158 State Horticultural Society. 



inople, where the flowers had long- been a favorite. In the course of 

 lo or II years after this period, tulips were much sought after by 

 the wealthy, especially in Holland and Germany. Rich people at 

 Amsterdam sent for the bulbs direct to Constantinople and paid the 

 most extravagant prices. The first roots planted in England were 

 brought from Vienna in 1600. Until the year 1634 the tulips annually 

 increased in reputation, until it was deemed a proof of bad taste in 

 any man of fortune to be without a collection. One w^ould suppose 

 that there must have been some great virtue in this flower to have 

 made it so valuable in the eyes of so prudent a people as the Dutch ; 

 but it has neither the beauty nor the perfume of the rose, hardly the 

 beauty of the sweet pea; neither is it as enduring as either. 



Many persons grow insensibly attached to that which gives them 

 a great deal of trouble, as a mother often loves her sick and ever-failing 

 child better than the more healthy, upon the same principle we must 

 account for the unmerited encomia lavished upon these fragile blos- 

 soms. In 1634. the rage among the Dutch to possess them was so 

 great that the ordinary industry of the country was neglected, and the 

 population, even to the lowest dregs, embarked in the tulip trade. As 

 the mania increased, prices augmented, until in the year 1635, many 

 persons were known to invest a fortune of 100,000 florist in the pur- 

 chase of fort}^ roots. People who had been absent from Holland, and 

 whose chance it was to return when this folly was at its maximum, 

 were sometimes led into awkward dilemmas by their ignorance. There 

 is an amusing instance of this kind related. A wealth}- merchant, 

 who prided himself not a little on his rare tulips, received upon one 

 occasion a very valuable consignment of merchandise from the Levant. 



Intelligence of its arrival -was brought him b}^ a sailor, who pre- 

 sented himself for that purpose at the counting house, among bales 

 ■of goods of every description. The merchant, to reward him for his 

 news, munificently made him a present of a fine red herring for his 

 breakfast. 



The sailor had, it appears, a great partiality for onions, and seeing 

 a bulb very like an onion lying upon the counter of this liberal trader, 

 and thinking it no doubt, very much out of its place among silks and 

 velvets, he slyly seized an opportunity and slipped it into his pocket, 

 as a relish for his breakfast. 



He proceded to the quay to eat his breakfast. Hardly was his 

 back turned when the merchant missed his valuable Semper Augustu.s, 

 worth 3,000 florins, or about 280 pounds sterling. 



The whole establishment was instantly in an uproar : search was 

 -everywhere made for the precious root, but it was not to be found. 



