March 31,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 247 
31st 
th 
Royal Society at 4.30 p.m. Sale of the first portion of Mr. Day’s 
1st 
F 
[Orchids at Stevens’s Rooms Covent Garden. 
2nd 
S 
3rd 
Sun 
5th Sunday in Lent. 
4th 
M 
6th 
Tu 
6th 
W 
Society of Arts at 8 P.M. 
THE HYACINTH. 
ITS PROPAGATION AND CULTURE IN HOLLAND. 
MONGST the numerous spring-flowering bulbs 
VLg-xIK there is none that equals the Hyacinth in grace¬ 
ful appearance, brilliant colouring, and delicious 
fragrance. It is of the easiest culture, and so 
accommodating that it readily adapts itself 
to a great variety of conditions, for the bulbs 
may be successfully grown in water, damp moss, 
sand, cocoa-nut fibre refuse, soil, or almost any other 
moisture-retaining medium. 
There are several species of Hyacinths, but the subject 
of my remarks is the Oriental Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis), 
which belongs to the natural order Liliaceoe, and was intro¬ 
duced into this country from the Levant in the latter part 
of the sixteenth century, and is a native of Asia Minor, Syria, 
and Persia. It was not, however, until the beginning of the 
eighteenth century that it attained a foremost place as a 
florists' flower. An idea of the position it obtained when it 
came to the front may be realised when I state that a sum 
equal to £200 has been obtained for a single bulb ; now very 
fair bulbs of good sorts can be purchased for 6cl. each. During 
the time of Queen Elizabeth starch was obtained from the 
bulbs to stiffen the large ruffs which the nobles and Court 
beauties of that period employed. The Hyacinth presents us 
with the very rare phenomenon of a black flower ; and it is 
worthy of remark that the principal colours, if we omit white, 
are the three primary ones—viz., red, blue, and yellow, em¬ 
bracing every shade of light and dark in these colours. It 
would therefore lead us to suppose, arguing from this fact, 
that if the laws of fertilisation were properly understood, that 
by artificial crossing we ought to be able to produce them of 
every shade of colour. Such experiments must, however, be 
left with the Dutch cultivators, the process of raising new 
sorts being very tedious and the climate and soil of England 
unsuitable for such experiments. The perfumes of the Hyacinth 
are almost as varied as the colours, some being particularly 
delicate and delicious, whilst others are coarser, but all are 
pleasant and refreshing when diffused in the atmosphere. I 
heard it said of an enthusiastic cultivator, that he could tell 
the names of his collection by smelling the flowers. Whether 
this is possible or not I am not prepared to say, but the per¬ 
fume varies so much that I believe it would not be difficult 
to distinguish many of them by that means. 
The Dutch growers who supply the English market produce 
an enormous number each year, of which some idea may be 
gathered from the fact, that according to a survey made some 
years ago about six hundred acres (five hundred acres being 
near Haarlem), were then devoted to the rearing of Hyacinths, 
Tulips, and similar bulbs, affording constant employment for a 
large staff of experts. The cultivation is an important ad¬ 
dition to the income of Holland. The official returns for the 
exports in one year alone (1876) state the value of such 
exports to be equal to nearly £140,000 ; at the present time 
the income is doubtless much greater, as it has been increasing 
annually. The Dutch cultivators employ various methods of 
increasing their stocks and obtaining a supply for the different 
markets. Some scoop out the apex of the bulbs, others cut 
through the base crosswise with a sharp knife, the operation 
in each case being performed a short time before planting the 
bulbs, the object being to cause them to produce offsets. 
It may be interesting to recount the method employed by 
a celebrated firm on their extensive giounds near Haarlem, 
as it was recently fully explained to me by a friend from 
Holland, who has been conversant with the process for many 
years. Previous to planting the bulbs they cut through one 
or two of the outward layers in a longitudinal direction, and 
when completed the sections represent the quarters of an 
Orange when the peel is removed : they are then ready for 
planting. The ground is prepared some time previously by 
being liberally supplied with a top-dressing of well-decayed 
manure composed of about two parts of cow and one part of 
horse manure, which is laid upon the surface of the soil several 
inches thick, and afterwards well forked into the ground to the 
depth of 8 or 10 inches, in which the bulbs are planted about 
2 inches deep. The planting is commenced in January, and 
when finished the Hyacinths require little further care until 
the growth appears above ground in March or the beginning of 
April, when the trouble of the cultivator begins in consequence 
of the frosts that frequently occur at that period. At this 
time it is not uncommon to see large tracts of ground covered 
with mats to protect the young growths from injury. When the 
season arrives for gathering in the crop the bulbs are carefully 
lifted, cleansed, and packed away until the time for planting 
arrives. 
The young bulbs are planted from year to year until they 
become sufficiently matured for blooming, which if properly 
managed generally takes about five years, although it fre¬ 
quently happens that more time is occupied in growing them 
to this state, and occasionally it is accomplished in a less time. 
The bulbs are then ready for testing, and are again planted 
in the same manner and permitted to grow until the flower- 
spike has advanced and is about to show its colour, when very 
great care and attention is given to each batch of bulbs in 
order to ascertain that all are true to name and colour. As 
soon as the blooms open sufficiently to permit this they are 
carefully cut off to allow the whole strength of the plant to be 
economised in perfecting the bulb. The beds are laid out in 
long narrow lines. In each bed or number of beds are kept 
separate kinds, which are constantly watched, and if one plant 
appears of a different colour or variety it is marked so that 
it may be properly classified. Every bed is carefully checked 
by the above method. All this care and attention is absolutely 
necessary in order to keep the varieties quite distinct, other¬ 
wise we should never be able to depend upon any kind we 
purchase being true to name. The cases when we obtain a 
wrongly named bulb being so very rare, is a proof of the care 
exercised by the cultivators in this respect. 
By the month of June the bulbs are ready for gathering, 
when they are carefully taken up, cleaned, and laid out upon 
No. 40.—Yol. II., Third Series. 
No. 1696 —Yol. LAV., Old Series. 
