74 FAMILIAR GAItUEN FL()WERf<. 



practically on a bed of water — in other words^ tliere is 

 water everywhere within from nine to thirty inches of the 

 surface, and hence the custom of building upon piles, be- 

 cause dry foundations are not obtainal^le. Experience has 

 taught the Dutch growers that the hyacinth requires liberal 

 nourishing without stimulating agencies of any kind, and 

 that water is as needful to it as earth ; it is, in fact, semi- 

 aquatic. Now see how the requirements of the plant are 

 satisfied by the cultivator. A tract of the sandy soil is 

 first heavily manured with material derived from the cow- 

 Ijyres, and is then planted with potatoes. The crop of 

 potatoes being removed, the rankness of the manure is 

 gone, and the land is ready f(5r li}-acinths, which accord- 

 ingly are planted. The smallest offsets require five 

 years' cultivation to become handsome, marketable bulbs, 

 and the course of cultivation now concerns us. 



The bulbs being planted in the autumn are left to the 

 mercies of the weather, for no frost ever injures them in 

 the ground. But in spring, when the green leaves appear, 

 large, light hurdles, made of reeds, are employed to protect 

 them in the event of severe frost, "which will sometimes 

 even penetrate the protectors, and cause the leafage to 

 assume a golden-yellow colour, giving a singular appear- 

 ance to large tracts of land. But the time of severe frost 

 passes, and the flowers appear. It is often stated in books 

 that the Dutch growers do not allow the bulbs to flower ; 

 but that is, happily, a mistake, and one of the most sur- 

 prising displays of colour may be seen every year, in tlie 

 later days of April and the early days of INIay, in the 

 bulb-grounds in the pleasant suburbs of Haarlem. But 

 while flowering does no harm, it is otherwise with seed- 

 bearing, which is strictly prohibited, and conseiiuently 



