THE HYACINTH. 195 



' Your commands shall be executed with fidelity/ 

 was the answer returned by Mynheer, accompanied 

 with a bow expressive of the obligation and favour 

 received. 



' Now, Mynheer, when I receive those bulbs in 

 England, I do not mean to be satisfied with one 

 year's bloom, and then cast them away; I intend to 

 try how far care and culture will assist me in pre- 

 serving them, and in preventing that degeneracy, 

 which our English gardeners say they so soon fall 

 into ; I shall therefore feel obliged to you for any 

 information upon this subject which you may be 

 disposed to impart, and upon which your experience 

 so well enables you to speak.' 



' You rate my poor abilities too highly, Sir/ 

 answered Mynheer ; ' and I fear you will be dis- 

 appointed in the information which you seem de- 

 sirous to obtain; for I have no particular methods 

 to communicate, no successful experiments to detail,, 

 which are not known and practised by us all. Our 

 soil round Haarlem is upon the whole poor and 

 sterile, consisting of nearly two-thirds sand to one 



K 2 



