HYACINTHS. 55 



and from the frost, till the time of planting again. All the 

 species delight in a rich, light, sandy loam, and should not be 

 planted more than one and a half inches under the surface. 



Gladiolus natalensis, called by some psittacinus, has not 

 been known many years among us, and was considered, when 

 first introduced, as being very superb; but it has such a pro- 

 pensity to increase, that it has become very common, and is 

 now looked upon with indifference. The flowers are scarlet, 

 on a greenish-yellow ground, produced in long, one-sided 

 spikes; the stems sometimes four feet high, with fifteen or 

 twenty buds and blooms. In perfection in August. 



G. natalensis has, within a few years, been eclipsed by the 

 magnificent variety, G. gandavensis, producing long spikes of 

 the most vivid scarlet flowers. I have had flowering stems 

 four and five feet high, which threw out a succession of spikes 

 of its rich and brilliant blossoms. 



G. floribunda is another beautiful species, with a profusion 

 of delicate pink flowers, marked with purple, about two or 

 three feet high, in August. The treatment of all the tender vari- 

 eties is similar ; if they are planted in pots, forwarded in a 

 hot bed, and turned into the open ground in June, they flower 

 some earlier, and grow stronger. 



There are other beautiful species and varieties, one of which 

 is G. cardinalis, with scarlet flowers spotted with white, but 

 most of them do not succeed well in the open ground. 



HYACINTHUS. 



Garden Hyacinth. 



" Hyacinth, with sapphire bell 

 Curling backwards." 



" The youths whose locks divinely spreading, 

 Like vernal Hyacinths in sullen hue." 



The Hyacinth is a highly esteemed florist's flower, of easy 

 culture, of which more than one thousand varieties are culti- 



