558 Home Nature-Study Course. 



clustering like a thick tassel on the bottom of the bulb, and reaching 

 deep in the soil for food. 



LESSON CXXVIII. 



THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS. 



Purpose. — To awaken in the pupils an interest in the growing of 

 these beautiful flowers. 



Tulips are very accommodating ; they will grow in almost any soil 

 if it is well drained, so that excessive moisture may not rot the bulbs. 

 In preparing a bed it should be rounded up so as to shed water ; it also 

 should be worked deep and made rich. If the soil is stiiif and clayey, 

 set the bulbs only three inches deep with a handful of sand beneath 

 each. If the soil is mellow loam, set the bulbs four inches deep and 

 from four to six inches apart each way, depending on the size of the 

 bulbs. They should be near enough so that when they blossom the bed 

 should be covered and show no gaps. Take care that the pointed tip 

 of the bulb is upward and that it does not fall to one side as it is 

 covered. October is the usual time for planting, as the beds are often 

 used for other flowers during the summer. However, September is not 

 too early for the planting, as the more root growth made before tJie 

 ground freezes the better ; moreover, the early buyers have best choice 

 of bulbs. The beds should be protected by a mulch of straw or leaves 

 during the winter, which should be raked off as soon as the ground is 

 thawed in the spring. The blossoms should be cut as soon as they 

 wither, in order that the new bulbs which form within and at the sides 

 of the parent bulb may have all of the plant food, which would otherwise 

 go to form seed. Tulips may be grown from seed, but it takes from five 

 to seven years to obtain blossoms, which may be quite unlike the parent 

 and worthless. The bulblets grow to a size for blooming in two or 

 three years ; the large one which forms in the center of the plant will 

 bloom the next season. 



LESSON CXXIX. 



THE HISTORY OF TULIPS. 



Purpose. — To give the pupils an interest in the Netherlands and in 

 the history of this characteristic flower. 



Tulips came originally from Persia and were brought to Europe in the six- 

 teenth century. About one hundred years later in the Netherlands was developed 

 a remarkable interest in these flowers, which was termed the " tulip mania." 

 Growers of the bulbs and brokers who Ixnight and sold them joined in the great 

 gambling speculation. Rare varieties of the In:lbs Ijccame more costly than jewels, 

 the sum of 4,600 guilders being paid, it is said, for one bulb of a famous black tulip. 



