THE HYACINTH. 203 



to leave the raising of seedlings in the hands of the 

 Dutch florist, with all its care, trouble, and advan- 

 tages/ 



( Allow me, Mynheer,' rejoined my friend, c to 

 return you my hearty thanks for this excellent bota- 

 nical lecture, if I may so term it, to which I have 

 listened with peculiar satisfaction; if I fail in the 

 successful culture of my bulbs, with these clear me- 

 thodical directions before me, I shall most certainly 

 attribute it to my unskilful application of them.' 



With a hearty shake of the hand my friend and 

 Mynheer Bloemist then separated, perfectly satisfied 

 with each other. 



This flower is certainly not so extensively culti- 

 vated among us as many others that are less beau- 

 tiful and inviting ; this arises, I am inclined to think, 

 from the vulgar notion which, by the bye, may be, 

 after all, a vulgar error that the bulbs are hardly 

 worth cultivating a second year in Britain, and are, 

 therefore, like the Guernsey Lily, cast away as 

 useless. 



I have not the least doubt but that in many parts 



