1870.] THE HYACINTH AS A BEDDING PLANT. 281 



SOMETHING ABOUT THE HYACINTH AS A 

 BEDDING PLANT. 



Spring flower-gardening is not attempted here to any great extent, 

 but still some of the most prominent flower-beds are filled with bulbs 

 ill the autumn, when their summer beauty has passed away. 



Foremost among these bulbs receiving attention is the Hyacinth ; 

 one bed — a circular one — is filled with the largest bulbs, planted in 

 rings 9 inches apart, the bulbs being planted about 6 inches deep. The 

 soil undergoes no preparation for the Hyacinths, as it is made quite 

 rich enough with leaf-mould when the summer planting takes place ; 

 and as the subsoil in the flower-garden here is sand, they have a soil 

 suitable to their wellbeing, otherwise I should mix . some sand with 

 the soil when I plant, as I believe bulbs of all kinds for winter plant- 

 ing require it. I never protect the Hyacinth at all from the time they 

 are planted till they are taken up, and the same bulbs have been 

 planted for several years, and a most charming bed they make. As 

 the offsets increase rapidly, I have this year used the smaller ones for 

 an edging for two large beds filled with early Tulips, and Narcissi both 

 single and double. 



Were it more generally known that the Hyacinth is so valuable a 

 plant for outdoor decoration, the bulbs would not be thrown to 

 the rubbish heap, as is often the case, after blooming in pots ; instead 

 of which they should be planted in a bed of light soil to perfect their 

 growth, and when their foliage is quite ripe, the bulbs should be taken 

 up and put into drawers or boxes till planting-time comes round in 

 the autumn. 



I trust what I have stated above may interest many of your amateur 

 readers, and I will now give you an experience of fifteen years' gain by 

 a real amateur (Mr Kidd), an officer of the Inland Revenue Depart- 

 ment of the Government. Mr Kidd cultivates the Hyacinth in a villa 

 garden at the front of his residence at Stanstead, Montfitchet, two 

 miles from here, where I have seen them in bloom for the last three 

 years. On the occasion of my last visit to Mr Kidd, on the 18th of 

 April, there could be seen from eight to ten dozen Hyacinths in full 

 bloom ; and Mr Kidd informed me that he first began to grow his 

 Hyacinths with three bulbs, one each of red, white, and blue colours ; 

 and now they consisted principally of these three colours, and he has 

 scarcely bought a Hyacinth during this time, except a dozen of red 

 ones this last autumn, having more white and blue flowers than red 

 ones ; and such a display as was then made was worth walking ten 

 miles to see. 



The bulbs were growing in a gravelly soil, and apparently a very 



