Hyacinthus

“ The general opinion seems to be that the original hyacinth was the colour of the natural wild hyacinth (which is a Scilla?) which grows in the woods, where the red variety is not nearly as commonly found as the blue.
On the other hand, the first species may have been red, for in old fables it seems the hyacinth was thought to be red. Ovid relates how a flower sprang from the blood of the young Hyacinthus, [2] whom Apollo slew by accident with a quoit. Others, like Pliny and Pausanias, say the blood of Ajax, slain near Salamis, was changed into this flower. ”

“ The original of the cultivated hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientalis, a native of Greece and Asia Minor, is by comparison an insignificant plant, bearing on a spike only a few small, narrow-lobed, washy blue flowers, resembling in form those of our common bluebell. So great has been the improvement effected by the florists, and chiefly by the Dutch, that the modern hyacinth would scarcely be recognized as the descendant of the type above referred to, the spikes being long and dense, composed of a large number of flowers; the spikes produced by strong bulbs not unfrequently measure 6 to 9 in. ”

“ This genus is now usually placed under Hyacinthus. Hardy, bulbous-rooted plants, admirably adapted for spring bedding or forcing, and invaluable as cut flowers. Flowers small, whitish, or violet, tinged with green. Leaves few, radical, broadly linear. They are of extremely easy culture in ordinary garden soil. Propagated by offsets; also by seeds, which should be sown as soon as ripe. ”

“ Clusius calleth the lesser (for I thinke hee neuer saw the first) Hyacinthus [112] Indicus tuberosa radice, that is in English, The Indian Iacinth with a tuberous roote: Some would call these Hyacinthus Eriophorus Indicus, that is, The Indian woolly Iacinth, because they haue much wooll in them when they are broken; yet some doe doubt that they are not two plants seuerall, as of greater and lesser, but that the greatnesse is caused by the fertility of the soyle wherein it grew.
{Muske Grape-flower} 1. Hyacinthus Botroides maior Moschatus, siue Muscari flore flauo. ”

“ If grown for cut flowers it can be planted thickly in boxes of any convenient size. It is highly esteemed during the winter months by florists.
The Spanish hyacinth (H. amethystinus) and H. azureus are charming little bulbs for growing in masses in the rock garden or front of the flower border. The older botanists included in the genus Hyacinthus species of Muscari, Scilla and other genera of bulbous Liliaceae, and the name of hyacinth is still popularly applied to several other bulbous plants. Thus Muscari botryoides is the grape hyacinth, 6 in., blue or white, the handsomest ”

“ The Cape hyacinth is Galtonia candicans, a magnificent border plant, 3-4 ft. high, with large drooping white bell-shaped flowers; the star hyacinth, Scilla amoena; the Peruvian hyacinth or Cuban lily, S. peruviana, a native of the Mediterranean region, to which Linnaeus gave the species name peruviana on a mistaken assumption of its origin; the wild hyacinth or blue-bell, known variously as Endymion nonscriptum, Hyacinthus nonscriptus or Scilla nutans; the wild hyacinth of western North America, Camassia esculenta. They all flourish in good garden soil of a gritty nature. ”

“ A yearly feast was held at Sparta in honour of Hyacinthus, and his name was perpetuated till Christian times, when a martyr bore it at Rome, and thus brought it into favour in Italy as Giacinto; also a Polish Dominican Jacinthus in the thirteenth century, is commemorated as the Apostle of the North, because he preached Christianity in great part of Russia and Tartary; but curiously enough it is in Ireland alone that Hyacinth has ever flourished as a man’s name, probably as a supposed equivalent to some native Erse name. ”

“ The Hyacinthus racemosus grows wild in the corn fields of Germany, in which it increases so fast by offsets from the root as to prove a very troublesome weed, and on this account it must be cautiously introduced into gardens. ”

“ Then the old woman on the other side raised her voice unexpectedly, and she spoke to her granddaughter, Mrs. Lynn. “You are a fool,” said she, “if you wouldn't rather hev Serrah merry a man like Hyacinthus Ware, with all his money and livin' in the biggest house in Adams, than a man like John Mangam, who sets an' sets an' sets the hull evenin' and never opens his mouth to say boo to a goose, and beside bein' threatened with a suit for breach.”
“I don't care who she marries, as long as she is happy,” said Sarah's mother. ”

“ The hyacinth can grow in water alone, because it has been a provident little body, and stored away enough food in the little round carpet-bag of a bulb to supply the plant for the few weeks of its life. It only asks for the water it needs to keep it alive and growing. When the thirsty little roots have sucked up water enough, the bulb begins to grow in the other direction. If you look, you will see a solid lump of pale green come up from the top like the horns of a calf, or a baby's tooth. This is the young plant coming up out of its dark cradle into the light and air and sunshine. ”

“ They are very effective planted in a group. They are very pretty in hyacinth glasses, but this method ruins the bulbs for future use. Planted out they will sometimes flower. The best time to plant them in the border is in October, but the first of November will do. It is a good plan to make a little bed of sand for the bulb, and then cover with light porous soil. Hyacinths are classed as tall and dwarf, single and double. The Roman Hyacinth is the earliest bloomer, coming into flower about the holidays if started in season. The spikes are small and flowers rather scattering. ”

“ The flower-stem in another kind (p. 128) comes out of the ground in a coloured sheath, before the appearance of the leaves, and is consequently liable to suffer from frost. Another variety always pushes a second flower-stem after the first has begun to develop itself. Lastly, white hyacinths with red, purple, or violet centres (p. 129) are the most liable to rot. Thus, the hyacinth, like so many previous plants, when long cultivated and closely watched, is found to offer many singular variations. ”

