The original of the cultivated hyacinth, Hyacinthus orientalis, is by comparison an insignificant plant, bearing on a spike only a few small narrow-lobed washy blue flowers. 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 or 7 inches in length and from 7 to 9 inches in circumference, with the flowers closely set on from bottom to top. Of late years much improvement has been effected in the size of the individual flowers and the breadth of their recurving lobes, as well as in securing increased brilliancy and depth of colour.

The peculiarities of the soil and climate of Holland are so very favourable to their production that Dutch florists have made a specialty of the growth of those and other bulbous-rooted flowers. An area of 125 acres is devoted to the growth of hyacinths in the vicinity of Haarlem, and is estimated to bring in a revenue of nearly £30,000. Some notion of the vast number imported into England annually may be formed from the fact that, for the supply of flowering plants to Covent Garden, one market grower alone produces from 60,000 to 70,000 in pots under glass, their blooming period being accelerated by artificial heat, and extending from Christmas onwards until they bloom naturally in the open ground.

In the spring flower garden few plants make a more effective display than the hyacinth. Dotted in clumps in the flower borders, and arranged in masses of well-contrasted colours in beds in the flower garden, there are no flowers which impart during their season—March and April—a gayer tone to the parterre. The bulbs are rarely grown a second time, either for indoor or outdoor culture, though with care they might be utilized for the latter purpose; and hence the enormous numbers which are procured each recurring year from Holland.

The first hyacinths were single-flowered, but towards'the close of the 17th century double-flowered ones began to appear, and till a recent period these bulbs were the most esteemed. At the present time, however, the single - flowered sorts are in the ascendant, as they produce more regular and symmetrical spikes of blossom, the flowers being closely set and more or less horizontal in direction, while most of the double sorts have the bells distant and dependent, so that the spike is loose and by comparison ineffective. For pot culture, and for growth in water-glasses especially, the single-flowered sorts are greatly to be preferred. Few if any of the original kinds are now in cultivation, a succession of new and improved varieties having been raised, the demand for which is regulated in some respects by fashion. At the present day our nurserymen offer in their annual catalogues of select sorts between two and three hundred distinct varieties.

The earliest of all the hyacinths, and one which is very valuable for forcing into flower in winter, is called the white Roman hyacinth. It is small-flowered, but very sweet, and, if potted in September or October, as soon as the bulbs can be procured after importation, may easily be had in blossom by Christmas, when white flowers are so much sought after. Of course this is done with the aid of a forcing-house, but a very high temperature is not required. The best soil for pot hyacinths is made up of two parts turfy loam, one part decayed leaf-mould, and one part well-decomposed cow dung, with sand enough to make it porous, and with sufficient drainage.

The name of hyacinth is applied to several other plants having bulbous roots. The Cape hyacinth is Scilla corymbosa; the grape hyacinth, Muscari botryoides ; the tassel hyacinth, Muscari comosum, and the feathered hyacinth, Muscari comosum monstrosum; the starch hyacinth, Muscari racemosum·, the star hyacinth, Scilla amoena·, the lily hyacinth, Scilla Liliohyacinthus ; the hyacinth of Peru, Scilla peruviana ; the wild hyacinth or blue-bell, Hyacinthus non scriptus; the wild hyacinth of America, Camassia esculenta ; the Missouri hyacinth, Hesperoscordum lacteum ; and the native hyacinth of Tasmania, Thelymitra media.