CURSORY REMARKS ON THE TULir. DO 



in and purchasers of florists' flowers than what exists at the present 

 time. But so it happens that one florist goes to one market for his 

 tulips, another tries a second, and when they have watched their beds 

 till the expanded cups are presented to their anxious eyes, it not un- 

 frecpiently happens that the bulbs which were bought under different 

 names produce flowers so completely similar, or so exactly alike, 

 that the purchasers cannot help coming to the conclusion that either 

 the seller's stock has been mixed, or that intentional mistakes have 

 been practised upon them. Thus the trade suffers most materially, 

 and a damp and distaste are unfortunately thrown over the most de- 

 lightful of all pursuits. 



It is to prevent this misfortune, if possible, that I have taken up 

 my pen, as well as to elicit information on the subject from all parts 

 of the country, if any of your correspondents will be so obliging. 

 And as the tulip is a general favourite, and deservedly so, I trust, 

 Mr. Editor, that your pages will at all times be open to the. insertion 

 of articles which may be intended to clear away the misunderstandings 

 which evidently prevail at present as regards the properties of first- 

 rate prize flowers, and especially tulips. 



On looking over the few articles which have appeared during the 

 last twelve months in the pages of the Cabinet, on the history, cul- 

 ture, and properties of the tulip, the young florist cannot but be sur- 

 prised at the apparent difference of opinion which exists among 

 growers of great eminence respecting the criteria of a standard first- 

 rate prize flower. One writer (Mr. Forbes) says that the petals of a 

 tulip should display a union of at least " three colours, harmoniously 

 combined, so that the eye may love to rest upon the union." Another 

 (Mr. Tyso) denies this, saying, " that tulips should be & /coloured, 

 and that the existence of three colours is a complete disqualifica- 

 tion;" and at the same time hazards the sweeping assertion, that 

 the tulip cultivators in the northern part of the empire are a eentury 

 behind their brother Jlorists in the South. That he is perfectly right 

 in saying that tulips ought to be strictly bicoloured, every respectable 

 and experienced cultivator in Northumberland will be ready to assert ; 

 but that he is correct in saying that we are a cc ntuiy behind our 

 brother florists in the South, I think they will as unhesitatingly deny. 

 No better proof of his error in making this assertion need be adduced, 

 than the well-known fact that many tulips maintain their places in 



