April 1, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
247 
suggestions of others, were tried, but proved of no avail. At 
last the cause was discovered to be too low a temperature, 
although we grew them successfully in another small house 
with the same temperature, but the house was naturally 
drier, lighter, and in a much better position. However, the 
difficulty has been overcome by raising the night temperature 
5°, and this disease at once disappeared. 
There are so many good Melons that selecting the best is 
by no means an easy task. Perhaps the best flavoured of 
all Melons is Dickson’s Exquisite, but it is rather shy and 
liable to crack. It is worth a place and cannot be well 
excluded. Other good green-fleshed kinds are Colston 
Basset, William Tillery, Eastnor Castle, Bayley’s, and the 
old Beechwood. White-fleshed kinds, Conqueror of Europe, 
Best of All, and Cox’s Golden Gem, the last being rather 
thick in the rind, but a splendid keeper ; scarlet-fleshed kinds, 
Read’s, and Blenheim Orange. For early work we prefer 
Best of All, which is succeeded by Conqueror of Europe. 
For frames the two named, Eastnor Castle and Scarlet Gem, 
are free hardy varieties. 
HYACINTHS. 
[A Paper by Mr. Polman Mooy, read before the Horticultural Club, 
March 23rd.] 
The Honoi iry Secretary of the Horticultural Club has invited 
me to say a few words upon bulbs and bulb-growing in Holland, 
and feeling anxious to oblige the members I will endeavour to meet 
your wishes, but the subject has been treated upon so much before 
that I must request your kind indulgence. 
Bulbs or flower roots have for over 250 years been grown and 
cultivated in the vicinity of Haarlem, and their cultivation has 
gradually increased in importance until it has reached its present 
position. Among the admirers and lovers of plants and flowers, 
bulbous plants have always found many ardent protectors. No 
doubt the great and constant advance which civilisation has made 
in nearly all quarters of the world has greatly aided to extend 
the cultivation of flower roots and increase the demand, even in 
countries where fifty years ago there was not a single bulb, and 
where Hyacinths and Tulips were nearly unknown. 
An advantage which bulbs have over plants in general is, that 
they have nearly all a yearly period of rest, when they can with¬ 
out much fear of injury be packed and exported to the most 
distant places. An advantage worth mentioning is that after they 
have done blooming and have grown to their full maturity they 
require only to be placed in a dry locality, and for a considerable 
time require no labour or attention. A further important advan¬ 
tage of such bulbs as Hyacinths, Tulips, &c., is that by artificial 
treatment they can be brought to grow and flower several months 
earlier than they would do when kept out of doors and left to their 
natural development, which for winter-blooming makes them un¬ 
equalled by any other family among living plants. 
I must mention first of all the much-beloved Hyacinth, as 
being not only one of the most esteemed among bulbs, but also one 
of the most beautiful, although at the same time the most difficult 
in cultivation and the most expensive to bring to perfection. The 
name of this genus originated with the writers of antiquity. 
Hyacinthus, a beautiful boy, was the son of a Spartan king and the 
favourite of Apollo. Zephyrus, being envious of the attachment 
of Apollo and Hyacinthus, so turned the direction of a quoit which 
Apollo had pitched while at play that it struck the head of Hya¬ 
cinthus and slew him. The fable concludes by making Apollo 
transform the body of his favourite into a flower that bears his 
name. 
The Hyacinth is a native of the Levant, and was first introduced 
into England in the year 1596 ; but it was known to Dioscorides, 
who wrote about the time of Vespasian. Gerard, in his Herbal 
pnblished at the close of the sixteenth century, enumerates four 
varieties—the single and double blue, the purple, and the violet. 
In that valuable book on gardening, “ Paradisus in Sole, Paradisus 
Terrestris,’’ published by John Parkinson in 1629, eight different 
varieties are mentioned and described. He tells us, “ Some are 
pure white, another is nearly white with a bluish shade, especially 
at the brims and bottoms of the flowers. Others, again, are of a 
very faint blush ; some are of a deep purple near violet, others of a 
purple tending to redness, and some of a paler purple. Some, 
again, are of a fair blue, others more watchet, and some of a very 
pale blue. After the flowers are past the stem bears a round black 
seed, great and shining, from which, after sowing and protecting, 
the new varieties can be obtained.’’ During the 250 years that 
have passed since the above was published there has been a steady 
improvement in the size, form, and colour of the flowers of this 
plant. 
