NOVEMBER. 25 



Description of the several Flowers mentioned in this 

 month. 



HYACINTH. 



" Hyacinths of purest virgin white, 



Low bent and blushing inward ." 



The Hyacinth is a native of the desert, but has 

 been cultivated for many centuries in Holland with 

 great success. The Dutch have always been re- 

 markable for the improvement of their bulbs ; 

 originally, however, all double flowers were lightly 

 thought of, till at length one happened to make its 

 appearance, which when cultivated brought a great 

 price. This circumstance established the double 

 kinds, and brought them into universal estimation. 

 One of the oldest, named " The King of Great Bri- 

 tain," is said to have been sold for a sum, which is 

 as incredible as it would be imprudent to repeat ; 

 but it is certain that the Dutch florists converted 

 their judicious culture of bulbs to great profit, and 

 even to stock jobbing speculations, destructive to 

 many persons who engaged deeply in them. Haer- 

 lem was the great focus of bulbous cultivation, 

 where the soil is happily gifted by nature with the 

 requisites for Hyacinth culture. The surface con- 

 sists of light vegetable mould, formed by the decom- 

 position of leaves and other vegetable matter mixed 

 with sand, and under this a bed of pure sand, about 

 a foot deep, is to be met with, which latter acts as 

 a drain to free the upper surface from the redundant 

 moisture with which the heavy rains and melted 

 snows would otherwise inundate it in winter, to the 



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