As lady, blithesome, young, and vain,
Prank'd up with folly and disdain,

Vaunting her power,

Browne says

Sweet flower!

MRS. ROBINSON.

The Harebell, for her stainless azured hue,
Claims to be worn by none but those are true.

This flower is called Harebell, from the campanula, or bell-shape of its flowers, and from its being found so frequently in those thickets most frequented by hares.

The name of Bluebell is a sufficient distinction for those cottage children who know but few besides their native plants, but we have occasionally found them in coppices with a pure white corolla. Gerard tells us, that they have been found with “a faire Carnation colour;" but we should suspect that these were the remains of the bulbs brought into this country by the Romans, as the places noticed, where they have been found, are known to have been the stations of that people when in this part of the world.

In the time of Queen Elizabeth, when the highplaited ruff was worn both by gentlemen and ladies, the juice of the bulbs of this plant was used to make starch, and also to paste books, and to fix feathers upon arrows instead of glue.

Dioscorides tells us, that this root will procure

VOL. I.

G

hair on bald and beardless men. We presume it was to be used in the manner of glue, as is now said to be practised by some mustachioed beaux. Gerard calls this plant "Blew Harebell, or English Jacint," which was evidently from the French Jacinthe. The term of Non Scriptus was applied to this plant by Dodonæus, because it had not the Ai, Ai on the petals, and therefore could not be the Hyacinthus Poeticus.

Some as the Rubin laughing sweetly red,

Some like fair Emeraudes not yet well ripened.

HAD the Oriental Hyacinth been disregarded by the poets, it could not have failed claiming our notice and admiration by its extreme delicacy of colouring, elegance of form, and delightful fragrance, which fit it alike for the garden of choicest plants, or the vase of odorous flowers. Hence, no wonder that Phoebus became enamoured with its beauty, and Zephyrs sighed to enjoy its sweet breath-that our artists should invent glasses for the bulbs, and our

fair countrywomen should foster them with such care in their saloons.

The Hyacinth may be considered as supreme amongst the flowers of the Spring, as the Rose is amongst those of the Summer; and its charms have rendered it a successful rival to the Tulip even in the hearts of the Dutch florists. It is a native of the Levant, and grows abundantly about Aleppo and Bagdad, where it flowers naturally in February. Lepechin found it in Russia, not only with purple corollas, but with yellow flowers also. These beautiful flowers appear to have been common in our gardens prior to 1597, as Gerard does not mention them as being rare in his time, but observes, "These kinds of jacints have been brought from beyond the seas, some out of one countrey, and some out of others, especially from the East countries, whereof they tooke their name Orientalis."

It is probable that these bulbs and many seeds of eastern plants were brought to this country during the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, as we find that about the year 1561 she enabled Anthony Jenkinson and others to visit Persia on a trading speculation in raw silk, &c., in which they eventually succeeded; and Monsieur de Thou remarks, that this company of the English also obtained the exclusive privilege of importing all

manner of foreign commodities into Russia, and by this support they were encouraged to visit the several provinces of the East more carefully than other nations could do.

The Dutch, who at that period were the greatest florists in Europe, soon turned these bulbs to account; and it is rather singular that neither the French nor the English should ever have made the attempt of raising flower-bulbs for the market: to this day, the rearing them from seed in private gardens is seldom, if ever, practised in this country, even in situations offering all the advantages of soil which the Dutch are said to possess in so high a degree for bulbous flowering plants.

We are satisfied that if it should become the -practice to raise our own bulbs from seed produced in this country, our Hyacinths would not be found to degenerate so soon, and we should produce much finer flowers of this kind than those which at present embellish our borders. They would be more perfectly naturalized to our soil and climate, and more interest would be excited in our florists to rival each other in producing the finest plants of this beautiful flower. It is admitted that the time required (namely, five years) to raise these bulbs from seed to a state fit for the market, is a long period for a planter to wait for a return; but when once this is accomplished, the succession goes on

annually with as much regularity as a crop of seeds of any description; and when we consider the high price which bulbs of good varieties fetch in the shops of our seedsmen, it must appear to be a most lucrative branch of gardening.

The cultivation of Hyacinths receives more attention, and is in higher estimation with Dutch florists at present, than that of tulips. The Hyacinth is certainly a very superior kind of flower to the Tulip, but we presume that the great attention. given to it by the Dutch is owing to the increased demand from London and Paris, where the roots are sent in large cases and casks, and where, from our own observation, we conclude that nearly, three-fourths of the bulbs that are imported are lost through carelessness after they have once flowered, particularly those that are grown in glasses.

It is calculated that more than a hundred English acres are occupied for rearing bulbous plants, principally Hyacinths, near the village of Overveen, in the neighbourhood of Haarlem, where the best growers keep about 50,000 bulbs as breeders, and these florists now enumerate upwards of 2000 varieties of the Hyacinth. The list of one florist at Haarlem enumerates more than 800 kinds of double-flowered Hyacinths, besides about 400 varieties of the single kind.