164 



On the Culture of Hyacinths. 



ture of straw or other litter. The sand is procured in the 

 neighbourhood of Haarlem, where the soil is a deposit of sea- 

 sand upon a compact layer of hard undecayed timber, the 

 remains of an ancient forest which has been overwhelmed by 

 the sea. The purest sand is procured by digging to some 

 depth. St. Simon imagines that this sand has peculiar vir- 

 tues, in consequence of an admixture of salt and sulphur, but 

 I believe he is mistaken ; for, in order to judge of the effects 

 of sulphur, I placed a Hyacinth on a glass full of sea 

 sand, having sprinkled on the surface some fresh sulphur, 

 which I had scraped off Hordle Cliff, in Hampshire, and the 

 bulb refused to vegetate or push any fibres till the sulphur 

 was removed. 



The leaves used by the Dutch are laid in a very large heap, 

 in a situation not much exposed to the sun, and not liable to 

 stagnation of water, which is carefully drained from them. 

 When they are decayed and fit for use, the compost is thus 

 made: first, they place a layer of sand, then one of dung, 

 and then one of rotten leaves, each being eight or ten inches 

 thick. These layers are repeated till the heap is six or seven 

 feet high, a layer of dung being uppermost, sprinkled over 

 with a little sand to prevent the too powerful action of the sun 

 upon it. After the heap has lain thus for six months or more 

 it is mixed, and thrown up afresh, in which state it remains 

 some weeks, to settle, before it is carried into the flower beds. 

 This compost retains its qualities about six or seven years, but 

 the Dutch avoid setting Hyacinths in it two years succes- 

 sively ; in the alternate years they plant Tulips, Jonquils, 

 Narcissuses, Crocuses, Frittillarias, Lilies, Irises, &c. in the 

 same beds ; nor do they venture to set Hyacinths in the com- 



