HYACINTHUS. 



162 



HYACINTHUS. 



to mark the spot, that they may 

 not be interfered with before they 

 come up, when the bed is being dug 

 over in spring. The season for 

 planting Hyacinths is October or 

 November ; but even December is 

 not too late in mild seasons, and in 

 favourable situations. In general, 

 no protection from frost is requisite ; 

 for the Hyacinth is very hardy, and 

 chiefly suffers from too much water, 

 from snails, or from a disease called 

 the canker. In heavy clayey soils, 

 a small cone of soil may be raised 

 over the roots to throw off the rain ; 

 but when this is done, the cone 

 ought to be levelled down in Febru- 

 ary, before the plants come up ; or 

 a small gutter may be formed round 

 each circle of bulbs, to drain off the 

 wet. "Where borders have a sloping 

 surface, both these precautions are 

 unnecessary ; and hence, in the 

 garden of the Zoological Society in 

 the Regent's Park, Hyacinths are 

 planted in the sloping borders, 

 though the soil is a strong clay, in 

 autumn, and flower vigorously every 

 spring. Hyacinths thus treated 

 will produce very fine flowers the 

 first spring ; and, even though not 

 taken up, if they are not injured by 

 canker, or slugs, or the roots of 

 adjoining plants during summer, 

 they will flower tolerably well the 

 second, and even sometimes the 

 third year ; after which their flow- 

 ers will become every year weaker 

 and weaker, till at last the plants 

 are not worth the room they take 

 up in the border. If it is wished 

 to preserve the roots in a vigorous 

 state, they ought to be taken up 

 after flowering when the leaves have 

 faded, and kept in a dry airy shed, 

 with the neck of the bulb turned 

 down ; and then planted in a pro- 

 perly prepared bed in autumn, 

 where, after remaining two years, 

 they will have recovered their vigour, 



and be fit to plant again in the 

 border. Planting Hyacinths in mis- 

 cellaneous borders is the most con- 

 venient mode for amateurs, and in 

 general it produces the most agree- 

 able effect in a private garden ; for 

 beds of Hyacinths have more the 

 appearance of being cultivated for 

 sale by a florist, though it must be 

 confessed that stronger flowers are 

 produced in this way, and the 

 effect, considered by itself, is far 

 more splendid. 



Beds of Hyacinths. — The most 

 convenient width is five feet ; and 

 the length may be greater or less, at 

 pleasure. Five feet in width will 

 admit of four rows for the four 

 colours of red, white, blue, and 

 yellow, which should be six inches 

 apart between the rows, and the 

 bulbs may be placed at the same 

 distance from each other in the row. 

 The arrangement of the colours may 

 be according to fancy, but the com- 

 mon mode is never to have two of a 

 colour together. To prepare the 

 bed, dig out the soil to the depth 

 of three feet, and fill it up to one 

 foot above the surface with very 

 sandy loam, mixed with leaf-mould, 

 cow-dung, or hotbed dung tho- 

 roughly rotten. This may be done 

 in September, and in October six 

 inches of the soil may be removed, 

 and the bulbs planted ; after which 

 the soil must be replaced. To pro- 

 tect the bulbs from too much wet 

 during the winter, the surface of 

 the bed should be gently sloped to 

 each side ; and duriag rainy wea- 

 ther it may be covered with reeds 

 or thatch, in such a manner as to 

 throw off the rain. Thus treated, 

 the plants will bloom with great 

 vigour ; and to have the colours in 

 the greater perfection, the bed 

 ought to be covered in the flower- 

 ing season with a tent or an awning. 

 But for amateurs the most conve- 



