Plate 312. 

 VARIETIES OF EARLY TULIPS. 



The rapid strides that spriii<>-g-ard('uiiig lias made witliin these 

 hxst two years has brouglit into inueh more prominent notice the 

 many beautiful varieties of early-Howerinfj; Tidips, both single 

 and double, which previously had l)een only grown as jxit-plants, 

 or were to be found only in mixed borders and shrubberies. 



Perhaps the most successful attempt to use the early Tulip 

 for decorative ])urposes, in or near the Metropolis, was that of 

 Mr. Mann, the able superintendent of Hyde Park. That por- 

 tion of the park bordering on Park Lane was, in the latter part 

 of April and early in ^lay, a blaze of beaut)", large masses of 

 one kind of flower, such as Voidcur Cardinal, Yelloio Prince, 

 }]'hif(; Pottchaliker, etc., being employed to give the desired 

 effect ; but we question whether, with those whose means are 

 more limited and space confined, it is not a better plan to 

 mix the varieties, and by this means ensure a more continiu)us 

 bloom ; this is the plan we have adoi)ted in our own garden, 

 where we have mainly employed the Tulip as a ribbon-flower. 

 By mixing the various kinds, even the early Van Thols and the 

 late-flowering Duchess of Parma, we have been enabled to ensure 

 bloom for several weeks ; in order to do this the better, they 

 should be planted tolerabl)' close, not more than three inches 

 apart, and in double or treble rows. It is easy, after the earliest- 

 flowering varieties have shed their jjetals, to go round and cut 

 off the flower-stems, and then all app(-arance of raggedness is 

 done away with, while, instead of having perhaps a fortnight's 

 or three weeks' bloom, you ensure one to last four or five weeks. 

 After the flowering season is over, the bulbs must be lifted, and 

 either be placed in an airy shed to dry, or else placed loosely 

 in the ground in some out-of-the-way corner, until the leaves are 

 completely withered. 