From the eight varieties of 1629 more than 4000 varieties have 
been produced, of which, however, the greatest number have be¬ 
come extinct or out of cultivation. Many have been thrown out to 
make room for the latest improved sorts, of which about 200 only 
are at present subject to extensive commerce. 
The Hyacinth is a general favourite in the most extensive 
application of the word, and the varieties in colours of different 
shades from the purest white to the deepest shades of scarlet, 
purple, black, yellow, and violet, are fully equal to that of any 
other florists’ flower. The Hyacinths are usually grown for forcing 
into flower in the dull cheerless months of winter and early spring, 
when their delicately coloured flowers and rich fragrance lend a 
charm not otherwise to be obtained. They are equally desirable 
for planting in beds or in the garden border. 
When looking over the cultivation of Hyacinths in Holland, 
which I have studied practically all my life, I must say that very 
great changes have taken place during that period in the taste and 
opinions of what a good Hyacinth should be ; and, as a matter of 
course, this change has considerably influenced the varieties which 
have been propagated and grown. About sixty to seventy years 
ago there was a taste in general for the double-flowering varieties, 
and more particularly for the flowers with dark or other coloured 
bold eyes or centres, and I remember the time that a few beds 
sold by public auction realised very high prices indeed, while the 
varieties thus sold are not to be found now. These double 
varieties were mostly very small bulb-producers, which fact con¬ 
tributed very much to their being neglected and to their loss of 
favour in public estimation ; while the considerable increase of 
trade and (in consequence of this) also increased competition among 
nursery and seedsmen abroad, stimulated by the feeling of revival 
in all branches of trade at the fall of Napoleon, brought on a gradual 
alteration in the Hyacinth fancy, as every tradesman—excited by 
the competition of his neighbours—was looking out for the largest- 
sized bulbs among Hyacinths,basing their trade recommendation upon 
the general but erroneous belief of the general public that naturally 
the largest bulbs must also produce the largest flower spikes. 
The small bulb-producing varieties, however beautiful they 
might be, could not at that time find buyers, and growers were them 
compelled to meet the alteration in public taste as quickly as 
possible, and as this alteration in taste came rather suddenly and- 
much quicker than the slow growth and propagation of the 
desired sorts could meet prices at that time rose wonderfully high. 
In this run after large bulbs among Hyacinths many sorts with 
very inferior flowers were brought out in quantity ; but although 
these large bulbs did increase the general trade, and so far gratified 
the tradesmen abroad by a greater sale and more profit, still they 
did not satisfy the amateurs, and better large flowers were looked 
after. After large-sized bulbs with large spike of flowers became 
the demand the single-flowering varieties have been found more 
capable of giving satisfaction than doubles, and when we compare 
the large spikes of the present day with the sorts we had sixty 
years ago we can only be well satisfied at the great progress we 
have been able to make. Although the double-blooming varieties 
are at present so much neglected, mostly because of their 
small-sized bulbs, there are some few double sorts which have- 
pretty well maintained their position in public estimation, but their 
number is small compared with the large number of single ones in- 
cultivation, and their very great beauty shall certainly keep them 
very long to remain the great favourites with lovers of very fine- 
large flower spikes. 
Among the esteemed double sorts I may mention Lord Wei 
lington and Grootvorst, rose ; Prince of Waterloo, La Tour d’Au¬ 
vergne, and Florence Nightingale, white ; Louis Philippe and 
Garrick, dark blue ; Blocksberg and Rembrandt, light blue. Of 
the double yellow flowers Goethe is about the best, but most in 
this colour are rather of small spike. Of dark red among the 
double flowers there are only very few varieties, of which Louis 
Napoleon and Waterloo are about the best, but the latter sort is 
not so full as might be wished. 
Among the single varieties we at present possess the greatest 
variety of colours, and among them we can now show superb large 
and handsome flowers, such as are Garibaldi, Pellissier, Scarlet 
Light, brilliant scarlet ; Fiancee Royale, Gertrude, Koh-i-noor, 
Prima Donna, Yon Schiller, red ; Carlyle, Charles Dickens, Dr. 
Livingstone, Gigantea, Macauley, rose ; La Grandesse, Alba Su- 
perbissima, Crown Princess, Madame Vander Hoop, pure white ; 
Grandeur a Merveillc, Baroness Van Tuyll, Mammoth, Seraphine, 
blush white ; General Havelock, Baron Yon Humboldt, Master¬ 
piece, Mimosa, William I., black blue ; Baron Van Tuyll, Charles 
, Dickens, King of the Blues, Bleu Mourant, dark blue ; Blondin, 
