hyaci'nthus. 



148 



hydra'ngea. 



expanded, the flower-pot being re- 

 moved, and the bulb wrapped in wet 

 moss. Sometimes another flower ap- 

 pears growing from the other end of 

 the glass; but this is grown in another 

 flower-pot in the usual way, and only 

 removed to the glass when it is wanted 

 to produce the proper effect. Decep- 

 tions of this kind cannot be considered 

 in good taste, particularly at the pre- 

 sent day, when people are so much 

 better educated than formerly. Hya- 

 cinths flowered in water are seldom 

 good for much afterwards; neverthe- 

 less, if the leaves are carefully pre- 

 served, and the plants, immediately 

 that they have done flowering, are 

 planted in a nursery-bed, they will 

 recover their vigour in two or three 

 years. It is also said that sinking the 

 bulb entirely in water after it has done 

 flowering invigorates it, and will enable 

 it to flower the second year ; but I have 

 never had an opportunity of proving 

 this. A very small portion of com- 

 mon salt added to the water has been 

 found to accelerate the growth of 

 Hyacinths, and give a deeper green to 

 their leaves ; and keeping the water 

 warm, say at a temperature of 60°, 

 also accelerates their growth. It 

 must, however, be remembered, that 

 too much salt will kill the plants. 



Growing Hyacinths in pots of 

 soil requires no particular care. To 

 insure a vigorous growth, the pots 

 ought to be deeper than usual, and 

 they need not be much wider at the 

 top than at the bottom. The soil 

 ought to be a sandy loam, mixed with 

 rotten leaves or dung so thoroughly 

 decayed as to have become a kind of 

 mould, and the pots ought to be well 

 drained. When first planted, which 

 ought to be in September, or any 

 period between that month and Fe- 

 bruary, the bulbs may be kept in a 

 cool place, and covered with soil or 

 rotten tan, till the buds have begun 

 to move; when the pots may be taken 



to the greenhouse or the windows of 

 a warm room, and if the soil be wa- 

 tered with warm water they will grow 

 so much the faster. When the plants 

 have done flowering, they may be 

 turned out of the pots with the balls 

 of earth unbroken, into the common 

 soil ; and the bulbs may be taken up 

 and dried when the leaves have de- 

 cayed. Bulbs which have flowered in 

 pots seldom flower vigorously the se- 

 cond year ; and unless the amateur 

 has abundance of room for a nursing- 

 bed, and leisure to manage it, it is 

 better to throw away at once bulbs 

 which have been flowered either in 

 pots or in water-glasses. 



Hydra'ngea. — Saxifragece. - 

 There are several kinds of Hydrangea, 

 most of which are American shrubs, 

 which are quite hardy in British gar- 

 dens. The kind best known, however, 

 and which is called the Hydrangea, 

 par excellence, is a Chinese shrub, 

 which is only half-hardy in England. 

 Botanists call it Hydrangea Hor- 

 tensia, the specific name being given 

 in honour of a French lady, whose 

 Christian name was Hortense ; and 

 though it is now so common, it has 

 not been introduced much more than 

 fifty years ; the first plant of it grown 

 in Britain having been imported from 

 China by Sir Joseph Banks, in 1789 

 or 17£)0, about the same time as the 

 tree Peony. The Hydrangea, though 

 nearly hardy, is generally considered 

 as a greenhouse or window plant; and 

 it is admirably adapted for the latter 

 situation, as it is scarcely possible to 

 give it too much water, though water 

 may be withheld from it for several 

 days without killing it — the plant re- 

 minding its possessor of its wants by 

 its conspicuously drooping leaves, and 

 reviving rapidly when water is given. 

 It should be grown in a rich soil, and 

 its branches should be cut in every 

 year when it has done flowering ; as, 

 otherwise- the branches are apt to be- 



