Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 December 1874 — Hyacinths for Boom Decorations. [ARTICLE]

Hyacinths for Boom Decorations.

.Hyacinths "can be made to bloom in great beauty from Christmas until April if one only understands their culture; and they are certainly unsurpassed by any other flower for the decoration of window* gardens, boudoirs, or diningrooms. They can be grown singly in pots, and when desired for decorations can be turned out and packed several together in fancy baskets, glass dishes, or china bowls. The slight disturbance of their roots really affects them so little that it cannot be perceived, and they will retain their freshness and loveliness quite as long as if left undisturbed. Few plants will bear auch handling without injury, and there certainly are but few which diffuse so delicious a perfume or present a more attractive appearance than a well-selected assortment of hyacinths, and yearly their culture becomes more general and their beauties are more ppreciated. In looking through the pages of the “ Bulb Catalogues” so plentifully distributed throughout the country, amateur gardeners are greatly inclined to purchase the highest-priced, supposing that they must he much more desirable than cheaper ones of the same colors; yet the {trices of these bulbs are not always the ndex oT their value from a decorative Eoint of view. Some varieties command igher prices on account of their scarcity, being more recently imported; others are more difficult to propagate. Now the new hyacinths are doubtless very handsome, but unless you possess hundreds of other varieties, and desire these especially for exhibition, there are much cheaper kinds which would answer your purpose quite as well. For a dollar and a half a dozen you can purchase bulbs which will bloom quite as beautifully as those which cost twice as much or more. It is also desirable to plant the bulbs early Jin the season, certainly by the middle or the third week of October, if you wish them to be in flowe,r at Christmas; and for this purpose you should also select those which bloom the earliest. You will have flowers in February from bulbs potted by the middle or the first of December, yet we think the largest and handsomest spikes of hyacinths are usually produced from bulbs potted very early uxjthe autumn. In raising hyacinths for room decoration neither complicated composts nor large pots are essential. For general purposes five to six inch pots for one good-sized bulb will answer the best; but when you put them in pots merely to start them in a dark, cool place, three to four inch pots are quite large enough. Silver sand will grow them without the addition of any soil, yet it exhausts the bulb quite as much as water. Turfy, fibrous loam, with a good proportion of rpad grit, sand, and a little old hot-bed manure, is the very best compost for their growth. Mix them well together, put a few bits of charcoal at the bottoms of the pots, and bury the bulbs about twothirds of their depth, pressing the soil very firmly about the roots. It should be in rather a moist condition, to make the bulbs start more quickly. Set the pots in atlark cellar; and it is an excellent plan to take a box and put the pots in it side by side, then fill it to the brims of the pots with coal ashes, and cover the bulbs either with leaves that have fallen from the trees, heaping them ft foot in height over them, or else cover •n inch or so in depth with coal ashes alone; but the leaves are much better than the ashes, as the shoots of the hyacinths sprout up among them more quickly. They can be left in the box at least four weeks, but if desired to bloom very early can be taken up-stairs in three weeks. Now put them in a cool room, and for a few days keep them from coming directly in contact with the sun’s rays, as they should become accustomed to the light by degrees, but always require ,|o remain until they are fairly irn blossom away from the warm atmosphere of our close, furnace-heated apartments. After the buds begin to grow freely, give a liberal supply of water, really warm to the hand, and twice a week add twenty drops of aqua ammonia t© a pint of hot water, and apply it thoroughly. Before the leaves and buds are well developed too much moisture will cause the roots to decay. When the buds refuse to come out of the leaves, take a small square of white paper and pin or glue it into the form of a cone and ynt. it. directly over the whnlp plant fn«tening the large end into the soil in the pot, and leaving a large aperture at the top by cutting off the peak. The light falling through thjs cone stimulates the buds; to seek for more, and thus they will throw up a good stem. Take it off when the stem ctmes up to the leaves. For planting in fancy baskets, glass dishes, etc., you can fill up the receptacles with cocoa-nut fiber, spent tan or hops, or dried leaves from the forest; then with a knife run round between the pot and the soil, turn the pot over ion the left hand, rap on the bottom of it with the knife, and the bulb and soil will slip into your hand. Now place it in the basket as you desire, and then do the same with another pot, and so on until you have filled it up. Wicker baskets lined with cartridge paper, and then used to grow hyacinths in the manner related, make very pretty ornaments for boudoir or parlor. We have given no directions for growing hyacinths in water, because all the catalogues are so minute in theirs. It is, however, the most exhaustive way to treat bulbs, and they are raiely £ood for anything after blooming, while, treated as we have related, they will bloom finely for years. If the offsets are removed every spring and planted in the autumn, they will make fine large bulbs in two or three years. The single varieties are the most desirable for house culture.—Harper's Batar