134 FLORA HISTORICA. 



quantity of nitre in each, and we do not recommend 

 the water to be changed oftener than once a month ; 

 but when the plants begin to grow, it should be 

 observed to keep the glasses filled, so that the 

 bottom of the bulb may touch the water, as a great 

 exhaustion takes place at that time. The plants 

 will be strengthened by having as much free air as 

 the season of the year will admit of ; but we should 

 not forget that Hyacinthus prefers the beams of 

 Phoebus to the breath of Zephyr : for if the latter 

 is allowed to break or damage the foliage, the plant 

 will be materially injured in its flowering ; and when 

 in full flower, it should not be placed where the 

 sun throws his rays too powerfully, as this will con- 

 siderably lessen the time of its duration. 



It has been ascertained that the Hyacinth will 

 grow and flower in the water without sending out 

 fibrous roots. In the year 1787, M. le Marquis 

 de Gouffier exhibited to the Royal Society of Agri- 

 culture, in Paris, a glass, with the bulb of a Hya- 

 cinth turned the base upwards : in this state it sent 

 down a stem and leaves into the water, but the 

 bulb did not send out roots upwards ; the leaves 

 were very green 3 but the petals of the flowers, which 

 should have been blue, were of a discoloured white. 

 This experiment proves how much the foliage of 

 plants has the power to assist in their growth, since 

 they can even subsist without the aid of the root. 



