i i 
aietinaael 
HYACINTHS 595 
land, has smaller flowers in looser racemes, and more slender 
leaves. 
_H. romanus (Roman). Leaves fleshy, somewhat spreading, four 
or five only. Flowers scentless, white or pale blue, twenty to thirty 
in a raceme; scape 6 to 12 inches high; 
These are so numerous, and the names so often mis- 
leading, that we do not propose to give a list. Instead, we 
refer our readers to the autumnal catalogue of a reliable house, in 
which they will find extensive selections of the best kinds. Varieties 
with a particular name may be obtained single or double, and in several 
colours; this is a fact that should be borne in mind when ordering ~ 
bulbs. Further, if this year you have grown Grand Vainqueur white, 
and are so pleased with it that you determine next season you will 
try the red or the blue form of the same, it does not follow that you 
will get a plant similar in all respects except colour. We are told by 
Heer J. H. Kersten, of Haarlem, that such varieties have not even a 
common descent from the original Grand Vainqueur. He says: “ There 
Garden Varieties, 
are, for instance, three different varieties of single blue Queen of the 
Blues, which are kept distinct in Holland [but not in English catalogues] 
by the additional names of Haarlem, Overveen, or Hillegom Queen of 
the Blues. Thus we have the pleasure of noting three distinct varieties 
which are named alike, and yet which is the true Queen amongst all 
these Queens no Dutchman will undertake to decide” (Journal Roy. 
Hort. Soc. xi. p. 61). It may be added that for pot- or glass-culture 
single varieties should be selected, as giving the more satisfactory 
results. A few doubles may be used in pots, but not in glasses. 
Imported bulbs contain sufficient food for a season’s 
flowering, therefore the soil is a matter not of the greatest 
importance—they may be flowered well, as we all know, with their 
roots in pure water. But when we look forward to the increase of 
the bulbs, and their preparation for flowering next year, the question 
of suitable soil is of great moment. A well-dug sandy: soil of great 
depth, enriched with thoroughly rotted cow-manure, is the best. Fresh 
manure should never be used with bulbous plants. The Dutch 
bulb-farmers enrich their ground with cow-manure, and take a crop 
of potatoes from it before planting their bulbs. Hyacinths should 
be planted out of doors in October, taking care that all are placed 
at an equal depth; this should be such that the crowns of large and 
small bulbs alike are just three inches below the surface. It is a 
good plan to put a little fine sand immediately below the bulb, and a 
little more above it. If a bed is to be filled with hyacinths, or lines or 
Culture. 
