284 THE FLOWER-GARDEN. [chap. viii. 
a perfect blaze of beauty. Hyacinths are as 
numerous in their named varieties as tulips, 
but they are not divided into any distinct 
tribes, except as regards their colours. The 
principal distinctions are the white, the pink, 
and the blue; but these admit of various 
modifications, and there are some of a pale 
yellow, or rather lemon colour, and some of 
so dark a purple as to be almost black. 
The culture of the hyacinth somewhat 
resembles that of the tulip; but it is more 
difficult, from the great length to which the 
roots of the hyacinth descend perpendicu¬ 
larly, and the necessity which consequently 
exists for preparing the ground for them to a 
very great depth. There is also another 
peculiarity in hyacinth culture which is 
rather difficult of attainment; namely, that 
the roots require a great deal of moisture, 
though the bulbs should be kept quite dry. 
The roots also require the soil to be very 
rich, but that the manure used should be of 
the kind called cold. It will easily be seen 
from this enumeration of the essentials for 
hyacinth culture, why Holland is so pre¬ 
eminently the country for hyacinths. The 
