152 THE FLORIST. 



PURITY IN THE TULIP. 



A great outcry has been made for some time about purity being 

 indispensable in the Tulip; whilst at every national meeting, notwith- 

 standing the regulations state that purity is indispensable, blooms 

 are allowed to win strictly impure. If the regulations are to be evaded 

 or qualified, then those who stage for purity are not put upon the same 

 footing as those who make allowances for the discretion of the judges, 

 who are often partial to certain varieties. Why state in the regula- 

 tions that purity is indispensable, whilst Platoff, alias Royal Sove- 

 reign, is allowed to win, when it is notorious that it is not pure, be- 

 ing cloudy or shaded, with a yellow of a dusky colour ? There is also 

 a very large number of the Chellaston seedlings a very impure white 

 at the base, and yet the judges pass them. Something definite must 

 be laid down and acted upon, or else we shall be in a state of confu- 

 sion. Blooms with impure stamens are cast out, whilst the cloudy 

 bottoms remain in the stands ; and it is a fact that is now admitted 

 by all who have paid any attention, that the tinge upon the top of 

 the stamens arises principally from natural causes, whilst some open 

 discoloured. About the third day the pollen becomes semi-fluid, 

 and flows down upon the stamens, and, what is very remarkable, 

 only tinges the inside, whilst the outside part of the stamens is as 

 pure as possible. Again, I have seen this season repeated instances 

 of one or more stamens tinged in the same flower, and the remainder 

 perfectly pure. Some varieties do not as readily tinge as others, 

 and these will be found upon examination to have scarcely any pol- 

 len and do not seed, whilst the flowers which have the greatest quan- 

 tity of pollen on the anthers seed readily. I am of opinion that of 

 two evils I would prefer tinged stamens, arising from the causes just 

 related, to a cloudy bottom ; and it should be distinctly stated in the 

 regulations for judging, that such allowances w r ould be made, subject 

 to being brought against other properties, so that this or that flower 

 should not rank so high, whilst the one that is very impure on the 

 stamens, arising from constitutional causes, should be disqualified. 

 This, to a practical judge, would be very easily ascertained, as it would 

 shew it on every side ; whilst, from the other cause, the greatest 

 discoloration will be on that side nearest the pericarpium, and, in 

 innumerable instances, scarcely if any on the outside portion of the 

 stamens. 



If these are made the fundamental principles of judging, we shall 

 soon get at what we are all aiming at — purity, as near as can be 

 approached ; as it w ill be found that nearly eight out of every ten 

 blooms, when a few days old, will shed a little discoloration on the 

 stamens, and some at the base ; but this latter point ought not to be 

 allowed, as it cannot arise from the pollen, but from other causes. 

 Cheetham Hill, near Manchester. John Slater. 



