282 CULTURE OF THE HYACINTH. 



properties above described. On no account should size be substituted 

 for form in estimating the merits of flower. The mode of treatment 

 I pursue is simple but very successful. 



Early in May I take off the small suckers that are appearing above 

 ground, of which there is usually a free supply from the old plants, I 

 cut them off close to the old plant, at a joint ; I then pot them off in 

 sand, about an inch of each being inserted therein. I water them 

 well at that time to settle the soil close to the stems, and in an hour 

 afterwards I cover them closley with a hand glass which is not re- 

 moved from off them, till they are rooted, this is easily ascertained by 

 the tops pushing. 



I take care to shade them on sunny days. When rooted I take 

 them up and transplant them into a nursery bed, in a warm situation, 

 there they remain till about the middle of July, at which time I put 

 them out, with as much earth adhering to the roots as possible, into the 

 places where they are intended to bloom, which they will do all the endof 

 summer and autumn, and flourish exceedingly finethe following spring. 



When the plants have grown very vigorously and the shoots are 

 long, I cut them down rather closley, after which they soon recover. 

 By this mode of treatment they very far exceed anything I ever saw 

 of Heartsease elsewhere: 



I never keep plants beyond the second year, as they get too 

 bushy, and the flowers are small, compared with those the year old 

 plants produced. The soil I bloom them in is as follows : — Two 

 parts loam, one part sandy peat, and the other well rotted hotbed 

 dung ; these are ivell blended together. 



Those plants I intend to grow for producing flowers for exhibition, 

 I plant in a half shady situation, the colours are thus preserved pure 

 and clear. 



ARTICLE X.— ON THE CULTURE OF THE HYACINTHS. 



BY J. R. W. WELLINGTON, SOMERSETSHIRE. 



There are so many accounts written on the culture of the Hyacinth, 

 that I fear you will consider mine superfluous, but as the manner 

 in which I force my Hyacinths is different from any that I have seen 

 published, perhaps you will give it a place in your useful and valuable 

 publication. 



Almost all growers of Hyacinths imagine that they are brought to 

 greater' perfection by growing them in a sandy soil ; but the follow- 

 ing course which I have adopted and the success I have met with, 

 incline me to think mine the best plan. 



