138 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



insists so much on variety that even seeds taken from the 

 same seed-vessel do not produce flowers alike. Some may be 

 red, others blue or white, large or small, as the case may be, 

 sometimes they are fortunate enough to get several double 

 varieties from the seed of the single hyacinth. It must be 

 confessed, added to other difficulties there is this : it is four 

 years before the seed produces its flower that is, in an 

 ordinary way, for sometimes it is more advanced by one or 

 two years. As during the course of four years the bulbs are 

 taken up three times out of the ground, it may sometimes 

 happen that the experiment has failed through negligence, 

 but there has never been any doubt at all about the fact 

 of a seed never producing the same kind of hyacinth as the 

 parent stock. 



One should not cut the hyacinth stalk, or separate it from 

 the bulb, if seeds are to be taken from it, until the ovaries 

 are yellow and beginning to open and show their seeds, 

 which should be already black. Then they can be cut and 

 put in a place where they are protected from sun and rain, 

 and when the ovaries are quite dry the seed can be taken 

 from them and very carefully kept (not wrapped up or 

 covered) until the time for sowing them, about the middle 

 of October. Growers who have no interest in preserving 

 the seed believe it is a bad thing to exhaust their bulbs by 

 leaving the seed to ripen on the plant. The earth that the 

 seeds are thrown upon should be well prepared (I shall 

 describe its composition presently). 



The seed is visible enough to be spread about without 

 the necessity of mixing it with sand, as is sometimes done 

 with vegetable garden seeds. They must not be sown too 

 thick, and about an inch deep. When it is beginning to 

 turn cold they must be protected from the frost by a covering 

 of manure, leaves, or tan. The seed, which begins soon to 

 germinate, is very sensitive to heat and cold. The parts of 



