GARDEN FLOWERS. 199 



planted in October, and be taken up when the leaves die 

 down. The beds must be protected against severe frosts 

 and heavy rains in winter, and against all that may damage 

 the foliage in spring. Hyacinths flower beautifully in pots 

 as well as in glasses for the greenhouse and window. Deep 

 pots, five inches in diameter, should be used, the soil made 

 very firm beneath the bulb, and the top of the bulb about 

 level with the surface. The medium-sized, plump-looking, 

 full-crowned bulbs should be chosen, and potted early in 

 October. After potting, plunge the pots in old tan or coal- 

 ashes, so as to cover them two or thre'e inches, and let them 

 remain until removed in succession to a warm room or house 

 to forward the blooms. When grown in glasses of water, 

 the dark-colored glasses should be preferred, and the more 

 opaque the better. November is soon enough to put the 

 bulbs in the glasses. First keep them a week or so in damp 

 sand or moss, then put them in the hollowed top of the 

 glass, and at first allow the water but just to touch their 

 base. Rain-water, quite clean, should be used, and this 

 changed once a week. The glasses should be set in the 

 dark until the roots have grown an inch or two in length. 

 When the flower-stem is advancing, two drops of spirits of 

 hartshorn may be put into the water each time it is changed, 

 with advantage. Tye's hyacinth-glasses are the best, and 

 these are provided with an elegant support for the stem. 

 Bulbs grown in water should be put in the ground when 

 their flowers have decayed ; for they derive considerable 

 strength from it, and, besides that, perfect their offsets, if 

 they have any. Hyacinths will grow well in wet sand, and 

 when it is covered with moss the plants look very pretty. 



H. amethystinus (amethyst -colored) ; hardy bulb ; 9 inches ; 

 flowers bright-blue, in April ; south of Europe ; 1759. H. Orien- 

 talis (Oriental) ; hardy bulb ; I foot ; flowers blue, white, red, or 

 yellowish; single or double, in April ; Levant; 1596. 



