276 FLOTVER nARDEN. 



which they enliven at the most dead season of the year. 

 In chambers, they are grown in water-glasses made for 

 the purpose ; or, with still greater advantage, in boxes 

 filled with damp hypnum-moss. 



New varieties of hyacinths are procured by sowing 

 the seed ; but this is a tedious process, and seldom fol- 

 lowed in this country. The established sorts are pro- 

 pagated by offsets or small bulbs, which 'form at the 

 base of the parent bulb. Almost all the hyacinths cul- 

 tivated in this country are imported from Holland, and 

 the quantity of roots annually introduced must be very 

 great. 



The Tulip^ Tulipa Gesneriana, is a native of the 

 East, whence it was introduced into Europe about the- 

 middle of the sixteenth century. Gaudy as it is, it has 

 no proper corolla, but only a calyx of six colored sepals. 

 About the year 1635, the culture of the tulip was very 

 engrossing ; and, indeed, the rage for possessing choice 

 sorts had become so great in Holland as to give rise 

 to a strange species of gambling, known to the collec-' 

 tors of literary and scientific- anecdotes by the name of 

 Tulipo-mania, which has tended to bring unmerited dis- 

 credit on this fine flower. At present, the finer tulips 

 are mostly of moderate price, and though not to be 

 met with in every garden, have yet some zealous culti- 

 vators. 



• There are some varieties, such as the early Due Van 

 Thol, yellow, white, and red ; the Clarimond, the Par- 

 rots, and the Double Tulips, which belong, properly 

 speaking, to the general cultivator. The genuine tulip- 

 grower despises these, and will^not sufi'er them to enter 

 his select bed. In England, the florists' tulips are 

 arranged under four classes. 1. The Bizarres, which 



