APRIL. 41 



favourite flowers. The species thought to 

 have been earhest introduced into our gardens 

 is that called the King of Great Britain. Like 

 the tuhp and narcissus, this flower has been 

 much cultivated by the Dutch, and is still 

 among them an article of commerce with other 

 nations. They Avere the first European culti- 

 vators of the hyacinth, and raised it in their 

 gardens as eaidy as the commencement of the 

 sixteenth century. About the latter end of 

 that century, there were seven or eight varieties 

 knoma in England, while Miller says that iu 

 his time — rather more than a hundred years 

 ago — the Haarlem florists had above two 

 thousand kinds. The passion for hyacinths 

 which once existed in Holland, has, like many 

 other popular follies, greatly subsided; but the 

 beauty of the flower will ever make it valuable ; 

 and above four hundred kinds are annually 

 brought into England, by seedsmen, from Hol- 

 land. The garden hyacinth is a native of the 

 Levant and of several parts of the east. It 

 grows wild in abundance in some parts of 

 Syria, flowering in February, and its roots and 

 blossoms are much larger than those with us. 

 It is said to be very beautiful on the lands 

 lying by the coast of the Jordan, from the 

 Dead Sea. Schubert, describing his course 

 from this part of Syria, along the border of the 

 Lake of Gennesaret, says, " Whoever desires 

 views really extensive and beautiful, and lilies, 

 tulips, hyacinths, and narcissuses, must in the 

 sprinjj season visit this district, where also 



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