1870.] JOTTINGS ON THE TULIP. 161 



In my last paper of " Jottings" I promised to forward a few descriptive 

 notes upon the seedlings raised by Mr Storer of Derby, but the season 

 of bloom proved so very unpropitious that those friends who had pro- 

 mised me their aid were not willing to adventure a description, as 

 the blooms proved entirely out of their ordinary character as com- 

 pared with previous years, as most growers can doubtless bear me 

 out to their great disappointment, finding a dusky flame replacing the 

 expected fine feather, and an expected flame suffused into an ugly 

 self. This was no doubt owing to the extraordinary amount of rain- 

 fall during the previous winter; and should such an excessive amount 

 of colouring matter result from such a cause, fears may again be 

 entertained of a similar misfortune, owing to the present wet winter. 

 "We shall see in due time, but trust our fears will not be verified. 



And now, while our favourites are actively preparing underground 

 for their next campaign, I should like to say a few words from memory 

 about the merits of a few which I have had the pleasure of seeing of 

 those beautiful Derby seedlings, so truly deserving the highest encomiums 

 that can be passed upon them. I should unhesitatingly have said that 

 Dr Hardy could, without challenge, carry the palm, and stand, as 

 the raiser at one time thought it would stand, No. 1 over all the rest. 

 However, a grower, who is no mean authority, informs me that another 

 variety, during last year, has put in a claim for pre-eminence, and 

 doubtless will succeed in establishing its rightful position. That the 

 "Doctor" is full small in size cannot be denied, but large flowers are 

 apt to get coarse : still a large refined flower must ever stand before a 

 smaller compeer. But a small bloom, when faultless and proportionate, 

 must command, a little longer yet, a position on the bed ; and I have 

 seen some faultless blooms of Dr Hardy for some years past, and it 

 will be found a most admirable specimen of what is desirable in a 

 Tulip, with the exception, perhaps, of size, as its colours are of the 

 richest, and its style of marking sharp, clear, and decided in both 

 feather and flame — so that Joseph Godfrey, the " new pretender," must 

 look about him, and put on his best smiles to greet the anxious expec- 

 tants at the approaching struggle for victory, and will not gain its 

 honours without a sharp contest on the part of the Doctor. 



John D. Hextall, another variety, named after a stanch veteran of 

 more than fourscore years who has made his mark high up in the 

 annals of floriculture, is a superb flame of rich scarlet and gold, with 

 the colour laid on in the flame less carefully and attractively than in 

 some of the others — in a word, a little too heavily done, rendering it 

 less sharp and defined than we like to see in a fine Tulip. The season 

 may have had something to do with the excess of colouring. In any 

 stage, however, it may be taken as a most attractive variety. 



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