222 
THE HYACINTH, NARCISSUS, &C. 
Fourth. — The bunch of flowers should not 
consist of less than seven ; the foot-stalks 
should be of such length as to allow the 
flowers to touch each other at the edge, and 
present an even, though rounding, or dome- 
like surface, with one bloom in the middle, 
the other six forming a circle round it. 
Fifth. — The stem should be strong, firm, 
elastic, and not more than ten inches in length. 
The leaves should be short, broad, and bright, 
and there must not be more than one flower- 
stem to a show flower. 
Sixth. — If the variety be white, it should 
be pure ; and the yellow cup should be bright. 
If the variety be yellow, it cannot be too 
bright. 
Double flowers, and narcissus of numerous 
kinds, with only one or two flowers in a sheath, 
will not be considered subjects of exhibition, 
except in collections of forced flowers. 
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE HYACINTH, THE 
NARCISSUS, AND BULBS IN GENERAL. 
There is so much similarity in the manage- 
ment required for the hyacinth and narcissus, 
that they ought almost to be coupled, as are 
carnations and picotees. As there is not the 
diversity of colour in the narcissus that we 
have in the hyacinth, there is no temptation 
to grow them in beds ; in all other respects, 
whether from seed, from offsets, or in grow- 
ing matured imported bulbs, the management 
is the same. But we have left a large field 
untouched as regards the different modes of 
growing the hyacinth, and confined ourselves 
to the out-of-door treatment ; and reserved 
what we have to say of forcing and house 
growing for bulbs in general, such as the 
early kinds of tulips, the narcissus, the hya- 
cinth, the crocus, and other subjects, that we 
ay treat them all alike. 
Of the many ways in which a bulb may be 
grown, the most common are the following : — 
in water, in pots of mould, in wet sand, and 
in moss : all of these are well in their way, 
but for elegance give us moss ; for ease, 
water ; for a make-shift, sand ; and for the 
sake of the bulbs themselves, pots of mould. 
IN WATER. 
Fill up the glasses till the bottom of the 
bulb will touch it, and constantly fill up the 
glass as the bulb absorbs it. The custom of 
putting them in the dark has become very 
prevalent ; but experiments which have been 
tried, purposely to test the advantage derived 
from this plan, give no indication of its supe- 
riority. The narcissus, hyacinth, crocus, and 
early tulip, all grow well in water ; and some 
that we have seen placed in a strong light 
from the first, have proved as strong and per- 
fect as a similar number placed three or four 
weeks in the dark. The notion entertained 
is, that the roots should be developed before 
the growth of the foliage begins ; and that, 
in the dark, the roots grow, but the foliage 
does not advance materially. We have not 
found this to be the case, although we have, 
until the present season, acted upon the sug- 
gestion. River water or rain water is far 
better than water from a well, and we have 
changed it every three weeks, though filling 
it up as it is absorbed by the roots will do. 
We have invariably objected to putting any- 
thing in the water, although we have seen it 
done by many, for we have never seen any- 
thing gained in colour, strength, or size of 
flowers. 
IN WET SAND. 
This has no other recommendation than 
the saving of trouble as compared with water, 
among those persons who fancied it necessary 
to be always changing it ; and we feel quite 
convinced that the plants do not grow so 
strong in it as they do in water or mould. 
It has one advantage — its weight, which tends 
to steady the glasses or vases in which the 
flowers are bloomed. It is, indeed, easy to 
conceive that where a vessel is filled with 
sand, which contains no nourishing qualities 
whatever, the plant may exhaust the fertiliz- 
ing qualities of the water soon, because these 
must necessarily be a very small quantity ; 
and although it may be filled up as often as 
necessary, and be kept full, all the nourishing 
properties in a small quantity must be much 
less than if the whole bulk were water. There 
is, however, so much in the bulb itself, that 
the flower and leaves will develop themselves 
with a very little assistance. Nevertheless, 
there is a vast difference in the strength of a 
plant fully nourished and one starved by a 
limited supply. 
IN WET MOSS. 
This medium, properly prepared, and in a 
proper vessel, will be found both effective and 
pretty. Suppose it to be a flower-pot — the 
hole at the bottom should be stopped ; but 
the wet moss enables us to grow bulbs in 
almost any shaped utensil : a punchbowl, a 
salad-bowl, a deep dish, basin, or jar will do. 
A little sand at the bottom, and the moss 
pressed down level with the edge, will be 
sufficient ; the bulbs are then placed on the 
surface, and rather pressed in than otherwise. 
If the vessel be large enough to hold half a 
dozen or a dozen things, the centre may be a 
narcissus, round this six hyacinths, round the 
hyacinths a row of early Van Thol tulips, 
and outside of all a row of crocuses of the 
three different colours ; or, as the tulips are 
inclined to yellow, perhaps blue and white 
alternately will do better. The moss is to be 
wetted well, and fine green picked moss should 
be piled up all over the bulbs, which may be 
