122 
IJORTUS SICCUS. 
so ; there may be advantages, but they can be 
supplied in England cheaply and artificially ; 
and the Hyacinth has been raised in England 
I'roin seed, and grown in England from offsets, 
as fine as ever they have been produced in 
Holland. The notion that they degenerated 
in England, has arisen from the indisputable 
fact, that the great majority of the noble bulbs 
which are imported, are good for little or 
nothing after they have bloomed one year. 
But the Hyacinth is the same in Holland ; 
they improve from the smallest offsets, till they 
have arrived at the perfection of growth, and 
throw the handsomest bloom they are capable 
of producing, and, after this, they degenerate, 
and split into offsets. But the year they have 
arrived at the perfection of growth, and are 
taken up with the moral certainty that they 
will the next season produce the best flower, 
is the period chosen to send them to England ; 
so that, with very few exceptions, none would 
offer the least chance of continuing fine for 
another season, even if grown where they 
were raised. But, to raise the Hyacinths from 
offsets, they require to be planted in rich 
sandy soil ; and, when they come large enough 
to throw a bloom, all the buds but the top one 
must be picked off the spike, season after 
season, until the bulb is large .enough to pro- 
mise a fine flower for the ensuing season ; 
they will be found then as fine as any of the 
Dutch roots, and produce as much money; but 
the operation is tedious, the English people do 
not lay themselves out for it, and the Dutch 
have all the trade to themselves. The most 
extraordinary quality of the Hyacinth bulb, 
when grown up to perfection, is its certainty 
of blooming, in spite of the worst possible 
treatment : from the cellar to the garret, in 
the worst and most confined places in London, 
the Hyacinth will bloom. It only requires 
moisture enough, and a little light ; heat, 
cold, wind, colour, light, are only things which 
may make them bloom earlier or later, finer or 
worse, but bloom they will somehow, and at 
least prettily. It is, without any exception, the 
richest of the hardy bulbs imported in any 
quantity, and there is hardly an excuse for 
being without it in any respectable house. 
HORTUS SICCUS. 
The dead specimens of plants form one of 
the most beautiful of all collections, and next 
to the living plants, they are the most interest-' 
ing. There is no difficulty in either collecting 
or preserving them, and especially if they are 
dried without the air getting to them, and 
they are in good order. All specimens should 
be gathered in the most perfect state — not- 
withstanding the dogmas to the contrary — 
that is, when they are in flower, if the flower is 
handsomest, in bud when the buds are hand- 
somest, and in fruit when the fruit is hand- 
somest ; and, according as buds, flowers, or 
fruit are large, so the difficulty of preserving 
in good form is felt. The first thing to pro- 
cure is a quantity of the paper made on pur- 
pose for drying plants, a kind of thick soft 
paper, like blotting-paper, but as thick as the 
coarse brown paper. It is between these that 
specimens are to be dried : plants which are 
not very full of juices will require nothing 
but to be laid in proper positions, for the 
specimens should be handsomely formed, and 
give a good notion of the plant itself. When 
the roots can be preserved with them, that is 
to say, the plants preserved whole, they are 
considered superior to merely cut specimens. 
They should be laid on a table on a sheet, or 
perhaps two or three sheets, according to the 
nature of the plant. The specimen should 
then be placed in the best position for show, 
and covered with one, two, or three other sheets. 
Upon this a weight should be laid, and the 
best that can be found is sand. This is placed 
in bags of various size, only half-filled, so that 
by placing one of these bags of proper size 
over the plant, the sand presses down between 
the branches, and keeps the absorbent paper 
close to its work; whereas a flat board, such 
as most writers recommend, presses hard upon 
the prominent parts, and the paper touches 
none other, the effect of which is, that the 
prominent parts get pressed into unnatural 
form, whilst those which are thinner shrivel 
because they are not pressed, and do not dry 
so rapidly. For every succulent plant the 
paper should be changed once a day, until a 
proper degree of dryness has been attained. 
The papers taken from plants should be dried 
by the fire or in the sun, because they have to 
absorb the juices of the plant, and if they were 
used damp they would cause the specimens to 
mould and rot instead of drying them. Some 
specimens require the greatest care on ac- 
count of the great size of their flowers, or 
buds, or seed-vessels, or fruit ; and others, on 
account of the succulent nature of their leaves 
and stems. Take Roses, Magnolias, Dahlias, 
Brugmansias, Tomatoes, Cacti, Mesembryan- 
themums, &c, as examples. The pressure of 
loose sand in a half-filled bag will be of the 
highest consequence, for it presses on the 
paper between the buds, flowers, or succulent 
leaves, so as to absorb the moisture rapidly ; 
and by frequent changes of the paper, some of 
the most juicy and unmanageable subjects by 
any other means will yield to the perseverance 
of the student. But young beginners should 
commence upon the most inviting and easily 
managed subjects, such as Heaths, a collection 
of which should be made in flower, and the 
names accurately placed to each. These only 
