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I have introduced varieties of which you have never heard, and 

 which, you say, we never ought, perhaps you will favour the world 

 with their names. We have as good judges of a tulip as any in the 

 south, and they can testify to the value as well as to the good proper- 

 ties which many of them possess. The fact, I have heen told, is as 

 follows : — There are not so many purchases made in the south as 

 formerly, and hecause there have heen varieties inserted in some of 

 the southern catalogues which are the same, under two, and in some 

 instances three names, and which has been to the injury of the ama- 

 teurs whose means are circumscribed. You sta'e I have omitted 

 several fine varieties. The reason is, I want to see them another year in 

 bloom, for you must know that many are apt to come crippled, &c, 

 and a just description cannot be given of them without seeing them 

 in a good state. 



There is, I must confess, a mistake (and it is no humiliation, 

 neither is admission of error any disgrace) in the form alone of 

 Albion, it should have been nip rather long. You are so charitable 

 as to suppose that I have been imposed upon with some spurious 

 variety for Polyphemus, by charging what have always been con- 

 sidered respectable dealers with dishonest practices. I have had 

 Polyphemus from the late Mr. Strong, Mr. Jeffries, Mr. Groom, and 

 Messrs. Tyso, of Wallingford, and they are all alike in all points, 

 namely, foliage, bud, colour, and filaments or stamens. 



I now come to what are incorrectly described in the Catalogue, and 

 no doubt, as you begin at Albion and end at "Walworth, you have 

 run through it, and selected the worst. It could hardly be expected 

 that you would select those that would not bear vou out in vour asser- 

 tion, as your credit for truth was at stake; and how many, gentle 

 reader, do vou suppose, out of about two hundred varieties, are se- 

 lected ?— only twenty-four, and a considerable number are only described 

 according to your opinion as to the row. 



Brulante Eclatante is the next after Albion, and you say it is not of 

 a good form. It is difficult to say what is a good form, unless you have 

 it to sell. It is not pointed, and is a far better form than Tri- 

 omphe Royalc, as respects the roundness of petals. I may here 

 return you the compliment you have paid me, that you have not seen 

 the right one. I have seen it take a prize as a flamed rose, when: 

 form and bottom are the basis of judging, 



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