HYACI'NTHUS. 



147 



HYACI'NTHUS. 



at once ; as the disease is infectious, 

 and will communicate itself to healthy 

 hulbs lying near the diseased ones. 

 Hyacinth bulbs are generally fit for 

 putting in baskets in the course of the 

 month of July, and the bed being 

 partially renewed with fresh soil, they 

 may be planted again in September or 

 October. A third part of the soil 

 being taken away, and replaced by 

 fresh soil every year, the bed may 

 continue to be used for an unlimited 

 period. Young bulbs or offsets will 

 be produced more or less every season, 

 and these may be taken off when the 

 bulbs are raised, laid by themselves, 

 and planted in a nursery-bed for a 

 year ; when they will have grown 

 sufficiently large to be fit for planting 

 in the flowering bed. Single-flowered 

 Hyacinths, whether in mixed borders 

 or in beds, will generally have a ten- 

 dency to produce seeds ; but as these 

 weaken the bulbs, the flower-stalks 

 should be cut off as soon as the flowers 

 have faded, or the capsules ought to be 

 stripped off the flower-stalk with the 

 hand as soon as they appear ; unless, 

 indeed, it is wished to raise new sorts, 

 — in which case the seeds may be 

 allowed to ripen, and they should be 

 sown under glass as soon as they are 

 ripe. They will come up the follow- 

 ing spring, and, if carefully transplant- 

 ed and properly treated, will produce 

 flowers in from three to five years. 



Flowering Hyacinths in glasses 

 of water is a very simple operation, 

 and roay be effected by filling the glass 

 with water up to the neck ; and then 

 placing the bulb in the cup-shaped 

 part of the glass intended to re- 

 ceive it, and renewing the water from 

 time to time when it begins to get 

 muddy. When the water is changed 

 the bulb should not be taken out, un- 

 less the roots are short and few, but 

 the hand should be put over the top 

 of the glass so as to retain the bulb in 

 its place, and the water carefully and 



slowly poured off. This is done to 

 prevent any injury being done to the 

 long roots, as they are very brittle and 

 easily broken, and the plant is seri- 

 ously injured by their being in an im- 

 perfect state. When one of the long 

 roots is broken, it should be cut off 

 with a sharp knife close to the bulb. 



To grow Hyacinths in water- 

 glasses to the greatest perfection, 

 it is advisable first to plant the 

 bulbs in soil, and when they have 

 made roots of an inch or more in 

 length, to take them up, wash the 

 roots, and place the bulb in the glass. 

 The use of previously planting the 

 bulb in the soil is to cause it to throw 

 out roots more freely ; the stimulus 

 of the moist earth being found more 

 effective for this purpose than mois- 

 ture alone. When the bulbs are put 

 into the water, without previously 

 planting them in the ground, the 

 glasses may be kept for a few days 

 in the dark, till the roots begin to 

 grow ", but as soon as this is the case, 

 the glasses should be placed in a warm 

 room near the light, when the plants 

 will grow rapidly. Should the flower- 

 stems appear weak, they may be sup- 

 ported by a slender prop fixed in a 

 disk of wood, on which the glass may 

 be placed as its base; or by any other 

 elegant or convenient means. In 

 choosing Hyacinths for "water- glasses, 

 the red and blue flowers are prefer- 

 able to those which are white or yel- 

 low; the latter two having a fragrance 

 too powerful for rooms, and, besides, 

 they generally flower weaker in glasses 

 than the others. In the windows of 

 seed-shops we sometimes see Hya- 

 cinths or Narcissi with their flowers 

 inverted in a glass of water, appearing 

 as if they had grown in that position. 

 They are, however, grown in the usual 

 manner, with the glass inverted over 

 the pot in which the flower is grown, 

 and only turned and the glass filled 

 up with water after the flower has 

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