Plate 194. 
HYACINTH, ROBERT FORTUNE. 
Considerable discussion has arisen during the past two sea¬ 
sons as to the class instituted at the Royal Horticultural So¬ 
ciety for new Hyacinths, the difficulty of determining what was 
new, and the questionable nature of the class altogether, being 
the points about which the discussion has arisen. Having our¬ 
selves carefully watched the plants exhibited during that time 
by our two principal growers, Messrs. Cutbush, of Highgate, 
and Mr. William Paul, of Cheshunt, we must record our decided 
opinion against the advisability of continuing it, as it is only 
calculated to mislead the public; and it was on their behalf 
that the class was originally formed. 
The Hyacinth is in some respects unlike other flowers. It 
is slow in its increase, and consequently a new bulb can only, 
for some years at any rate, remain in the hands of those who 
grow for exhibition; nor is it like the Tulip, for when one or 
two guineas have been paid for it, it is with the certainty that 
only one year’s bloom can be obtained from it, whereas the 
Tulip may repay the purchaser by its offsets alone, and hence 
absolutely new varieties have but little interest. And then, 
again, there is the temptation to put into the class a number 
of inferior bulbs, and indeed this has been the case, many of 
the flowers exhibited during the present season being by no 
means equal to those which have been for some years in the 
hands of every grower of Hyacinths. We therefore hope to 
find that it will for the future be put into the same position as 
other flowers, and be judged simply as to its individual merits. 
Various flowers have been considered of first-rate merit, and 
will probably, in a few years’ time, come into general growth. 
Lord Palmerston is a good blue, although we do not consider it 
