282 ON THE TULIP. 



are blemishes which the severe taste of good judges proscribe as 

 fatal. 



As to the third law, we may remark that strength and straight- 

 ness of stem are indispensible. Here the petals must be well fur- 

 nished, for they then resist more easily the power of the solar 

 rays. 



To satisfy the fourth condition, it is necesssry that at least three 

 colours should appear, harmoniously combined, so that the eye 

 may love to rest on the union. They must be well denned, bright 

 and formed into regular designs — they must continue perfect up 

 to the time of the flower going off, without running into each other 

 from the effects of rain, or becoming weak and dried from the 

 rays of the sun. 



Tulips are obtained in two different manners — by seed and off- 

 sets. Experience proves that any variety of tulip is not re- 

 produced by seed ; and hence amateurs always have recourse to 

 this mode of propagating it, when they desire to obtain new kinds 

 which kinds they denominate Conquests- In order to obtain the 

 accomplishment of their wishes with more certainty, they take 

 care not to employ any seed but that which comes from tulips 

 having the bottom of the petals of a pure white, because the 

 colours of tulips proceeding from such seed develope themselves 

 more rapidly than those produced from other seed. Tulip seed 

 ought to be placed in the earth about the month of October, in 

 ground well prepared for its reception. It should be protected 

 from the frost by layers of leaves or mats. When carefully at- 

 tended to, the plants will appear above ground towards the end 

 of February. From the size of a pea the first year, the root 

 will increase considerably in the two following springs. " At 

 each of these periods, when the young leaves are faded," I spread 

 over my plants about an inch of earth, such as covered the seed 

 originally, and the bulbs remain untouched. This I allow a second 

 winter, when the bulbs being a good size, I take them up and 

 afterwards treat them as others. When ,1 replant I place them 

 at a depth of three inches, and two or three inches apart. Lat- 

 terly, each year, I replant them in fresh ground ; convinced by 

 experience, that they reach perfection sooner by changing the 

 soil, particularly if it has been well manured and fertilised by ha- 

 ving grown other plants. No matter what care may have been 

 devoted to the seed, few perfect flowers are obtained in the first 

 blow, which does not usually take place before the fourth year; in 



