor, 2s 6d; Empress 2s 6d; -while one 0 f every bulb listed in 1884 might have been bought for under £3; whereas in 1900 a new catalogue was published containing 155 varieties, a bulb of each of which would have cost £550, an average of over £5 each. It may also be mentioned that when Emperor and Empress were first offered for sale they were offered at 2s 6d each in the seventies, whereas Madame de Graff, white trumpet, and Glory of Leiden yellow trumpet began life' at £5 each in 1889, which is scarcely comparable with Peter Barr (white trumpet) at £so;' and PLxie, £25; Tara Ranee, £25; Michael, £2O; White Star, £2O and Conqueror, £3O. ' No doubt the many daffodil shows being held throughout the world today has had a lot to do with creating the' great enthusiasm amongst daffodil growers in the raising of new varieties. Nor is this work confined to experts, amateur hybridists have been equally successful'in raising valuable new varieties as is seen in the fact that Benardino, one of the most beautiful flowers which we have, was one of Mr Worsley's first efforts, and all that he knows about it is that Lulworth Avas one of its parents, while Mir Qrosfield in a similar way, produced Challenger, and Madame Graff the beautiful white trumpet, was a chance seedling of Graff Bros., of Leiden. There seems to be no limit to the possibilities in the developement of the daffodil, for many varieties exist to-day which have attained the diameter, of nearly five inches, while nothing has been sacrificed in regard to gracefulness of form and colouring. Many of these high class blooms will be on exhibition .at the Spring Show to he held in Levin on Tuesday next, and they will 'he well worth inspection.