Oct.] 



THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



933 



been originated by Peter Voerhelm, but it is now lost. The 

 same individual soon after raised the variety called the king 

 of Great Britain, which was long sold for the sura of one 

 hundred pounds sterling, a great price in those days, and is 

 supposed to be the oldest variety of double hyacinth in ex- 

 istence. Instances have occurred of the price of one bulb 

 being as much as two hundred pounds ; such prices, however, 

 are not now given, the taste for bulbs having in a great mea- 

 sure given place to plants of a different description. 



In the cultivation of this flower, the Dutch still excel us, 

 and supply us annually with dried bulbs, which are sold by 

 the nurserymen, the more common kinds at from forty to sixty 

 shillings per hundred, the better sorts at from one to ten 

 shillings per root, and there are only a very few of the most 

 rare that are rated at more than ten pounds per root. 



Some of the Haerlem florists, who are the most noted in 

 Holland, use a soil for their best bulbs comprised of the fol- 

 lowing ingredients. 



Two sixth-parts of grey sand, not sharp, but handling 

 smooth and a little greasy, two sixth-parts of well-rotted cow- 

 dung, one-sixth of tanners' bark that has been used in the 

 forcing-houses, or otherwise rotted to mould ; one-sixth vege- 

 table mould of well-rotted tree-leaves. These materials are 

 mixed and blended in a fully-exposed place, often turned 

 over, so that all parts of it may be well and equally exposed 

 to the rays of the sun, and when used, it is well broken with 

 the spade, but never sifted, which, they justly observe, would 

 render it less porous, both for the free filtration of watei' as 

 well as for the more ready penetration of the fibres. 



They calculate that soil thus prepared will last about six or 

 seven years ; they do not, however, plant hyacinths in the 

 same bed two successive years, but use such beds for other 

 bulbs in the alternate years, nor do they plant hyacinths in 

 this compost the first year after its preparation, for fear of 

 their being injured by the fresh manure. 



Soils have been formed of materials as nearly corresponding 

 to those above as could be attained, but the success of our 

 cultivation in this country has never equalled that of the 

 Haerlem cultivators. With us many varieties degenerate in 



