SEPTEMBER 179 



better to ignore these altogether. The money 

 spent in buying a dozen of them would buy a 

 hundred or a hundred and fifty tulips or narcissi, 

 which are not only incomparably cheaper, but 

 infinitely more satisfying to the properly cultivated 

 eye. If, however, hyacinths are essential to the 

 well-being of the amateur gardener, let me re- 

 commend the purchase of what are called children's 

 miniature hyacinths. The nearer the flower ap- 

 proaches to the standard of perfection necessary 

 to success at the show table, the more it must 

 offend the taste of the lover of the graceful. 

 These miniatures, on the contrary, though they 

 may transgress every canon laid down by the 

 judges, approach nearer than the others to the 

 grace and charm of the Roman hyacinths ; they 

 can be bought at a good deal less than half the 

 price of the ordinary bulbs, though there are very 

 few dealers who catalogue them. Messrs. Barr, 

 however, do so, and from them they can be 

 obtained at a very moderate price. 



It is difficult to go wrong with the narcissus. In 

 the ordinary warm greenhouse most of them can 

 be grown to perfection, as its conditions are exactly 

 what suits them best. Very few of them will bear 

 forcing in the strict use of the term, but fortunately 

 nearly all will flourish under glass if properly 

 treated. The only two that I have failed with are 

 the double poeticus and the double sulphur Phcenix, 

 and I think that even with these the difficulty 

 could be easily overcome if they were boxed early 

 and given cold-frame treatment until the buds 

 appear, after they are taken from the plunge. But 



