Hardy and Half-hardy Plants 



57 



but only very few find favour amongst growers for market. The most 

 popular are: La Grandesse and Mont Blanc, among single whites, and 

 La Tour de Vierge, double white. 



The best market Red Hyacinths are Garibaldi, General Pelissier, both 

 early; and Robert Steiger, late. The best blues are Leopold I and Charles 

 Dickens, and the best pinks are Moreno, single, and Noble Permerette, 

 double. 



Large numbers of Hyacinth bulbs are sold also for cultivation in the 

 open air, in bowls, vases, &c., as practised by private growers and public 

 gardeners. 



ROMAN HYACINTHS. A fairly good trade is done in what are known 

 as French Roman Hyacinths and in Dutch Roman or Miniature Hyacinths. 

 The price of the former to the grower for market varies from 10s. Qd. to 

 20s. and 30s. per 100 for bulbs according to size and quality, the usual sizes 

 being 12 to 13 cm. in circumference. Of late years the prices have increase'! 

 greatly. The Miniature or Dutch Roman Hyacinths, obtainable in red, 

 rose, white, blush, dark and light blue, and yellow colours, are much 

 cheaper than the French Romans, 100 bulbs costing about 5s. Growers 

 for cut flowers usually buy in thousands because they can secure better 

 terms, and because it is necessary to have a fairly good supply to cut from. 

 The White Roman Hyacinths are the most favoured for market work. 

 Each bulb produces from one to 

 three trusses of fine glistening- 

 white sweetly scented flowers 

 during the winter months, when 

 the bulbs are easily forced. If 

 not grown for sale in pots in 

 the same way as the ordinary 

 florist's Hyacinth, the bulbs of 

 Roman Hyacinths are generally 

 placed side by side in shallow 

 wooden boxes on a layer of 

 good soil, about half the bulb 

 being left exposed. Until root 

 action is established, however, 

 the bulbs are kept outside or in 

 a cool place covered with about 

 6 in. of sail or fine ashes, and 

 are brought into a house having 

 a temperature from 65 to 75 

 F., as they are required. 



Incarvillea Delavayi (fig. 

 210). A fine fleshy -rooted 

 Chinese perennial about 2 ft., 

 with coarsely toothed leaflets 

 and trusses of tubular rosy-carmine flowers spotted with brown and yellow 



Fig. 210. Incaroillea Delavayi 



