292 THE FLOWER-GARDEN, [chap. vin. 
the hardier ones will live and flower for 
many years, if allowed every autumn to 
retain their leaves, till their new bulbs are 
matured. Hyacinths that have been flowered 
in glasses, or pots, seldom however flower 
so well afterwards, at least not for several 
years, as they scarcely ever quite recover the 
shock they have sustained from the unna¬ 
tural position of their roots ; whereas the 
Dutch florists, by allowing the roots of their 
hyacinths plenty of room to descend perpen¬ 
dicularly, and taking up the bulbs every 
autumn, have been known to keep bulbs of 
their finest flowers twelve or even twenty 
years, and to have them produce splendid 
flowers every year. 
It must be observed that the exudations of 
hyacinths are very abundant, and very in¬ 
jurious to other plants of their own genus. 
For this reason, the Dutch never grow their 
hyacinths in the same bed two years conse¬ 
cutively. The usual rotation is, first year, 
hyacinths ; second, tulips; third, polyanthus- 
narcissus; fourth, crocuses; and fifth, hya¬ 
cinths again. The Guernsey lily, the bulbs 
of which are generally thrown away in Eng- 
