HYACINTH OR IRIS? 53 



they are so cheap; also one feels that they are 

 hardly treated with the respect they deserve in 

 England. " They," so it is often complained here, 

 " do so little good the second year, arid the offset 

 bulbs, when there are any, are so very poor." But 

 why not ? Why should not the offsets be poor ? 

 If under the hands of those who give time, and 

 experience, and understanding, they are only good 

 after so much labour, why should they be good 

 without any trouble or labour at all ? And for 

 doing well a second year, a hyacinth is as other 

 plants, it has its time of maturity, its gradual 

 approach to it, and its decline : it takes four years 

 to reach its finest under this treatment ; afterwards 

 it usually declines from it. The rate and style of 

 the decline will vary, but it is not likely to be 

 delayed by the treatment of the English amateur 

 or in the English flower-bed. "It is," so an old 

 grower once said, " as you may call the flower of 

 one year, but what a flower 1 tt requires four 

 years to make it, then there is the Flower ; after 

 that it is nothing, usually I would not say thank 

 you for it. Ah, but when it is there, it is indeed 

 a Flower ! One can respect that ! " 



In England hyacinths are not respected ; the 

 average English gardener now wants something 



