HYACINTH. 



HYACINTH. 



HYACINTHUS. 



ASPHODELEJE. HEXANDRIA MONOCYNIA. 



Fabled to have sprung from the blood of Hyacinthus, when he was 

 accidentally slain by Apollo with a quoit. Some derive the name 

 from the Greek name of the violet, <a, and Cynthus, one of the names 

 of Apollo. French, Jacinthe des fleuristes ; [Florist's Hyacinth] ; 

 Jacinthe Orientale [Oriental Hyacinth]. Italian, il giacinto ; diacinto. 



HYACINTHS may be blown either in earth or water; if 

 in water, they may be set in the glasses any time between 

 October and March, and, by setting several in succession, 

 may be continued for several months. The water should 

 come a little above the neck of the glass, so that the bot- 

 tom of the bulb may just sink below -the surface. It will 

 be well to place it in a part of the room where the sun 

 can reach it, and it should have as much air as can con- 

 veniently be admitted into an inhabited room. The bulb 

 will soon send out strong fibres below, and the stem will 

 shoot above : these fibres form no mean portion of the 

 beauty of the Hyacinth, and plead for its being placed in 

 water rather than in earth. After it has begun to shoot, 

 the water should be changed once a week, and before the 

 stem is bent by the weight of the flower, it should be tied 

 with a bit of green worsted to a stick, which some of the 

 bulb glasses are purposely made to admit. 



Some persons have an earthenware vessel with a cover 

 perforated with holes to admit the bottom of the bulbs : 

 this being filled with water up to the cover, and a bulb 

 placed upon each hole, with the bottom just dipping into 

 the water, a number of flowers may be blown together, 

 which will make a handsome display. The beauty of the 

 fibrous roots is here as entirely lost as if the bulbs were 

 planted in earth, an objection which would be obviated by 



