42 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



the garlic assumes a size and beauty which 

 might render it worthy of becoming an orna- 

 mental plant in our gardens." 



In Russia the hyacinth has been found wild, 

 with bells of deep yellow. The roots of all 

 species of hyacinth are more or less poisonous. 

 This flower is much admired in the east, and 

 some years since, the favourite apartment of 

 the Sultan at Constantinople was called the 

 chamber of the garden of hyacinths. Dr. 

 E. D. Clarke contrived to gain admittance into 

 this retired spot. He describes it as a small 

 garden, neatly arranged in a number of oblong 

 borders, edged with porcelain or Dutch tiles. 

 Not a flower was to be seen in this cherished 

 parterre, save the eastern hyacinth, and this 

 waved its thousands of bells ; but, by its mo- 

 notony, the garden was rendered less pleasing 

 than gardens in general, and had a dreary 

 and unvaried aspect. One would have ima- 

 gined that the powerful odours from a garden 

 of hyacinths, borne upon the warm air of the 

 soutla, would have rendered the neighbouring 

 apartment neither healthful nor agreeable; yet 

 here, gazing upon the flowers, the Sultan spent 

 a great part of his time. 



The starch hyacinth, called also grape 

 hyacinth or grape flower, [Muscari txicemosum,) 

 received its former name from Curtis, on 

 account of its strong odour of starch, and the 

 quantity of thick mucilage w*hich exists in the 

 plant. The old writers termed it tassel 

 hyacinth, " because," says Parkinson, " the 



