THE FLORISTS' FLOWER GARDEN. 



811 



the pot, which is filled up to within about half 

 an inch of the top, care being taken to keep 

 the foliage clear of the compost : a gentle stroke 

 or two upon the bench will settle the soil, and 

 should it sink much, add the quantity necessary 

 to complete the process." 



The auricula, like most other high - bred 

 florists' flowers, is exceedingly liable to be 

 attacked by canker at the roots or on the stems. 

 This is no doubt owing to improper soil; the only 

 remedy is, upon the first appearance of the dis- 

 ease, to take up the plants, and procure a soil 

 more congenial for them. 



The polyanthus. — This flower belongs to the 

 same family as the auricula — namely, Primula 

 — and owes its origin to the operations of 

 the florist on the species vulgaris, var. poly- 

 anthus. Many botanists believe that the poly- 

 anthus, primrose, oxlip, and cowslip are all one 

 species, and the late Dean of Manchester thought 

 he had proved them to be so. This near rela- 

 tionship of the polyanthus with the auricula 

 renders their cultivation nearly the same ; our 

 remarks, therefore, on its culture will be brief. 



Soil. — The polyanthus, as well as the florists' 

 varieties of primroses, requires a stronger or 

 more argillaceous soil than the auricula, and 

 also to be kept rather more moist. On exami- 

 nation, the soil in which they are found to luxu- 

 riate most will be found to be of this descrip- 

 tion. They are also much more hardy than the 

 auricula, and seldom perish in the most severe 

 winters. They affect a rather shaded spot, 

 and hence a border with a northern exposure 

 is the most proper for them; while a warm, 

 dry, light, sunny situation is the worst of all. 

 They are propagated by seed and division of the 

 plant. 



The hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) is in- 

 digenous over most of the Levant, abounding 

 around Bagdad and Aleppo ; from thence the 

 Dutch merchants trading to these parts early 

 introduced it to their gardens, and from these 

 it reached the gardens of Britain long prior to 

 1596, when Gerard, in writing on it, speaks of 

 it as being well known and generally cultivated. 

 We have already treated on this plant as a pot 

 plant ; we will consider it in the character of a 

 florists' flower, and its adaptation to out-of-door 

 culture. 



Propagation. — Like all other florists' flowers, 

 it is propagated by seed when new or improved 

 varieties are the object in view. By this means 

 the Dutch have wonderfully increased the num- 

 ber of their sorts> while in Britain, although 

 some florists have succeeded in raising many 

 fine flowers, still, from difference of climate, 

 peculiarities in culture, and other causes, the 

 success bears no proportion to that of their 

 neighbours. Mr Maddock, a writer on the cul- 

 ture of this flower, directs that " the seed should 

 be saved from such sorts as have strong and 

 straight stems, and a regular well-formed pyra- 

 mid of bells (corollas), not perfectly single, but 

 rather semi-double. It should not be gathered 

 until it becomes perfectly black and ripe. Sow 

 in the latter end of October or beginning of 

 March, about half an inch below the surface of 

 the soil, in a deep box filled with good sound 



garden-mould mixed with sand. It will never 

 require to be watered, or have any other at- 

 tention paid than to keep free from weeds 

 and frost, till it has remained in the ground 

 two years. It must then, on the approach 

 of winter, have an additional stratum of the 

 compost placed upon it, about half an inch thick ; 

 and at the end of the third year, in the month 

 of July, the roots may be taken up, and treated 

 in the same manner as large bulbs or offsets. 

 Some of the roots will flower the fourth year, 

 one-half of them the fifth, but by the sixth j 7 ear 

 every healthy bulb will exhibit bloom ; and then 

 the hopes and expectations of the cultivator 

 will be realised or disappointed. He may think 

 himself fortunate if one-half of the plants that 

 first appeared are in existence at this period; 

 and if he can at last find one flower in five 

 hundred deserving a name or place in a curious 

 collection, he may rest perfectly content, and 

 be assured he has fared as well as could reason- 

 ably be expected." This quotation holds out 

 no very cheering prospects to the amateur. 



Propagation by offsets. — Offsets are small 

 bulbs that form around the old ones, and should 

 be detached at the period of lifting, dried, and 

 kept for planting in nursery -beds, where they 

 are to be grown until of a proper age and size 

 for blooming. They should be planted in 

 October, setting them about 2 inches deep in 

 light, sandy, rich, well-pulverised soil, not less 

 than 2 feet deep. These will in general bloom 

 the second year, but not in full perfection till 

 the third season ; their treatment being the 

 same as for full-grown bulbs. 



Soil. — The hyacinth-growers around Haarlem 

 in Holland, where several hundred acres are 

 covered with this plant, enjoy a soil of extraor- 

 dinary depth, of the nature of a light rich but 

 sandy peat, and in parts merely sea-sand abound- 

 ing in salts. Their ground is trenched with 

 wooden spades, iron ones not being required, as 

 the soil is completely free of clay, stones, or 

 sucli impediments as would render the use of 

 the common spade necessary, to the depth of 

 3 feet, the roots of the plant extending to that 

 depth. Here, at the outset, do Dutch and 

 English culture differ. A writer in the " Florist " 

 remarks, " It is in this that the bulbous and 

 tuberous plants thrive so surprisingly ; and," 

 he adds, " I believe it is the soil and mode of 

 cultivation, not the climate, that make the 

 difference between the English and Dutch grown 

 hyacinth. Make the soil, therefore, approximate 

 to that of Haarlem ; let half or two-thirds be 

 sea-sand, and one-third peat or leaf-mould, the 

 whole sufficiently watered with ocean salts, 

 chloride of sodium, ' sulphate of soda, and sul- 

 phate of magnesia ; to which may be added with 

 advantage a little nitrate of soda and muriate 

 of ammonia ; the whole of which salts, suffi- 

 cient to impregnate compost for a bed to 

 grow one thousand hyacinths would not cost 

 five shillings, and the compost will last for 

 seven or ten years." The bed should be 

 thoroughly drained below to get rid of under- 

 damp ; for although this plant will grow and 

 flower in water alone, yet it cannot bear a soil 

 sodden with under-damp; and clays of every 



