THE HYACINTH AND NARCISSUS. 



227 



and bright. And there must not be more 

 than one flower stem to a show flower. 



Sixth. If the variety be white, it should 

 be pure ; and the yellow cup should be 

 bright. If the variety be yellow, it can- 

 not be too bright. 



Double fluwers, and Narcissus of nume- 

 rous kinds, with only one or two flowers 

 in a sheath, will not be considered subjects 

 of exhibition, except in collections of forced 

 flowers. 



General Re7narks on the Hyacinth, the Nar- 

 cissus, and Bulbs in general. 



There is so much similarity in the ma- 

 nagement required for the Hyacinth and 

 Narcissus, that they ought almost to be 

 coupled, as are Carnations and Picotees. 

 As there is not the diversity of colour in 

 the Narcissus, that we have in the Hya- 

 cinth, there is no temptation to grow them 

 in beds ; in all other respects, whether from 

 seed, from offsets, or in growing matured 

 imported bulbs, the management is the 

 same. But we have left a large field un- 

 touched as regards the different modes of 

 growing the Hyacinth, and confined our- 

 selves to the out-of-door treatment ; and re- 

 served what we have to say of forcing and 

 house-growing for bulbs in general, such as 

 the early kinds of Tulips, the Narcissus, 

 the Hyacinth, the Crocus, and other sub- 

 jects, that we may treat them all alike. 



Of the many ways in which a bulb may 

 be grown, the most common are the follow- 

 ing : — in ivater, in pots of mould, in wet 

 sand, and in moss. All of these are well 

 in their way, but for elegance give us moss ; 

 for ease, water ; for a make-shift, sand ; 

 and for the sake of the bulbs themselves, 

 pots of mould. 



In Water. — Fill up the glasses till the 

 bottom of the bulb will touch it, and con- 

 stantly fill up the glass as the bulb absorbs 

 it. The custom of putting them in the 

 dark has become very prevalent ; but ex- 

 periments which have been tried, purpose- 

 ly to test the advantage derived from this 

 plan, give no indication of its superiority. 

 The Narcissus, Hyacinth, Crocus, and early 

 Tulip, all grow well in water ; and some 

 that we have seen placed in a strong light 

 from the first, have proved as strong and 

 perfect as a similar number placed three or 



four weeks in the dark. The notion enter- 

 tained is, that the roots should be developed 

 before the growth of the foliage begins ; 

 and that in the dark, the roots grow, but 

 the foliage does not advance materially. 

 We have not found this to be the case, al- 

 though we have, until the present season, 

 acted upon the suggestion. River water or 

 rain water is far better than water from a 

 well, and we have changed it every three 

 weeks, though filling it up as it is absorbed 

 by the roots will do. We have invariably 

 objected to putting anything in the water, 

 although we have seen it done by many, 

 for we have never seen anything gained 

 in colour, strength, or size of flowers. 



In wet sand. — This has no other recom- 

 mendation than the saving of trouble, as 

 compared with water, among those persons 

 who fancied it necessary to be always 

 changing it; and we feel quite convinced 

 that the plants do not grow so strong in it 

 as they do in water or mould. It has one 

 advantage — its weight, which tends to 

 steady the glasses or vases in which the 

 flowers are bloomed. It is indeed easy to 

 conceive, that where a vessel is filled with 

 sand, which contains no nourishing quali- 

 ties whatever, the plant may exhaust the 

 fertilizing qualities of the water soon, be- 

 cause these must necessarily be a very 

 small quantity; and although it may be 

 filled up as often as necessary, and be kept 

 full, all the nourishing properties in a 

 small quantity must be much less than if 

 the whole bulk were water. There is, how- 

 ever, so much in the bulb itself, that the 

 flower and leaves will develop themselves 

 with a very little assistance. Nevertheless, 

 there is a vast difl'erencc in the strength of 

 a plant fully nourished, and one starved by 

 a limited supply. 



In wet Moss. — This medium, properly 

 prepared, and in a proper vessel, will be 

 found both effective and pretty. Suppose 

 it to be a flower pot — the hole at the bot- 

 tom should be stopped ; but the wet moss 

 enables us to grow bulbs in almost any 

 shaped utensil ; a punch bowl, a salad bowl, 

 a deep dish, basin, or jar, will do. A little 

 sand at the bottom, and the moss pressed 

 down level with the ctlge, will be sufficient ; 

 the bulbs are then placed on the surface, 

 and rather pressed in than otherwise. If 



