210 THE GARDENER. [May 



much in his bed of Tulips, and wondered why he bestowed so much 

 care and attention on so frivolous an object. It was the parson's hobby, 

 and he carried it out with a right good will, regardless of the criticisms 

 of those whose hobby would perhaps prove far more expensive and 

 absurd than his own. Very likely the good man raised his own seed- 

 lings, and consequently escaped an item of expense not always within 

 the compass of a parson's purse. However that might be, history 

 does not record the fact, and we are left to presume that he did ; and 

 if he did not, he would assuredly neglect one of the greatest charms 

 that floriculture can bestow on the amateur florist ; for if one branch 

 of floriculture more than another is calculated to afford a greater 

 amount of pleasure to the ardent cultivator, it is that which is offered 

 in the production of seminal varieties. 



The Auricula, Pink, Carnation, Picotee, and other florist flowers, 

 have each its own admirers, and its own field for operation, and have 

 all made rapid strides of improvement, under the hand of the skilful 

 hybridiser, within the last twenty years ; and, notwithstanding, there 

 remains abundant scope for the persevering and enterprising votary 

 before he arrives at the point where improvement is unattainable. To 

 the Tulip this remark is especially applicable — there being abundant 

 scope for improvement, and but few, comparatively, earnestly intent 

 on carrying it on. And the reason seems apparent when we take into 

 account the length of time it requires to test the produce of a pod of 

 seed. The planting year after year, for five and very frequently for 

 six successive years, of the little bulb, and the consequent care and 

 attention this entails before one bloom rewards the patience of the 

 raiser of them, is doubtless the bar to the commencement of raising 

 seedlings by so many of the Tulip's best cultivators and warmest 

 admirers. 



Could I but point out a way — a royal road — by means of which 

 the zenith could be attained in a single year, these stray notes might 

 possibly be pronounced worthy of the space they occupy; and the 

 complaint would then very speedily be without foundation, in the fact 

 that the Tulip is far behind its compeers in properties and attractions. 

 Every grower might then be induced to try his " 'prentice hand," and 

 we should soon have abundant proof of the advancement the flower 

 is capable of. 



But as I cannot promise the knowledge of this royal road, I may 

 perhaps be allowed to mention the attempts of a London nurseryman, 

 some fifty years ago, to hasten on the growth of seedling bulbs 

 generally, by what might be termed an artificial method — namely, 

 sowing the seed as soon as ripe, and not suffering the young plants 

 to die down at the end of a season, but applying stimulants, and 



