304 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



to a friend at Christmas would be the first eight volumes of the 

 Floeal "Woeld ! 



Let us say very little about the value of tulips. There are some 

 now catalogued as high as twenty guineas each, but beginners need 

 not be afraid of prices, because the good old cheap kinds, the names 

 of vrhich are celebrated in the annals of tulip culture, are beautiful 

 and indispensable even in the most costly collection. Those who 

 will pay twenty guineas each for tulips this season, must have such 

 cheap sorts as Polyphemus, Strong's King, Eose Bacchus, Gloria 

 Mundi, Brilliant, etc., etc., and bulbs for a bed of sixty rows can be 

 obtained of such growers as Mr. Lawrence, of Hampton, and Mr. 

 Turner, of Slough, for from fifteen to twenty pounds. As there are 

 seven bulbs in a row, this is at the rate of ninepence or tenpence 

 each all round. This statement may be information to many readers 

 who suppose a fortune to be required for the purchase of a bed of 

 tulips. Of course at such a price, rare kinds cannot be had, and 

 many first-class sorts average five shillings to twenty-one shillings 

 each ; nevertheless, the named kinds are all good, and when obtained 

 at such a cheap rate as I state, will make a splendid display, and 

 when the cultivator has become used to them, other varieties of more 

 costly quality can be added as desired. A few pounds spent every 

 year in improving the collection, will bring a good return in the 

 interest that will be created in watchiug for the flowers of the latest 

 acquisitions, and in admiring them when they are out. 



There need be no quackery in the growing of the tulip. It is 

 quite hardy and well able to take care of itself, if provided with 

 reasonable accommodation. There are a few points, however, of great 

 importance. The bed should be in an open, sunny spot, with some 

 kind of shelter from north-east winds, and there is no better shelter 

 than a mass of trees and shrubs, far enough oft' to cast no shadow on 

 the bed, yet near enough to break the force of the blast and warm 

 the air that passes through. A belt of shrubs twenty feet wide will 

 raise the temperature on the leeside of them four or five degrees on 

 a keen windy day in March, solely by checking the movement of the 

 wind. In a coppice it will be found to be quite mild and pleasant 

 on a day when in open meadows the wind cuts like a knife, and the 

 frost is unbearably severe. Shade will not do for tulips ; the drip 

 of trees will not do ; fresh air and sunshine are indispensable. 



But there is a matter of still more importance, and that is 

 drainage. I find in one of the early issues of the Floeal Wokld 

 a note by Mr. Chitty on the importance of drainage, and he cites a 

 case in illusti'ation. In my early days I lost a valuable collection 

 through making my bed in a damp position. A very wet winter 

 followed, and the bulbs were rotted in the ground. If the position 

 is naturally well drained, be content ; but if not, make use of pipes 

 to carry the ivater away. Do not trust to a substratum of brick-bats 

 as some foolish people : brick-bats below a bed do not carry the 

 water away, they simply hold it for the injury of whatever the bed 

 contains. 



The soil best suited to the tulip is a free, fertile, sandy loam. If 

 there is no suitable soil in the place, procure, if possible, the top spit 



