RYACINTHUS 



Noble par Merite. Deep losa. 

 Single Lilac : 



Haydn. Lilac-mauve. 

 Single Yellow: 



Ida. Pure yellow. 



King of the Yellows. Deep yellow. 

 Double Yellow: 



Goethe. Bright yellow. 



Miniature Hyacinths, or "Dutch Romans," are small- 

 sized bulbs of the ordinary Dutch Hyacinths, They are 

 excellent for growing in groups in bowls, pans or flats, 

 planted close together and treated just like the large 

 Hyacinths when grown in pots. 



Culture in Olasses. — Some of the single Hyacinths 

 may be grown very satisfactorily in water. Special 

 glasses for the purpose can be bought from the seeds- 

 men. They should be filled with pure water and the 

 bulb so placed that its base barely touches the water. 

 They are stored in a dark, cold closet or cellar till the 

 roots are developed, and then brought in to the light. 

 An airy, sunny situation and a temperature of about 

 60° regularly maintained will insure the best results. 

 The glasses should be kept filled by adding water occa- 

 sionally as required. The following varieties are es- 

 pecially suited for glasses : 



Charles Dickens. Blue. 

 Baron van Thuyll. Deep blue. 

 Mr. Plimsoll, Fine blush. 

 Obelisque. Yellow. 

 Moreno. Deep rose. 

 Sir. Wm. Mansfield. Mauve. 



Soman Myacinths .— Instead of one large truss from 

 each bulb, the Roman Hyacinth produces three or four 

 smaller but more graceful flower-spikes. The bulbs ar- 

 rive in America in August, and by successive pottings 

 they may be had in flower from November till May. 

 They require the same forcing treatment as the larger 

 Hyacinths, but three or four bulbs may be planted in a 

 pot. The florists use wooden flats instead of pots, set- 

 ting the bulbs close tngi-tlicr, 40 or ."lO in a flat. By rea- 

 son of its beauty anil . v<|iii ii, Tiil i ;iii<'e, its earliness 

 and easy culture, the wl I I' Mjnth is the most 

 popular of our winter l . ,i^. Several mil- 

 lions of these bulbs ;u-. _i, ,,, ;,ily by the florists 



of our large cities for wuiU; . tii Uu.iui.s. 



Tlie Propagation of Hyacinlhii.-With the exception 

 of the Roman Hyacinths (which come from the south of 

 France), the world's supply of Hyacinth bulbs is pro- 

 e soil and climate of that country 



duced in Holland. Th: 



seem to be peculiarly suitable for bulb-grow 



vhich 



has been one of the leading industries there for 200 

 years. The bulbs intended ifor next year's market are 

 planted in October in carefully prepared, richly manured 

 land, and protected over winter by a thick covering of 

 reed or litter. The flowers are ciit when in full bloom 

 in the spring. By July the bulbs are fully ripened, and 



are taken out of the ground by hand, dried, cleaned an 

 assorted into three grades of quality, according to size 

 Early in August they are ready for shipping. Over 

 grown or unshapely bulbs are reserved for Dropaqating 



tnese are taken out of the ground, three 

 deep cross cuts are made with a sharp knife in the bot 

 toni of each bulb. They are then set out, bottom up 

 wards, and covered with loose soil for two or three 

 weeks, during which time the cuts open out and the 

 wounds are healed. They are then taken up and kept 

 spread out on tables in storehouses till October, when 

 they are planted out. When lifted next June nothing of 

 the parent bulb remains but dry skins, on the edges of 

 which from 20 to 30 offsets are fastened. These bulb- 

 lets are picked off by hand and planted out in the fall, 

 just like large bulbs. This process of planting in fall 

 and taking up in summer for a two months' rest is re- 

 peated for four or five years, till the bulbs have attained 

 to marketable size. Another method of propagating is 

 to hollow out the bottom of the bulb smoothly to a point 

 in the center. More offsets are obtained in this way, 

 but they are smaller and take a year or two longer to 

 reach maturity. 



New varieties are obtained from seed, but such a de- 

 gree of perfection in form and color has already been 

 obtained that it is seldom a seedling is produced that 

 proves superior to existing varieties of the same color. 

 Some new varieties are obtained by encouraging any 

 tendency to change of c<.b.r or f..rm which may be 

 shown by the standard scui In iin- \K:,y the single 

 blue Charles Dickens h:is i i '.■■■.. u, .single red 



and lo double blue, and :i^: ntlv. to double 



red, till we have four vari. t 

 Last year's catalogue of a 

 tains 'MO named Hyacinths. 



< ■! I li:uii-s Dickens. 

 Dutch grower con- 

 . Thorbcrn & Co. 



HYBRIDS are the jiroducts cf crof 

 cies. Of late, the w,.r,l llxl.n,! I,;,. 

 writers to compris.' iill . I' 

 or varieties. Th.- jn^iiiicii i 

 that there are no li;ii-.l :iihI i.i-i lim- 

 and species, and there tore that liyl 

 sense is incapable of exact delimitati< 

 to this usage, however, contend that i 

 tomary to speak nf species and vai 



the 



aid 



. The opponents 

 long as it is cus- 

 ties as different 

 iflcntorv cntf-L'i.riis, it is equally allowable and use- 

 ful to sp.iil , I II' 1, 1,1- ;is between species and of cross- 

 breeds :i- liis i moreover, historical cus- 

 tom favi ( nmmon-language terms rarely 

 if ever c\pr. ^- :ii. .IhIc or ideal truth: they grow up by 

 custom. Wlienevi-r new ideas and discoveries render 

 them inexact, it may be quite as well to invent new 

 terms as to give new and technical meanings to old 

 terms which are thoroughly established in litera- 

 ture. The word Hybrid has always been a specific 

 term, and it were a pity now to make it a generic one, 

 particularly since there is a well established generic 

 term. The generic word, both substantive and verb, is 

 cross. Specific kinds of crosses are Hybrids, between 

 species; cross-breeds, between plants of the same spe- 

 cies ; half-hybrid, between a species and a variety of 

 another species ; bigener, between plants of different 



