room. (Herbert, Hort. Trans.) Florists who have a valuable bed of Hyacinths, generally use an awning 
of some kind, to shade them from a bright sun, and protect them from heavy rains. This shade, of what- 
ever material it is made, should be so constructed as to move up and down in favourable weather; in bright 
sunshine the bed may be exposed from four o’clock in the afternoon, or for a few hours in the morning. If 
the bed is not shaded, the colours very soon spoil, and will not bear a close examination. 
Hyacinths are frequently grown and flowered in water-glasses. Sometimes before they are put into the 
glasses they are planted in pots, and when the roots have grown a little, they are taken up and washed, and 
placed in the glasses, or they are placed in the glasses at first. The water must be frequently renewed, or it 
will soon become fetid and offensive. By far the most curious system of treating forced hyacinths is to in- 
vert them in large glass jars filled with water. This must be done when the flowers are nearly expanded; 
and by placing one above the glass, of the same size and colour with the inverted one, the latter presents an 
appearance of being the shadow of the former. The flowers retain their freshness much longer in the water 
than when exposed in the common way; but this circumstance, and the curious appearance presented, is all 
which can recommend the system; of course the fragrance of the hyacinth is in this way entirely lost. The 
principal difficulty that is experienced by those who force hyacinths in water in sitting rooms is to prevent 
their growing long, weak, and pale, so as to flower badly, and be in constant danger of upsetting. This is 
remedied by keeping them close to a window, where they can be constantly exposed to bright light all day 
long . It may also be added, that in order to secure their pushing out their roots before the leaves lengthen, 
they should always be kept in the dark for a fortnight or three weeks after they are first placed in the water- 
glasses, care being taken at that time that the water and the bulbs are not in contact. The moisture that 
rises into the air, will be sufficient to induce the bulbs to put forth roots; and the total absence of light will 
prevent the leaves from being stimulated into growth. 
Much confusion has prevailed respecting the appellation of the favorite Bell-flowers. The little Cam- 
panula, whose blossom ff nods on the summit of a stalk so slender, as to appear supported by magic,” and 
which we call the Heath-bell, is the Hare-bell of Scotland, while the Hare-bell of England is the Scottish 
Blue-bell, intimately associated with one of our most popular modern airs. Indeed scarcely less celebrated 
in song, than the famed Hyacinth of the ancients, (a flower no longer to be identified with certainty,) is the 
simple Hare-bell, which with the revival of nature, animates 
— “the lone copse, or shadowy dell, 
Wild cluster’d.” 
The term non-scriptus was applied to this plant by Dodoneeus, because it had not the characters Ai, 
Ai, (the token of grief, as it were impressed by the fatal discus, which deprived this favourite of Apollo 
of life,) inscribed on the petals, and therefore could not be Hyacinthus poeticus. The true poetical Hyacinth 
of the ancients is supposed, by those who hazard a conjecture, to be the Red Martagon Lily, most of which 
Mr. Martyn observes, are marked with a darker colour forming the revered symbol; 
“Apollo with unweeting hand, 
Whilome did slay his dearly loved mate, 
Young Hyacinth, the pride of Spartan land; 
But then transformed him to a purple flower.” 
And Virgil, in speaking of the Hyacinth, uses an epithet peculiarly applicable to the Martagon Lily : 
“ et ferrugineos Hyacinthos.” Georg. 4. 
Confirmed also by a description in Ovid, x. These equally display the tokens 
“Del languido Giacinto, che nel grembo 
Porta dipinto il suo dolore amaro.” 
Though the Hare-bell be often admitted into our gardens, the expensive varieties of the Hyacinth 
which ornament the parterre or the boudoir are derived from H. Orientalis of Aleppo and Bagdad, and some- 
times obtain a price of from ten to twenty or even thirty pounds, for a single bulb, especially the fine kinds 
produced near Haerlem, (of which there are nearly two thousand, and cultivated by the acre,) a species of 
extravagance scarcely justifiable. 
