r. 



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earth fhould be put in about eighteen inches thick ; 

 this (liould be levelled exadtly, and then lines drawn 

 each way of the bed, chequerwifci at fix inches dif- 

 tance, upon the center of each crofs, fliould be placed 

 the Tulip roots., in an upright poficion,' and afner 

 havin£> finiilied the bed in this manner, the earth mufl: 

 be fjHed in, fo as to raife the bed fix or eighc inches 

 higher, observing, in doing this, not to difplace any 

 of the roots, and alfo to lay the top of the beds a little 

 rounding to throw off the water. 

 There are many perfons who are fb carelefs in planting 

 their Tulip roots, as only to dig and level the beds 

 well, and then with a blunt dibble to make holes, in- 

 to vv'hich they put the roots, and then fill up the holes 

 with a rake, but this is by no means a good method ; 

 for the dibble, in making ihe holes, prefixes the earth 

 tlofely on each fide, and at the bottom, w-hereby the 

 inoifture is often detained fo long about the roots as 

 to rot them, efpecially if the foil is inclinable to bind ; 

 befides the earth beino; hard at the bottom of the 



raifed above the level of the ground 



bulbs, they cannot fo eafily emit their fibres, which 

 mull certainly prejudice the roots'. 



Thefe beds {hould be funk, more or lefs, below the 

 furface, According to the moiflure or drynefs of the 

 ground, for the roots fhould be fo elevated as never 

 to have the water ftand near the reach of their fibres 

 in winter, for moitT:ure is very apt to rot them ; fo 

 that where the foil is very wet, it will be proper to 

 lay fome lime rubbifli under the earth, in order to 

 drain off the wet, and the beds fhould be entirely 



; but to prevent 

 their falling down into the walks, after froft or hard 

 rains, it will be proper to raife the paths between 

 them, either with fea coal allies or rubbifti, eight or 

 ten inches, which will fupport the earth of the beds ; 

 and thefe paths may flope at each end from the middle, 

 which will make paflTage for tTie water to run off as it 

 falls. But where the foil is dry, the bottom of the 

 beds may be funk eighteen or twenty inches below the 

 furface, for in fuch places the beds need not be more 

 than four or fix inches above the furface, which will 

 be allowance enough for their fettling. ' ' - 



DurinG; the winter feafon there will be no farther care 

 required. The roots being planted thus deep, will 

 be in no danger of fuftering by ordinary frolls, but 

 if the winter fhould prove very fevere, fome rotten 

 tan or Peas-haulm may be laid over the beds to keep 

 out the frofl: during the continuance, but this muft 

 be removed when the froft is over ; and in the fprihg, 

 when their leaves begin to appear above ground, the 

 earth upon the furface of the beds fKould be ftirred 

 to clear it from weeds, Mofs, &c. and when the 

 flower-buds begin to come up, they Ihould be guard- 

 ed from froft, otherwife they are very fubjeft to 

 blight and decay fodh after they appear, if the, froft 

 pinches their tops ; but they need only be covered in 

 fuch nights when there is a profped of froft, for at 

 all other times they fhould have as much aif.as pofli- 

 ble, without which they will draw up weak^ and pro- 

 duce finall flowers/' ^ ^ " --''" '■:^^:^^: 



When the breeding Tulips are in flower, you ftiould 

 carefully^xaminethemjtofeeifanyofthemhayebroken 

 into beautiful ftripes, which, if you obferve, there 

 fhould be a (tick' put into the ground by every fuch 

 root, to mark them, that they may be feparated from 

 the breeders, to plant amongft theftriped flowers the 

 following year-, but you fhould carefully obferve, 

 whether they have thrown'off their former colour en- 

 tirely, as alfo when they decay, to fee if they conti- 

 nue beautiful to the laft, and not appearcfd fmeared 

 over with the original colour, in both which cafes 

 they are very fubjeft to go back to their old colour 

 the next year : but if their ftripes are diftinft -and 

 clear to tlVe bottom, and continue fo to the laft, 

 (which is what the florifts call dyeing well,) there is 

 no great danger of their returning back again, as 

 hath been by fome confidently reported ; for if one of 

 thefe flowers is quite broken (as it is termed,) it will 

 never lofe its ftripes, though fometimes they will blow 

 much fairer than at others, and the flowers of the 



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offsets will be often more beautiful than thofe of the 

 old roots. 



