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When their flowers begin to fliew themfelves, you 
Ihould mark all fuch as appear to have good proper- 
ties, by thrufting a fmall ftick down by each root ; 
which roots, at the time for taking them up, fhould 
be feledted from the reft, and planted by themfelves •, 
though I would by no means advife the rejecting any 
of the other roots, until they have blown two years, 
before which you cannot be afcertained of their va- 
lue. When the green leaves of thefe plants begin to 
decay, their roots mult be taken up, and a bed of light 
earth, in a fhadyfituation, Ihould be raifed into a ridge ; 
the better to Ihoot off the moifture, the roots fhould 
be laid into the earth again in an horizontal pofition, 
leaving the green leaves hanging out of the ground 
from the roots, whereby the great moifture contained 
in their very fucculent leaves and flower-ftalks may 
be exhaled, and prevented from returning to the 
roots, which, when buffered fo to do, is very of- 
ten the caufe of their rotting after they are out of 
the ground. In this ridge the roots fhould remain 
until the leaves are quite dried off, when they muft 
be taken up, and after being cleared of all manner of 
filth, which would be hurtful to them, they muft be 
laid up in boxes, where they may be preferved dry 
until September, which is the proper feafon for plant- 
ing them again ; the method of doing this fhall be 
hereafter mentioned, when we treat of the manage- 
ment of old roots. 
I fhall now proceed to the culture of fuch Hyacinths 
as have either been obtained from Holland, or are of 
our olvn produdt from the feeds of fuch flowers 
as were very beautiful, and worthy to be pre- 
feved in colle&ions of good flowers : and it hath 
been the want of fkill in the management of thefe 
noble flowers, which has ocafloned the ill fuccefs 
moft people have had with them in England, where- 
by they have been neglebted, fuppoflng their roots 
to degenerate after they have flowered in England, 
which is a great miftake ; for were the roots 
managed with the fame art as hath been pratftifed in 
Holland, I am fully convinced they would thrive near 
as well in England as there, or elfewhere, as I have 
experienced ; for, from fome hundreds of roots which 
I have received from Holland at two or three dif- 
ferent times, I have had a very great increafe of 
their roots, which were as large, and produced as ma- 
ny flowers upon their ftems, as the fame forts generally 
do in Holland. 
The foil in which thefe flowers fucceed beft, is a 
light, fandy, frefti, rich earth, which may be compofed 
after the following manner : take half frefti earth 
from a common, or pafture land, which is chiefly of 
a fandy loam this Ihould be off the furface, and not 
taken above eight or nine inches deep at moft •, and if 
you take the turf, or green fward with it, it will ftill be 
better, provided you have time to let it rot before it 
is ufed *, to this you Ihould add a fourth part of fea- 
fand, and the other fourth part of rotten cow dung ; 
mix thefe well together, and caft it into a heap, where 
it may remain until you ufe it, obferving to turn it 
over once in three weeks or a month, that it may 
be well mixed. If this compoft is made two years 
before it is ufed, it will be much the better ; but if 
you are obliged to ufe it fooner, then it fhould be 
oftener turned, that the parts may the better unite. 
This foil Ihould be laid two feet deep on the beds 
which are defigned for Hyacinths, and if you 
lay a little rotten cow dung, or tanners bark, at the 
bottom, which may be within reach of the fibres, but 
fhould by no means touch the bulb, it will be better. 
If the foil is very wet where thefe beds are made, you 
fhould raife them ten or twelve inches above the 
furface of the ground ; but if it be dry, they need 
not be raifed above three or four inches. 
