EVERY WOMAN HER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 97 



culture, and increase rapidly by offsets ; they can remain in the ground 

 three years, but may be taken up every year, when their leaves have 

 become yellow. October is the best season for replanting them, but 

 "November will do in warm climates. They should be planted two inches 

 deep, and an inch or two apart. The new varieties are raised from seed. 

 These bulbs are perfectly hardy, but will come forward better in the 

 spring, if the ground is covered with a bed of leaves or evergreen boughs. 



Among the new varieties are : 



Albion, blue, striped with white. 



Caroline Chisholm, purest white. 



Cloth of Gold, yellow, striped with black. 



Cloth of Silver, white, striped with purple. 



David Bizzio, dark purple. 



Elise, light, shaded. 



Ivanhoe, blue and white. 



Ne plus ultra, blue bordered. 



Miss Nightingale, light striped. 



Queen Victoria, pure white. 



Scotch, yellow, with purple stripes. 



Sir Walter Scott, pencilled lilac. 



Van Speyk, violet striped. 



The Hyacinth. 



This plant, though a native of the desert, has been domesticated for 

 many centuries, and is aptly styled the " Domestic Flower," for it is 

 dearly loved in many homes. 



Haarlem is the great focus of bulbous cultivation ; its soil consists of 

 light vegetable mould mixed with sand, and under this is a substrata of 

 sand which drains off the heavy spring rains. Florists of other countries 

 have imitated this soil, thereby producing as fine bulbs as can be raised 

 in Holland. 



All new varieties are raised from seeds, but much care and patience 

 are required, and often not more than six fine flowers will be found in 

 a thousand seedlings ; so it is the best to content ourselves with raising 

 them from the bulbs, which multiply rapidly by offsets, which should 

 be planted out by themselves, in a dry, sunny location ; if they attempt 

 to flower the first spring, pick off the buds, for the root needs all its 

 strength ; but the next spring they will flower well, and after that can 

 be treated like grown-up bulbs. 

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