This alteration in the colour of thefe flowers may be 

 feen long before they are blown, for all the green 

 leaves of the plant v/ill appear of a fainter colour, 

 and leem to be ftriped with white, or of a bro'wnifli 

 colour, which is a plain proof, that the juices of the 

 whole plant are altered, or, at leaft, the veffels thro' 

 which the juice is ftrained^ fo that hereby particles 

 of a different figure are capable of paffing through 

 them, which, when entered into the petals of the 

 flower, refledt the rays of light in a different manner, 

 which occafions the variety Ave fee in the colours of 

 flowers (but this is more fully explained in the arti- 

 cle Vegetation, which fee.) This breaking of the 

 colours in flowers proceeds from weakncfs, or ait leaft 

 is the caufe of weaknefs in plants ; for it is obferyca- 

 ble, that after Tulips are broken into fine ftripes, they 

 never grow fo tall as before, nor are the ftems, leaves, 

 or flowers, fo large as before ; and it is the fame in all 

 other variegated plants and flowers whatever, which 

 are alfo much tenderer than they were before they 

 were ftriped ; fo that many forts of exotic plants which 

 by accident became variegated in their leaves, are 

 often rendered fo tender, as hot to be preferved with- 

 out much more care, though indeed the ftriping o£ 

 Tulips doth never occafion fo great weaknefs in 

 them as to render them very tender. The grcateft 

 effeft it hath on them, is in leffening their growth, 

 caufing fome (which, while they continued in their 

 original plain colours, did rife hear thrc^e feet in 

 height) to advance little more than two after their co- 

 lours were altered -, and the more beautifully their 

 ftripes appear, the fhortei: will be their ftems, and 

 the weaker their flowers. " 'v - . ^ 

 There is nothing more to be obferved in the culture or 

 ftriped flowers thah what has jbefe'h 'direfted for breed- 

 ers, excepting that thefe fhould be arched over with 

 tall hoops and rails, that they may be (hadecl fi-om the 

 fun in the day time, and protected from ftrong winds, 

 hard rains, and frofty mornings, otherwife the flowers 

 will continue but a fliort time in beauty ; but where 

 the ihftrudtiohs here given are duly followed, they 

 may be preferved in f5ower a full month, v/hich is as 

 long as moft other flowers continue. ; 



There are fome perfons who are lb extremely fond of 

 thefe flowers, as to be at a great expence in creeling 

 large frames of iron work to cover their tfeds of Tu- 

 lips, in fuch a hianner, that they may walk betweeh. 

 two beds under the frames, oyer which are fpread 

 tarpaulins, fo as to keep off fun, raiii, and froft, 

 whereby they can view the flowers without being at 

 the trouble of taking off or turning up tHe tai-paufins,^ 

 or being Ificomnioded by the fun or rain, which can- 

 not be avoided where the covering is low \ befides, 'by 

 thus raifing the covers, the flowers have a greater 

 ffiafe of air, fo that they are not drawn ^6 . wak^"^ as 

 they are when the covering is low and clofe to them ; 

 but thefe frames bemg expenlive, can only be made 

 by perfons of fortune ; however, therem^y be_ foiiie 

 of wood contrived at a fmaller expence, which being 

 arched over with hoops, may anfwer the purpofe as 

 well as the iron frames, though they are not fo fighdy 



orlafting. *. . • MJrr ^ ; 'i-j 



But after the flowers are faded, the heads of all the 



fine forts Itould be Broken off to prevent their feed- 



for if this is not obferved, they will not flower 



near fo welPthe following year, nor will their ftripes 



continue fo perfeft ; and'this will alfo calife their ftems 



to' decay fooner than otherwife they would do, fotliat 



their roots may be taken up early in June, for t^ey 



fhould not remain in the ground after their leaves are 



decayed. In taking the roots out of the ground, you 



muft be very careful not to bruife of ciit them, which 



will endanger their rotnng, and, if poffible, it fhobld 



be done a day of two after rain. When thefe roots 



are taken out of the ground, they muft be cleared 



from their old covers, and all forts of filth, and 



fpread upon mats in a fhady place to dry, after which 



tney "Ihould be put up in a dry place, where vermin 



_ J J 



ing 



13 



cannot 



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