HYACINTHUS. 



163 



HYACINTHUS. 



nient mode is, to form the bed of 

 such a size as to be contained either 

 in a common cucumber frame with 

 glass sashes, which may be put on 

 during heavy rains, and also diu'ing 

 sunshine ; tilting them at both ends 

 to admit a free circulation of air, 

 and covering the glass with mats to 

 exclude the sun. Care must be 

 taken to remove the glasses entirely 

 during cloudy weather, in order not 

 to draw up the plants ; and, for 

 the same reason, to take them off 

 every night when the weather is 

 diy. A common cucumber frame, 

 twelve feet long, and four feet wide, 

 will contain a very handsome col- 

 lection of Hyacinths ; which may 

 thus be grown to the highest degree 

 of peifection, and protected from 

 every exterior injury. As soon as 

 the plants have done flowering, the 

 frame and glasses may be removed ; 

 and when the leaves have become 

 yellowish, the bulbs may be taken 

 up, and each kind kept by itself, 

 and placed in an airy situation in 

 the shade till they are quite dry. 

 After this they should be cleansed 

 from any soil that may stick to 

 them, and the fibrous roots, which 

 will have withered up, should be 

 rubbed off. The bulbs should then 

 be laid on a shelf of lattice-work, 

 with the neck of the bulb down- 

 wards, or placed in shallow wicker 

 baskets, and hung up in an airy 

 shed or room till wanted for use. 

 If decay or canker make their ap- 

 pearance, the parts injured, if small, 

 should be cut out, and the bulb laid 

 aside to dry ; but if the parts in- 

 jured extend far, the bulb should 

 be thrown away at once, as the 

 disease is infectious, and will com- 

 municate itself to healthy bulbs 

 lying near the diseased ones. Hya- 

 cinth bulbs are generally fit for put- 

 ting in baskets in the course of the 

 month of July, and the bed being 



partially renewed with fresh soil, 

 they may be planted again in Sept- 

 ember or October. A third part of 

 the soil being taken away, and re- 

 placed by fresh soil every year, the 

 bed may continue to be used for an 

 unlimited period. Young bulbs ©r 

 offsets will be produced more or less 

 every season, and these may be 

 taken off when the bulbs are taken 

 up, laid by themselves, and planted 

 in a nursery-bed for a year, when 

 they will have grown sufficiently 

 large to be fit for planting in the 

 flowering-bed. Single-flowered Hya- 

 cinths, whether in mixed borders or 

 in beds, will generally have a ten- 

 dency to produce seeds ; but as 

 these weaken the bulbs, the flower- 

 stalks should be cut off as soon as 

 the flowers have faded, or the cap- 

 sules ought to be stripped off the 

 flower-stalks with the hand as soon 

 as they appear ; unless, indeed, it 

 is wished to raise new sorts — in 

 which case the seeds may be allowed 

 to ripen, and they should be sown 

 under glass as soon as they are 

 ripe. They will come up the fol- 

 lowing spring, and, if carefully 

 transplanted and properly treated, 

 will produce flowers in from three 

 to five years. 



Floioering Hyacinths in glasses 

 of xoater is a very simple operation, 

 and may be effected by filling the 

 glass with water up to the neck ; 

 and then placing the bulb in the cup- 

 shaped part of the glass intended 

 to receive it, and renewing the 

 water from time to time, when it 

 begins to get muddy. When the 

 water is changed the bulb should 

 not be taken out, unless the roots 

 are short and few, but the hand 

 should be put over the top of the 

 glass so as to retain the bulb in its 

 place, and the water carefully and 

 slowly poured off. This is done to 

 prevent any injury being done to 



M 2 



