Abstract
THE name of this eminent horticulturist, whose death we announced last week, will ever be associated with the development of narcissi. Born in 1826, in the former village of Govan, which has long since been absorbed in the city of Glasgow, he was the son of a mill-owner who found recreation from weaving in the cultivation of tulips and other florists' flowers. The son appears to have inherited a strong love for floriculture, for he soon tired of the looms, and obtained employment in various seed businesses, until in 1861 he commenced business, with a partner, on the site of the present premises of Messrs. Barr and Sons, King Street, Covent Garden, under the title of Barr and Sugden. Barr then directed his attention to practical floriculture, experimenting with hellebores (Christmas roses), tulips, lilies, and pasonies. For these purposes he found it necessary to take up a piece of ground at Tooting, where he conducted trials which interested the leading florists to the day. He next scoured the country over for narcissi, meeting with considerable success in his quest. Two amateurs had already formed wonderful collections of these flowers which, unknown to the general public, they had cultivated for nearly a quarter of a century. These were Mr. W. Backhouse, of Darlington, and Mr. Edward Leeds, of Manchester. Barr made up his mind that if he could only obtain possession of these collections he would have all the best of existing daffodils in his own possession. By dint of perseverance and enterprise he succeeded in this, and the collections were removed to Tooting, where for years afterwards new seedling varieties flowered every year. Every variety worth cultivating was named and its name registered, for he recognised that no commercial success would follow unless the public could be assured that every plant catalogued was accurately and intelligently named. But the varieties continued to multiply so greatly that he found it necessary to elaborate a classification, grouping the sorts into sections according to the length of the trumpet or perianth tube and other characteristics. Mainly owing to Barr's representations, the Royal Horticultural Society promoted a Daffodil Conference in 1884, and his system of classification was then, in the main, adopted. Not long after this the attention of market growers was directed to these bulbs, and in the Scilly Isles, in Cornwall, in Lincolnshire, and other places acres of land were planted for the purpose of supplying the markets with cut blooms, with the result we see to-day in the millions of flowers that are offered everywhere for sale.
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Peter Barr. Nature 81, 400 (1909). https://doi.org/10.1038/081400a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/081400a0