174 DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF ONE HUNDRED TULIPS. 



different localities, and as a guide for future purchasers. I feel 

 great pleasure in quoting from the communication of a Warrington 

 correspondent, who thus addresses me on the subject : — 



" Sir,— One of the most sensible articles on the Tulip which I 

 have read for a long time is that which bears your signature, in Har- 

 rison's last journal. I have always considered it a piece of down- 

 right arrogance for the south country growers to impute to us in the 

 north either an ignorance of the true properties of a good Tulip, or 

 an overweening fondness for dirty-bottomed ones, and I am inclined 

 to think that you have done a good deal towards eradicating that 

 notion. Tulips of fine form and beautiful bottoms may be had in 

 abundance, and, in the south, blooms of such will obtain prizes what- 

 ever may be their markings ; but I have always maintained that as 

 this last property is the most difficult to obtain, and requires the 

 greatest nicety of cultivation to produce in perfection, it ought always 

 to be looked for in a show tulip. On this account, too, I think we 

 ought to be cautious how we discard a dirty -bottomed bloom in toto, 

 when its size, form, and markings render it an object of admiration. 

 I have seen a Roi de Cerise take a premier prize, when there have 

 been a good Heroine, Catafalque, Unique, &c. on the same stage, and 

 yet it was impossible for the most critical judges to find fault with 

 the award, such was the superiority of its size and form, as well as 

 its colour and marking ; there was a richness and brilliancy about 

 it quite unusual, and few thought of looking at its bottom. In a 

 case like this I maintain that it would have been bad taste to have 

 staged in preference a Louis XVI. or any other fine tulip, if its 

 feathering were broken or its beam blotched and irregular. Still I 

 would not pretend to claim a general preference for such like Tulips ; 

 but what I think we ought especially to insist upon in a prize Tulip 

 are, 1st, regular markings; 2nd, brightness of colour; and 3rd, 

 good form and size. If these can be found in a pure-bottomed 

 bloom, which ought always to be sought for, so much the better; 

 but if not, then I think no judge ought to discard a dingy-bottomed 

 one, which possesses every other requisite property, nor ought the 

 correctness of his taste to be impugned for preferring it. 



" I like your suggestion for marking the properties of Tulips in 

 catalogues, and hope to see it generally acted upon. Being an 

 amateur, and possessing only a very limited assortment, I feel that it 



