70 



HISTORY OF THE TL'LIP. 



offered £157. 10s., and declined taking'it. Polyphemus, broke by 

 Mr. Lawrence, of Hampton, four roots of which sold for £50, after 

 it had been broken three years, and at the same time well known 

 there were other roots in the possession of Mr. Clarke and his friends. 

 Fanny Kemble, also one of Clarke's, was sold to the late Mr. Davy 

 for .£100; and at his decease, the stock, which consisted of one 

 blooming root and two offsets, was sold to John Goldham, Esq., for 

 £72. 10s. I have no doubt but John Shelmerdine, Esq., has it 

 broken also from one of Mr. Clarke's breeders. This is possible, as 

 Mr. Clarke never kept the breeders separate until they broke. Louis 

 XVI. appeared in the Dutch catalogues for the first time in 1792. 

 The price was £25 per root; {and Mr. Austin, not many years ago, 

 offered Mr. Goldham £72. 10s. for one, which was declined. 

 Everard, broke by John Goldham, Esq., a variety celebrated in the 

 south, was sold, in 1838, to Mr. George Glenny, for £140 : the stock 

 at that time consisted of seven blooming bulbs. 



It is worthy of remark that there is a great difference in the price 

 of Tulips in the south compared with the north ; and although the 

 catalogues of the London growers contain bulbs at the moderate 

 price of £50, and even £100, yet they grumble to give £3 to a 

 country florist for what, if raised or broken by them, would be 

 charged as high as before stated ; whilst the highest price known to 

 be offered in the north, excepting Lancashire Hero, was for a Lady 

 Crewe, and that was only £5 ; and at the present time I should be 

 glad to sell forty roots at 10s. each, and some even as low as 5s. each. 

 The high prices in catalogues deter many from growing them, as it 

 is a vulgar opinion that high-priced articles are the best. The 

 Dutch, at the present time, rarely value a root above 50 guilders, or 

 about £4. 7s. 6d. of our money. The London gentlemen would do 

 well to follow a little more in their steps, or treat their country 

 brethren with a little more liberality ; if so, I do not doubt but Lan- 

 cashire would soon excel London and its neighbourhood in Tulips, 

 as it does in other florist flowers. 



