148 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



CHAPTER VI. GENERAL 



In the cultivation of hyacinths it is impossible to keep to 

 any fixed rule. Not only must every country and climate 

 make its own, but every hyacinth has its own ways and 

 customs, its own special qualities and characteristics. The 

 most distinguished of their species exact a great deal of 

 attention, care, and management. 



" Francois 1st " finds great difficulty in producing offshoots, 

 and great care has to be taken of the young bulb, but when 

 once arrived at full growth it is not as subject to disease 

 of various kinds as are other bulbs, and it does not die 

 easily. It is the only bulb that still continued to command 

 a high price twenty-five years after its first appearance ; 100 

 florins were paid for a single bulb. 



" Rien ne me Surpasse " is one of the most perfect blue, 

 but it has such wretched, weak, faded, even crumpled leaves, 

 one would think the poor thing was ill, but notwithstanding 

 it produces a handsome, healthy-looking flower. 



" Passe non plus ultra " also looks very deplorable as to 

 its leaves, they seem hardly able to hold up, and remain 

 lying flat upon the ground, though quite green and well. 



On the other hand, " Og Roi de Basan " shoots up its leaves 

 so straight and tall, and so large, that they seem quite out 

 of proportion to others, and the flower is an extraordinary 

 height, overtopping all the rest. The " Theatre-Italien " is 

 a good red, but it grows very short, and comes out before 

 its leaves, so that its head may be nipped by the frost. 



" Marquise de Bonnac " is a very delicate colour, but it 

 gives way in the stem before the flower is fully out. The 

 stems seems to fade and dry up, and the flower falls on its 

 face, and this is a very tiresome habit. But it does not seem 

 to damage the bulb, which flowers regularly every year, 

 notwithstanding these little accidents. A famous florist told 



