SEPTEMBER. 
189 
HYACINTH PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR. 
WITH AN ILLUSTRATION. 
The Hyacinth is essentially a domestic plant, a pet plant, which may 
he acquired at trifling cost, and is capable of yielding unbounded pleasure 
without alloy. You buy the root in a clean, dry state, place it in a glass— 
if plain at the cost of sixpence, if ornamented at the cost of lialf-a-crown, 
and in a few weeks you realise the bright colours, pleasing form, and agree¬ 
able perfume of one of Nature’s loveliest gems. From Queen to cottager, 
who would be without flowers in the cold, cheerless months of January, 
February, and March, when they may be obtained with so little trouble, 
and at so reasonable a cost ? Both bulb and glass may be purchased at from 
a shilling upwards. In glasses or vases in the dwelling-house, in pots in 
the conservatory, in beds and borders out of doors, Hyacinths are equally 
desirable, equally beautiful. 
Those who may have seen the Hyacinths at the spring shows of the 
present and past years must have been struck with the rapid progress that 
has taken place in the development of this flower. The skill of the horti¬ 
culturist has been evinced alike in the production of new varieties, and in 
the improvement of the cultivation of the older kinds. Such spikes and 
bells of Lord Wellington, Le Prophete, Charles Dickens, Queen of the 
Netherlands, and others long familiar, could hardly have been imagined by 
those who have been content to follow year by year the old prescribed rules 
of cultivation. Verily a new era has dawned on the Hyacinth. The fresh 
light recently thrown on the many processes of cultivation by the observa¬ 
tions and experiments of the correct observers and diligent workers in 
horticultural science, has here, as elsewhere, been productive of rich and 
abundant fruit. Until recently our best dark red Hyacinths were feeble in 
spike, producing small, narrow, and crumpled bells, bearing no comparison 
in size and form with the best light reds, blues, and whites. It is with 
satisfaction, therefore, that we hail in the subject of our present plate, 
Prince Albert Victor, a deep red flower, which is so marked an improve¬ 
ment in these respects. The habit and growth of spike is that of Von 
Schiller, which in this point has hitherto stood in advance of all others, 
and the colour is a rich dark shining crimson. The spike is decidedly 
longer and broader than that of any deep red Hyacinth ; the bells, too, are 
of good shape, and very close on the spike. The root is round and hand¬ 
some, and equally suitable for pots or glasses. The best of the old deep 
reds are Amy, Lina, and Mdlle. Rachel; of the new ones, Garibaldi, 
Linnasus, Reine des Jacinthes, and Vuurbaak ; but Prince Albert Victor is 
in advance of all these, and will doubtless eventually figure in every choice 
collection of these beautiful spring flowers. 
Our drawing was taken from a spike grown and furnished by Mr. 
William Paul, of Waltham Cross, who exhibited specimens before the 
Royal Horticultural and Royal Botanic Societies of London in the spring 
of the year, and by the former a first-class certificate was awarded. It is 
uncertain at what date this flower will be offered to the public. It is at 
present exclusively in the hands of the raiser, and the slow process of 
multiplying the Hyacinth will, probably, prevent its distribution from 
taking place for at least two years, and even then the number of roots to 
be disposed of will be limited. It takes four years to flower-a Hyacinth 
VOL. VI. k 
