62 ON THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS, 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS. 



IN LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 



Letter III. 

 Dear Sir, — Your last respects I have perused with considerable satis- 

 faction. I am pleased with the progress you have made. On reading 

 the list of your purchases, I find there are some I should not have 

 bought, but still some are very good, and the whole will please you for 

 some time to come. Your progi'essive experience will add to your dis- 

 crimination, and aid your judgment. You are pleased to say that you 

 could not do otherwise than go ahead, after tlie instructions contained 

 in ray letters ; and as it seems such easy work to me to write about 

 Tulips, you have a lot of questions to ask, and having made a 

 beginning I must go on, and tell you all I know on the subject. This 

 I will not promise, as we labour under disadvantages, being so far from 

 each other. Epistolary communications must always be as concise as 

 possible, but still I will make my communications as entertaining and 

 serviceable as the nature of the subject will allow. Now to your 

 questions. You say you have procured a list of flowers that have 

 gained prizes at the principal meetings in the soutli, and you wish me 

 to send you the names of those tliat win in the north. You wish to 

 know if 1 liave ever made any experiments in the cultivation of Tulips, 

 and if I can inform you what sort of seedlings they are raising in the 

 north, and if any of these are likely to become popular, and likely 

 to become standard flowers with cultivators. Again, you say you 

 have some that come with eiglit petals : What is tiie cause, and what 

 will prevent it ? You say you liave more questions yet to ask, but for 

 the present you have done. I am glad of it ; you liave set me a task, 

 but as it is my favourite theme, I will do as well as I can with them ; 

 it will take more than one or two letters to answer them. Strange to 

 say, that for the last tliree years I have made considerable exertions to 

 get lists of all the principal meetings in the north, and have been rather 

 successful. I did it that I might compare notes, " not thinking of any 

 application on the subject," and thus I am able to meet your wishes, 

 and sliall conclude this letter by giving you a list of Rose Tulips that 

 have gained prizes in the north in the last three years; the other classes 

 shall follow. You must bear in mind that in the north they show in 

 classes ; eacli bloom is shown separately, and not in pans, as in the 

 south, and by this method prizes go to a long extent, and are given 

 for the best flamed and feathered of each class. In the annexed list, 

 those that have got the most prizes are mostly old flowers, both here 

 and in the south; some of those with the smaller numbers are from the 

 south, and others raised and broke in this neighbourhood (or seedlings 

 if you please), wluch, with your other questions shall be attended to in 

 my next. — Dahl. 



A List of Rose Tulips that have gained Prizes in the North in the last 



Three Years. 



Heroine 53 



Lady Crewe 85 



Dolittle 42 



Newcastle 35 



Walworth 55 



Andromeda 12 



