HYACINTH. 125 



annually with as much regularity as a crop of seeds 

 of any description ; and when we consider the high 

 price which bulbs of good varieties fetch in the 

 shops of our seedsmen, it must appear to be a most 

 lucrative branch of gardening. 



The cultivation of Hyacinths receives more 

 attention, and is in higher estimation with Dutch 

 florists at present, than that of tulips. The Hy- 

 acinth is certainly a very superior kind of flower to 

 the Tulip, but we presume that the great attention 

 given to it by the Dutch is owing to the increased 

 demand from London and Paris, where the roots 

 are sent in large cases and casks, and where, from 

 our own observation, we conclude that nearly 

 three-fourths of the bulbs that are imported are 

 lost through carelessness after they have once 

 flowered, particularly those that are grown in 

 glasses. 



It is calculated that more than a hundred English 

 acres are occupied for rearing bulbous plants, prin- 

 cipally Hyacinths, near the village of Overveen, in 

 the neighbourhood of Haarlem, where the best 

 growers keep about 50,000 bulbs as breeders, and 

 these florists now enumerate upwards of 2000 

 varieties of the Hyacinth. The list of one florist 

 at Haarlem enumerates more than 800 kinds of 

 double-flowered Hyacinths, besides about 400 

 varieties of the single kind. 