The manner of preparing the beds is as follows: 
Firft, take all the former old earth out of the bed to 
the depth you intend, which fhould be near three feet ; 
then fpread fome rotten neats dung, or tan, in the 
bottom, about fix inches thick, laying it very le- 
vel ■; upon this you ihould lay the above-mentioned 
earth two feet thick, levelling it very even j then 
3 
H Y A 
fcore out the diftances for the roots, which iho.uld 
be eight inches fquare, in ftrait rows each way ; af- 
ter which, place your roots exactly in the fquares, 
obferving to let the bottom - part downward j then 
cover the roots fix inches deep with the fame prepared 
earth, being very careful in doing this not to difplace 
any of the roots ; and if the tops of thefe beds are 
made a little rounding, to fhoot off the wet, it will be 
of fervice in moift ground, provided the middle of the 
beds are not made too high, which is a fault the other 
way. 
The beft feafon for planting thefe roots is the middle 
or latter end of September, according to the earlinefs 
or lateneis of the feafon, or the weather when it hap- 
pens ; but I would advife you never to plant them 
when the ground is extreme dry, unlefs there be a pro- 
fped of fome rain foon after ; for if the weather fhould 
continue dry for a confiderable time after, the roots will 
receive a mouldinefs, which will certainly deftroy them. 
The beds will require no farther cafe until the froft 
comes on very fevere, at which time they fhould 
have fome rotten tan fpread over them, about four 
inches thick •, and if the alleys on each fide of the 
bed are filled up, either with rotten tan, dung, or 
fand, it will prevent the froft from penetrating the 
ground on each fide to the roots, and fecure them 
from being deftroyed but when the winters prove 
very fevere, it will alfo be proper to have fome Peas- 
haulm, Straw, or fuch like covering laid over them, 
which will keep out the froft better than mats ; and 
lying hollow, will admit the air to the furface of the 
ground, and alfo permit the exhalations to pafs off, 
whereby the earth will remain dry, and prevent the 
roots from rotting, which has often happened when 
the beds have been too clofe covered. But you muft 
obferve to take off this light covering whenever the 
weather is mild, and only let it continue on in very 
hard frofts •, for where the beds are covered with 
tan or fea-coal allies, no common froft can penetrate 
through, fo the coverings are ufelefs, except in very 
fevere froft ; for a fmall froft cannot injure the roots 
before the green leaves appear above ground, which 
is feldom before the beginning of February, at which 
time the beds muft be arched over with hoops, that 
they may be covered either with mats, canvas, or 
fome other light covering, to prevent the froft from 
injuring the buds as they arife above ground i but 
thefe coverings muft be conftantly taken off every 
day when the weather is mild, otherwife the flower- 
ftems will be drawn up to a great height, and become 
very weak, and the foot-ftalks of the flowers will be 
long and (lender, and fo rendered incapable of fup- 
porting the bells ; which is a great difadvantage to 
the flowers, for one of their greateft beauties confifts 
in the regular difpofition of their bells. When thefe 
hoops are fixed over the beds, the rotten tan Ihould 
be moft of it taken off them * in doing of which, 
great care Ihould be taken not to bruife or injure the 
leaves of the Hyacinths, which by that time will be 
breaking out of the ground with the flower-ftem, 
therefore the tan Ihould be removed by the hands ; 
or if any inftrument is made ufe of in the doing of 
it, there muft be great caution how it is performed. 
When the ftems of the flowers are advanced to their 
height before the flowers are expanded, you Ihould 
place a Ihort ftick down by each root, to which, with 
a wire formed into a hoop, the item of the flowers 
Ihould be fattened, to fupport them from falling *, 
otherwife, when the bells are fully expanded, their 
weight will incline them to the ground, efpecially if 
they are not fereened from the wind and rain. 
During their feafon of flowering they fhould be co- 
vered in the heat of the day from the fun, as alfo 
from all heavy rains ; but they Ihould be permitted 
to receive all gentle fhowers, as alfo the morning and 
evening fun ; but if the nights are frofty, they muft 
be conftantly defended therefrom. With this manage- 
ment you may continue your Hyacinths in beauty at 
leaft one whole month, and fometimes more, accord- 
ing to their ftrength, or the favourablenefs of the 
feafon. 
When 
