CH^I^TER XIII. 



Bulbs. 



Bulbous-rooted flowering plants are so numerous, conspicuous, and exquisitely 

 beautiful, and withal so well adapted for the conservatory, that were all other 

 plants annihilated or forgotten, this class alone would at all times fill the draw- 

 ing-room with the most gorgeous as well 

 as the most chaste and beautiful flowers, 

 attractive not only for their delicacy, bril- 

 hancy, and variety of color, but as well 

 for their most delightful fragrance. It is 

 not our intention in this place to write a 

 history of Bulbs, but merely to offer a 

 few remarks on the adaptation and culture 

 of the most desirable sorts, in connection 

 with other classes of plants noticed in 

 this work. 



The Hyacinth. 



Pre-eminent in this class stands the 

 Hyacinth, which has been deservedly 

 popular for more than three hundred 

 years, and is to-day more sought after 

 than any other species, simply because 

 greater variety of color and quantity of 

 bloom can be had with less trouble and ex- 

 pense than fiom any other. Hyacinths 

 have a most generous nature ; they will 

 adapt themselves to almost any situation, 

 and flower as freely and smile as sweetly 

 in the poor man's window as in the more 

 While their generosity is so marked, their 

 gratitude for, and appreciation of, attention shown them is equally marked. No 

 plant pays so well for good culture as this; the difference between common 

 planting and proper growing is so great that one would scarcely think or believe 

 the flower could come from the same bulb. Hyacinths can be grown in a variety 

 of ways. The beat, simplest, and most common, is in pots. We shall, however, 



Fig. 24.— "KuHtic Robin" Jaiiliuet. 



costly conservatory of the wealthy. 



