i 
275 
SINGLE EARLY TULIP: 
These are the parents of our ordinary garden varieties 
and are natives of Asia Minor, Calabria and Central 
Italy. There is almost an endless variety of this class, 
and have received for more than two centuries all the 
care and attention that it was possible to bestow upon a 
- plant, not only by the Dutch florists but by nearly every 
skilled gardener in the old country. Nearly every color 
and shade, except black, is represented, either alone or 
mixed, striped or shaded ; in fact, every possible combi- 
nation of color may be obtained. Double Tulips are 
almost as common as the single, many of them very 
showy 4nd desirable. But, like all others who have 
made a specialty of the Tulip, we could never admire the 
double as much as the singie varieties. Late flowering 
or Show Tulips have been grown from seed by millions, 
the result of which has been the acquisition of many 
superb varieties. There is a singularity in Tulips which 
belongs to no other flower. The seedlings generally, 
when they first bloom, produce flowers without any 
stripes or markings, but with a yellow base, the upright 
portion of the petals being self-colored, brown, red, pur- 
- ple, scarlet, or rose. In this state, when they have been 
grown for years without variation, they are called 
Breeders or Mother Tulips. These are planted every 
year until they break into stripes, when, if the markings 
are fine, or different from any known, they are named. 
Each person who has ‘‘broken”’ one claims and has a 
perfect right to give it a name; but much confusion nat- 
urally exists, because of the fact that different names 
have been given to those that have broken almost exactly 
alike. In a bed of a thousand seedlings, it is not probable 
that any two will be very nearly alike in their markings, 
and none are ever identically thesame. This uncertainty 
