HYACINTH CULTURE AT HAARLEM 141 



red, blue, or white of its kind, but it will grow more perfect 

 and improve in height, size, and colour. If the flower turns 

 out to be double, the growers are delighted, and then they 

 will spare no pains in developing its beauty, for they know 

 not what degree of perfection it may yet attain. 



When the bulb is three years old (having a treble shoot, 

 and having lost its last completely enveloping tunic) it 

 possesses only the ordinary tunics, which are formed by the 

 expansion at the base of the leaves (these envelop only two- 

 thirds of the bulb). 



The bulb, when four years old (having developed more 

 perfect leaves and begun to produce flowers), is composed of 

 about twenty tunics. 



If the flower, during the fifth year, continues to develop 

 and shows to advantage in colour, form, etc., the growers' 1 

 hopes rise higher still, but they cannot tell even yet if the 

 flower will fulfil its great promise. 



A bulb which has grown too rapidly will sometimes throw 

 out young bulbs (or offshoots) at four or five years old, but 

 never before it has once, during the course of its life, put 

 forth a flower. This fact is important to remember in regard to 

 observations to be made later on, on the sdbject of vegetation. 



In the ordinary course of nature the bulb does not arrive 

 at its final state of perfection until its seventh year. The 

 grower delights to note its yearly growth in grace and 

 beauty, till at length it becomes pricieuse, then he is fully 

 repaid his care, and the kind is for ever fixed, and will never 

 vary again, and it will produce young bulbs which will, in 

 their turn, produce again, and all will perfectly resemble 

 their first parent bulb (though it has happened very seldom 

 indeed that flowers have changed in colour, but this will be 

 explained). 



Growers call the flowers they obtain by raising from seed 

 " Conquests." They share and exchange among themselves 



