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Show 370 FLOWERS. CHAP. X. culus-liko raccs,190 wl1ich differ in tho form and arrangcm?nt of th.o florc~s, hn.vo arion; also dwarfed races, one of which is. only CJ~htcen mches m height. The seeds vn.ry much in size. 'rho petals ~re un.lforn:ly colo~red or tipped or striped, and present an almost infimto. divc~slty of tmts. Seedlings of fourteen different colours 101 have been ra1sc~ fiOm tho sa~e plant; yot, as 1\'[r. Sabine has remarked,~' many of tho soc~li~gs follo'~ their pal .o n t s m· colour·." Tho period of fiowormcr has boon consldOiably baR toned, t:> • S 1· l and this has probably boon effected by continued sclectwn. a JS mry, ··t· ] oo8 says that they then flowered fl'om September to November; wu mg .o , • . . . . . . J . 102 d 1\~r . in 1828 .·omc new dwarf vanotws began flowormg. m. uno' .a~ 1I. Grieve informs mo that tho d.w:trf purple Z:clind.n, m. h1s g~~d.cn Js m ~nll bloom by tlto middle of Juno and sometimes cv n e~rlier .. ~hght constitutional d.ilfercnces have b en observed between certam vanotl~s : thns, some kinds succeed mnch bettor in one part of Englan<l than m another; 193 and it 11as boon notico<l that some varieties require much more moistmo tlJan othors.101 , nch flowers as tho carnation, common tulip, and hyacinth, which arc believed to bo dcRcondod, each from a single wild form, present innum m11lo variotioR, di1Icl'ing almost exclusively in tl10 si~o, form, and col~ur of tho flowers. These and some other anciently cult1vatod plants wluch 11avo boon long propagated by offsets, pipings, b~1lb ·, ~c., bocom~ so oxco: sivoly variable, that almost each now plant rl1l>Od from seed forms a now variety, " all of which to describe particularly," as old Gerardo wrote in 1G\.l7, "were to roll Sisyphus's stone, or to number tho sands." . Jlyacinth (llyacinthus orientatis).-lt may, l:owevcr, be. worth wlulo !o give a short account of this plant, which was ~n~rod.uccd. mto England m 1[)!)6 from the Lovant.l9s The petals of tho ongmal :flower, says Mr. Paul, wore narrow, wrinkled, pointed, and of a flimsy texture; now they aro broad, smooth, soli<l, and rounded. The erectness, broa:lth, and length of the whole spike, and tho size of tho flowers, have allmcroascd. Tho colours have been intensified and diversified. Gerardo, in 1597, enumerates fom, an<l Parkinson, in 162\J, eight varieties. Now tho varieties arc very numerous, and they were still more numerous a cent~y ago .. Iv~r. Paul remarks that " it is interesting to compare the Hyacmths of lG29 " with those of 1864, and to mark the improvement. Two hundred and " thirty-five year.· have elapsed since then, and this simple flower serves well "to illustrate tho great fact that the original forms of nn.turc do not remain "fixed and stationary, at least when brought under cultivation. While "looking at the extremes, we must not however forget that thoro arc inter" mediate stages which arc for tho most part lost to us. Nature will some- 190 Loudon's ' Oardone1)S MAg.,' vol. vi. 1830, p. 77. 191 Loudon's 'Encyclop.: of Garden-in g,' p. 1035. 192 '•rmnsnct. !Tort. Soc.,' vol. i. p. 91; ondLomlon's 'Uanlencr's Mog.,' vol. iii. 1S28,p.179. 1~3 Mr. Wildman, in 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1843, p. 87. 194 • Cottoge OarJcncr,' AprilS, 1856, p. 33. 1\16 'Tho best ancl fullest necount of this plnnt which I hnve met with is by n fnmous horticulluri st, Mr. rnul of \Vn,l thnm, in tho 'Uordencr'~ Chronicle,' 18U1, p. 312. CIIAP. X. FLOWERS. 371 "times indulge herself with a leap, but as a rule her march is slow and "gradual." Ho adds that tho cultivator should have "in his mind an "ideal of beauty, for the realisation of which he works with head and "hand." Wo thus sec how clearly Mr. Paul, an eminently successful cultivator of this :flower, appreciates tho action of methodical selection. In a cmions and apparently trustworthy treatise, published at Amsterdam 196 in 176 , it is stated that nearly 2000 sorts were then known; but in 1864 Mr. Paul found only 700 in the largest garden at llaarlcm. In this trcati ·o it is said that not an instance is known of any ono variety reproducing itself truly by seed: tho whito kinds, however, now 101 almost always yield. white hyacinths, and tho yellow kinds como nearly true. Tho hyacinth is remarkable from having given rise to varieties with bright bluo, pink, and distinctly yellow flowers. These throe primary colours do not occur in tho varieties of any other species ; nor do they often all occur even in the distinct species of the same genus. Although tho several kinds of hyacinths differ but slightly from each other except in colour, yet each kin<llms its own individual character, which can be recognised by a highly eclncatcd eye; thus the writer of tho Amsterdam treatise asserts (p. 4.3) that some experienced florists, such as the famous G. Voorholm, seldom failed in a collection of above twelve hundred sorts to recognise each variety by tho bulb alone! This samo writer mentions some few singular variations: for instance, the hyacinth commonly produces six leaves, but there is one kind (p. 35) which scarcely ever has more than threo leaves; another never more than five; whilst others regularly produce either seven or eight leaves. A variety, called la Coriph6e, invariably produces (p.llG) two flower-stems, tmited together and covered. by ono skin. The :flowerstem in another kind (p. 128) comes out of the ground in a coloured sheath, before tho appearance of the leaves, and is consequently liable to suffer from frost. Another variety always pushes a second :flower-stem after tho first has beg1m to develop itself. Lastly, white hyacinths with red, pmple, or violet centres (p. 12\J) arc 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 tho two last chapters I have given in some detail the range of variation, and the history, as far as known, of a considerable number of plants, which have been cultivated for various purposes. But some of the most variable plants, such as KidneyLeans, Capsicum, 1\lfillets, Sorghum, &c., have been passed over; for Lotanists arc not agreed which kinds ought to rank as species and which as varieties; and the wild parent-species arc unlmown.198 Many plants long cultivated in tropical 196 'Des JncinthC's, de leur Anatomie, Reproduction, et Culture,' Amsterdam, 17uS. w; Alph. do Cn,ndollc, 'Gcograph. Bot.,' p. 1082. m Alph. de Candollo, 'Oeograph. Dot..' p. 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