6l2 HYACINTHUS. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HYACINTHUS. 



effectually drained, for though the plant 

 loves moisture, it cannot stand in a bog 

 during the winter. It is advisable to 

 plant early and deep. If a rich effect is 

 required, the bulbs should be 6 in. apart, 

 but a good effect may be produced by 

 planting them 9 in. or even more apart. 

 The time of blooming may to some extent 

 be influenced by the time and manner of 

 planting, but no rules can be given to suit 

 particular cases. Late planting and deep 

 planting both tend to defer the bloom, 

 but make no great difference, and as a 

 rule late bloom is to be preferred, being 

 less liable to injury from frost. The 

 shallowest planting should ensure a 

 depth of 3 in. of earth above the crown 

 of the bulb, but, generally speaking, 

 they will flower better, be a few days 

 later, and form stronger bulbs after 

 flowering, if there is fully 6 in. of earth 

 over the crowns. No protection is better 

 than dry litter, but a thin coat of half- 

 rotten manure spread over the bed is safer 

 if severe frosts are likely to come at any 

 time before the growth has fairly pushed 

 through. The bulbs need no further 

 attention until the flower-stems are much 

 advanced, unless very severe weather 

 intervenes, when a mat or some oiled 

 calico should be thrown over them. 

 Waterproof calico is also useful in very 

 wet weather, as too much water, especially 

 when iced by February frosts and March 

 winds, is by no means good for Hyacinths, 

 which will thrive all the better for a water- 

 proof covering. Hyacinths in the open 

 air seldom require artificial watering, the 

 natural moisture of the soil and the 

 strength of the manure mixed with it 

 being sufficient. When grown in beds 

 they do not require sticks or ties ; simply 

 proper planting. After blooming, the 

 Ijulbs, if intended to flower again, must be 

 left undisturbed until the leaves wither or 

 die. The bulbs should then be taken up, 

 dried in a stack for a week or two, and 

 finally placed in the sun for a few hours, 

 the dry leaves being pulled off. Offsets 

 should also be removed from the bulbs, 

 and stored in dry sand or earth till the 

 next planting time. Some take up the 

 bulbs every year, but we have seen hand- 

 some beds that were not disturbed for 

 several years. Offsets, carefully cultivated 

 in rich light soil for two or three years, 

 will produce many flowering bulbs, but, 

 as a rule, imported ones are stronger. 

 However carefully cultivated in England, 

 they seldom flower again so well as in the 

 first season, but it is a mistake to throw 

 them away, as many people do. Selections 

 for bedding in distinct colours of red, 



yellow, white, blue, or mixed are to be 

 bought cheap. 



H. azureus.— One of the earliest as well 

 as the most charming of our early spring 

 flowers. Indeed, one of its chief charms 

 lies in the fact of its producing its numerous 

 dense heads of pretty azure blooms long 

 before we have ceased to expect falls of 

 snow. Many a time have I gone in quest 

 of flowers when the ground was white with 

 its winter covering and have only been 

 able to obtain flowers of this and some 

 Snowdrops and Crocuses. In the case of 

 a dwarf bulb of this kind flowering so 

 early a handlight or bell-glass is simply 

 placed over the clump on the approach of 

 a storm, taking the cover off when all 

 danger is past. The flowers stand any 

 amount of frost without injury, and it is 

 only the chance of their being broken 

 with snow that renders a covering neces- 

 sary. H. azureus is one of those half-way 

 types that one finds so often in the Lily 

 order. It has the habit, appearance, and 

 many of the characters of a Muscari, with 

 the campanulate flowers of a Hyacinth. 

 It was first brought to the Vienna Botanic 

 Garden by Kotschy in 1856, and it was 

 some years after before it was in cultiva- 

 tion in England. The bulb is whitish, 

 round, an inch or so in diameter, produc- 

 ing in great abundance stolons or bulbils 

 from the base ; the leaves, in number 

 from six to eight to a bulb, are broad, strap- 

 shaped, glaucous, and deeply channelled ; 

 the flower-heads dense, conical, upper 

 flowers sky-blue, campanulate, the lower 



thub aniethystmus. 



deep azure blue, and larger than those of 

 the ordinary Grape Hyacinth. It is an 

 excellent plant for the rock-garden, and 

 even in situations where it gets densely 

 shaded by overhanging plants, 

 H. amethystinus though nearly 



