HYACINTH. 129 



pcricarpium will appear yellow on the outside, and 

 will begin to open. The stem, with which the seed 

 is connected, is then to be cut off, and placed in a 

 dry airy situation, but not in the sun, where it may 

 remain until the time of sowing, which is either 

 about the end of October or the beginning of 

 March. The seeds should be sown in pots or 

 boxes filled with compost, as will be described. 

 The seeds should be as regularly sown as possible, 

 and then covered with the compost about half an 

 inch thick. These pots, or boxes, should be placed 

 in a warm situation for the winter. They will 

 never require water or other attention, excepting to 

 keep the boxes free from weeds and the frost. At 

 the approach of the second winter, an additional 

 stratum of about half an inch of the compost must 

 be spread over the pots or boxes, and about the 

 middle of July in the third year, the bulbs may be 

 taken up, dried, and treated in the same manner as 

 old bulbs or off-sets. Some of the bulbs may be 

 expected to flower in the fourth year, and others in 

 the fifth and sixth, according to their strength. 

 The Dutch florists consider it a successful sowing 

 if they procure four or six good varieties out of 

 each thousand bulbs so raised. Maddock says we 

 must be content if we find, one flower in five hun- 

 dred deserving a name or place in a curious collec- 

 tion ; but for ourselves we should prefer seeing the 



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