DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF ONE HUNDRED TULIPS. 175 



would very much facilitate my choice. * * * * 



After the present blooming season is over, it is my intention to send 

 a list of the best Tulips grown in this neighbourhood to Mr. 

 Harrison, according to your suggestion, and I hope many others will 

 do the same. It seems to me that we are on the eve of a revival in 

 Tulip showing, &c." 



I perfectly agree with this gentleman as to the absolute necessity 

 of having regular markings on all the petals of a Tulip ; for surely 

 nothing detracts so much from the beauty of a bloom, however good 

 it may be in form and bottom, than to see one petal regularly flamed, 

 and another run and blotched, or one correctly and beautifully 

 feathered, and another with the ground colour running up to the very 

 top. We should aim at perfection in all things, and there are plenty 

 of flowers to be had at a moderate price that will come up to the most 

 rigid standard, and bear the scrutiny of the most critical censors; 

 and this being the case, I think no amateur should be satisfied till he 

 has a good many kinds in his possession that possess all the requisite 

 properties I mentioned before ; for when flowers are presented for 

 competition, I beg to repeat that if they do not possess " a good cup, 

 regular markings on all the petals, edges free from any incision or 

 crack, and a perfectly pure bottom," I really think that good and 

 impartial judges should never allow them to be placed on the prize 

 table. 



It is true that, in inclement seasons, indifferent varieties sometimes 

 surprise us by the exalted positions which they obtain, but this only 

 arises from the many " untoward events " which such delicate and 

 capricious flowers as the Tulip are liable to meet with. The Tulip 

 season of 1840 was remarkable for continued high winds, and in 

 April, this year, we had a frost so intense, that at the end of my own 

 bed the water in a watering-pan was frozen at least an inch in thick- 

 ness. The consequence was that the flowers were levelled with the 

 earth ; and although they rose again, many of their stems were so 

 injured that from that time up to the day of exhibition they kept 

 tumbling over, one after another, to rise no more, thus prostrating 

 at once their unexpanded beauties and the hopes of the competing 

 florist. Such misfortunes cannot be guarded against, and must be 

 submitted to with patience, but this is a calamity which all Tulip 

 growers who are, like the Felton amateurs, situated in a valley, have 