“ In such matters as these he was deeply versed, moving ever in a dry, statistical and scientific air in which it cost Hyacinth an effort of respiration to accompany him. Simple and kindly as he was, and thoughtful of the sufferings of beasts, attentive and merciful to small insects and addicted even to kissing dirty babies in Audley Court, he sometimes emitted a short, satiric gleam which showed that his esteem for the poor was small and that if he had no illusions about the people who had got everything into their hands he had as few about those who had egregiously failed to do so. ”

“ All along the river it is difficult to find clear places on the banks on which to laud the nets, and it is usually necessary to spend some time in clearing the water hyacinth away in order to provide a suitable place. The detritus of dead plants which accumulates on the bottom of the river is also some hindrance to fishermen. Previous to the introduction of the water hyacinth the bottom of the river in most places was sandy and clear of obstruction. Now in many places, the writer is informed, the decaying plants have collected in masses several feet deep. ”

“ All hyacinths grown in pots and boxes will require abundance of water to make amends for the unnatural situation in which their roots are placed. After hyacinths have flowered in pots or boxes, or in water glasses, the bulbs are generally planted in the open ground, and being covered with about an inch of soil they are left to take their chance. Thus treated, the finer kinds generally perish, but [Pg 292] the hardier ones will live and flower for many years, if allowed every autumn to retain their leaves, till their new bulbs are matured. ”

“ Chapter VI.—General In the cultivation of hyacinths it is impossible to keep to any fixed rule. Not only must every country and climate make its own, but every hyacinth has its own ways and customs, its own special qualities and characteristics. The most distinguished of their species exact a great deal of attention, care, and management.
“François Ist” finds great difficulty in producing offshoots, and great care has to be taken of the young bulb, but when once arrived at full growth it is not as subject to disease of various kinds as are other bulbs, and it does not die easily. ”

“ Hyacinth held a book in his hand, but scarcely attempted to read it. His thoughts wandered from hopeful expectation of what the future was to bring him and the new life was to mean, to vague regrets, weighted with misgivings, which would take no certain shape. There crowded upon him recollections of busy autumn days when the grain harvest overtook the belated hay-making, and men toiled till late in the fields; of long nights in the springtime when he tugged at the fishing-nets, and felt the mackerel slipping and flapping past his feet in the darkness ”

“ People come miles to see these gardens, which are in bloom all April and part of May. Single hyacinths begin flowering towards the end of March, and last in flower for about twenty days, if the season be favourable. Single hyacinth beds are usually placed alternately with double, and the effect is more brilliant. Single hyacinths grow more thickly, there are sometimes fifty blossoms on one stalk, and very often several stalks on each plant. The red-single are a more brilliant red than are the red-double, and single blues have much the most delicate shade of colour. ”

“ On the whole, the writer has been forced to the conclusion that eradication is impracticable. He finds, furthermore, that those who have given the matter candid consideration mostly agree in this opinion. The evil, however, is certainly so serious that means should be devised, if possible, to keep it in check. This, it is believed, can be accomplished at fairly reasonable expense.
Methods of keeping the pest in control The water hyacinth is easily killed in many ways, but only those methods which are thought to be the most practicable can be discussed here. ”

“ 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 unnatural position of their roots; whereas the Dutch florists, by allowing the roots of their hyacinths plenty of room to descend perpendicularly, 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. ”

“ For the first time in her life Hyacinth blessed Lady Vaughan and Queen's Chase.
"I do not want to tire you with argument," he continued, "but tell me Hyacinth, what becomes of a flower, the growth of which has been forced?"
"It soon dies," she replied.
"Yes; and girls brought up in the artificial atmosphere of modern society, and its worship of Mammon, its false estimates, its love of sensation and excitement, soon die to all that is fairest and best in life. You," he continued, "enjoy—see, your face tells tales, Hyacinth—you enjoy the sunshine, the flowers, the music, the lake." ”

“ As Hyacinth assisted his companion to thread her way through groups of sprawling, chattering children, gossiping women with bare heads and babies at the breast and heavily-planted men smoking very bad pipes, it seemed to him that their project of exploring the slums was already in the way of execution. ”

“ He would make society bankrupt, but he would be paid. He was tall and fair and good-natured looking, but you couldn’t tell—or 102 at least Hyacinth couldn’t—if he were handsome or ugly, with his large head and square forehead, his thick, straight hair, his heavy mouth and rather vulgar nose, his admirably clear steady eyes, light-coloured and set very deep; for despite a want of fineness in some of its parts his face had a marked expression of intelligence and resolution, spoke somehow, as if it had showed you his soul drawing deep and even breaths, of a state of moral health. ”

“ A good compost for hyacinths is sandy loam, decayed leaf-mould, rotten cow dung and sharp sand in equal parts, the whole being collected and laid up in a heap and turned over occasionally. Well-drained beds made up of this soil, and refreshed with a portion of new compost annually, would grow the hyacinth to perfection. The best time to plant the bulbs is towards the end of September and during October ”

“ Besides which the exact shade or nuance differs perhaps in every garden—and it is not so easy to class hyacinths in a way to satisfy everyone, any more than it is easy to produce a completely satisfactory Method of Botany. Seasons are variable, and colours of flowers are much affected by changes of weather. 1767 was a very disastrous season by reason of the cold north wind which prevailed in the early part of the year. Red hyacinths were infinitely poorer than the preceding year, which was a particularly favourable one to bulb growers. ”

“ It was impossible to Hyacinth not to be conscious that this projected attention was kindly; and to-day, at any rate, he would have declared that nothing could have made up to him for not knowing the truth, horrible as it might be. His miserable mother’s embrace seemed to furnish him with an inexhaustible fund of motive, and in the conditions that was a support. What he chiefly objected to in Mr. Vetch was the betrayed habit of still regarding him as extremely juvenile; he would have got on much better with a better recognition of his being already a man of the world. ”