FOREIGN NOTICES. 



281 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



Hyacinths in pots and glasses. — The cultiva- 

 tion of tiie Hyacinth has been so fulij'^ explained in 

 previous numbers, that we find nothing to add to 

 th(! advice which has been given, except one thin^', 

 and that is never to use cold water. When the 

 bulbs arc first placed in the neighborhood of the 

 water, let it be lukewarm ; whenever fresh water 

 is added, whenever it is changed, let it stijl be luke- 

 warm . 



Those who have not studied the effect of this 

 kind of management, will hardly believe how great 

 the difference is between the same sort of hyacinth 

 drenched from time to time with ice-cold water, 

 fresh from the pump or cistern, and that which is 

 nursed with tepid water. The etfect is rendered 

 still more beneficial, if four drops of a saturated 

 solution of sulphate of ammonia are added to every 

 pint of water. This is equally the case, whether 

 the bulbs are in glasses of water or pots of earth. 

 Under ordinary management, the roots are chilled 

 every time that water is applied. The Scythians 

 are said to have thrown their children into their 

 rivers, even although frozen, as soon as they were 

 born ; and this practice is applied by ninety-nine 

 people in a hundred to their hyacinths. They may 

 depend upon it, that whatever may have been the 

 case with Scythian children, oriental hj'acinths can- 

 not bear it. Each application of cold water to their 

 roots gives them a check, and each check tends to 

 diminish their capacity of flowering well. 



It is doubtless true, that hyacinths in the open 

 border llower very well without warm water ; but 

 then we are to remember that the roots of the bulbs 

 formed in the ground are hardy, and have never 

 been accustomed to warmth ; but in a sittmg room 

 the roots are born in warmth, nursed tenderly, and 

 quite in a different condition from those which are 

 formed out of doors. The rot in hyacinth bulbs is 

 not unfrequently caused by the neglect of this prin- 

 ciple ; already in a languishing state, from some 

 original debility, such bulbs require more warmth 

 tlian usual, and receive less. The lender tissue, 

 chilled by the icy fluid that bathes it, dies and putri- 

 fies. It assumes the condition of the potato mur- 

 rain. Had warmth, the great stimulant of all vi- 

 tality, been applied, the tissue, tender as it was, 

 would have been excited into action, and soon would 

 have revived under its genial influence. 



The best proof of this is the fact that a hyacinth 

 bulb, in a state of rapid putrefaction, while kept in 

 contact with the cold water of a hyacinth glass in a 

 dwelling house, entirely renewed its vitality when 

 removed to a warm situation. The annexed cut 

 [omitted] represents a case of this sort: — In this 

 instance the decay had eaten completel}' through 

 the base of the scales into the very heart of the hya- 

 cinth, which was literally putrid. The foul sUmy 

 matter was wiped off, and the bulb was placed, its 

 base upwards, on a layer of warm sand, covering 

 the bottom of an earthen pan. The sand was mois- 

 tened with water of the temperature of eighty de- 

 grees, or thereabouts; a bell-glass was placed over 

 the bulb, with its edges pressed into the sand ; and 



VOL. u. 36 



the apparatus was placed on a shelf near a north 

 window, about four feet above an Arnott stove in 

 constant action. From time to time warm water 

 was given by pouring it upon the sand between the 

 edge of the earthen pan and the side of the bell- 

 glass. Decay was immediately arrested ; for 

 some time the bulb remained dormant ; but by de- 

 grees health}' granulations made their appearance, 

 displacing the decayed matter ; and in a few weeks 

 a fine crop of young bulbs sprouted forth on the 

 surface of the scales, and on the edges of the healed 

 up sores. 



This result, which was extremely curious, was 

 entirely owing to the stimulus exercised by warmth 

 upon the flagging vitality of the bulb. Had not the 

 warmth been applied, the whole of the plant would 

 soon have passed into a state of irremediable de- 

 composition. Nothing could have been more inte- 

 resting than to watch, day by day, the organic 

 forces of the dying plant exercising their plastic 

 power in the development of tiny scales out of the 

 fleshy tissue of the hyacinth ; to see those scales 

 arrange themselves in the form of miniature bulbs, 

 one sprouting out of the bosom of the other, but 

 still nestling close within it ; and at last to behold 

 a new brood of tiny hyacinths crowding the space, 

 which so lately was the seat of corruption and 

 death. It was a verification of the fable of the 

 dragon's teeth. 



Another thing that warmth will do, is to compel 

 the unwilling hyacinth to form roots. How often 

 does it happen that the bulb, when placed over wa- 

 ter, pushes forth leaves, without roots. If this is 

 allowed to go on, the plant becomes top-heavy, 

 and tumbles out of the glass ; or if that is prevent- 

 ed, still it flowers badly. Whenever this is re- 

 marked, additional warmth should be applied. A 

 convenient way of proceeding is this. When a 

 hyacinth bulb shows no sign of putting forth roots 

 at the same time that its bud begins to swell, fill 

 the glass with milk-warm water, to within an inch 

 of the bulb; wrap up the whole in warm flannel, 

 and station the glass thus prepared in a warm clo- 

 set. This operation will not need repetition, for in 

 general roots will come out in three or four days 

 afterwards. As soon as the roots are a quarter of 

 an inch long, add as much warm water as will 

 just touch the tips of the roots, and again leave the 

 plant still wrapped in flannel, till the roots are half 

 an inch long. When that is the case, danger is 

 over ; the flannel may be removed, the bulb cx|)osed 

 to light, and no other care is requisite, than that of 

 still guarding against cold water. Lindley. 



Eight Conservatory Climbers. — 1. Combre- 

 turn purpureum, or, as it is now called, Poivrea 

 coccinca, a half shrubby plant, with oval leaves, 

 and branching spikes of scarlet flowers, with con- 

 spicuous stamens ; it will flower all the simimer 

 by stojiping the strongest shoots occasionally. 

 2. Echitcs-- suberecta, a beautiful yellow flowering 

 [)Uint, wliicii has generally been grown in the stove, 

 but will answer well for the conservatory by spur- 

 pruning, like the vine ; it is a very stiong grower. 



