188 NAT. ORDER. LILIACE.E. 



cies, Hijncintlius orientalis ; and as these vary very much from seed, 

 may be readily crossed with each other, no limit can be given to the 

 number and variety of hyacinths that may be raised. 



The hyacinth, m its vpild state, is generally blue, but sometimes 

 pink, and it grows in great abundance in tlie neighborhood of Alep])o 

 and Bagdad. It has also been occasionally found in France and 

 Barbary, but in both cases it was probably only a garden flower, 

 which had sown itself accidentally. The garden hyacinth was first 

 introduced in England before 1596, as Gerard speaks of it as a well 

 known flower, without saying when it was introduced ; and he de- 

 scribes several double varieties of the origmal flower, Avliich he says, 

 simply, was first brought from the East. The varieties known to 

 Gerard were all blue, white, or pink ; and only these colors were 

 known in hyacinth till about the commencement of the present cen- 

 tury, when a few pale yellow, or rather lemon colored, kinds were 

 raised from seed. These liave smce been greatly improved by hy- 

 bridizing and cultivation. 



Much has been said and Avritten on the culture of the hyacinth, 

 but the following accoimt of the Dutch mode of culture, (which was 

 ti-anslated for and published in the Gardeners' Magazine,) which we 

 have been told by florists, contains every thing that is necessary to 

 be known on the subject. 



" The hyacmth likes a very sandy soil, well-prepared, fine, wnth- 

 out any appearance of stones or gravel, and which consequently looks 

 exactly as if it had been passed tlu-ough a fine sieve. All kinds of 

 loam or stiflT soil, wliich bind so closely together that, when diy, the 

 wind cannot separate their particles as it does those of sand, must 

 be avoided. No kind of red, blush, or blackish soil will produce 

 perfect hyacinths ; but one is considered particularly good, which is 

 light grey, and which resembles fine, very sandy, and light garden 

 mould. This sand, which is very light of itself, is made still lighter 

 by the addition of the thin sand of the Dutch downs, which is of a 

 pale yellow color, very fine, and contains neither stones nor gravel ; 



