ON THE CULTIVATION OP TULIPS. 207 



Royal, Lady A. Peel, Miss Edwards, Duke of Newcastle, Mrs. Bar- 

 nard, King James, Regina, Ernestine, Venus. (J. Edwards, Esq.) 



Prizes for the best single specimens of each class of Carnations and 

 Picotees were offered ; but there was scarcely any competition. 



Best Scarlet Bizarre, Emperor ; Pink Bizarre, Twyford Perfection ; 

 scarlet-flake, Justice Shallow ; 2nd. May's Seeding ; rose or pink flake, 

 Flora's Garland ; 2nd. Romeo ; best red-edged heavy Picotee, Mrs. 

 Norman, 2nd. Prince of Wales; red-edged, light, Gem; 2nd. May's 

 Dodwell ; purple-edged heavy Seedling ; 2nd. Alfred ; purple-edged, 

 light, Lorina ; 2nd. Prince Albert; Rose-edged heavy, Venus ; 2nd. 

 Victoria Regina ; rose-edged light, Mrs. Barnard ; 2nd. Seedling. 



Seedlings. — Mr. Bragg exhibited a yellow Picotee named Princess 

 Alice. The flowers were small in the present state. Petal of excel- 

 lent form and substance ; yellow, deep, good, Edging dark red, but 

 very clearly defined. If the flower should become of a proper size, 

 there is not a yellow that we have seen will be equal to it. A first- 

 class certificate was awarded. Duke of Wellington ; a scarlet 

 bizard Carnation, also had a first-class certificate awarded. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF TULIPS. 



IN LETTERS TO A FRIEND. 



Letter VII. 



Dear Sir, — Yours of the 2nd ult. came duly to hand. ; I hasten on the 

 first opportunity I have had to reply, to condole with you under the 

 serious loss you have sustained. This is only one of the mishaps 

 attendant on the cultivation of tulips ; you say, that when you took vip 

 your bulbs last year you noticed a considerable number had small holes 

 or perforations as if punctured by worms. You took no particular 

 notice of it, but put them by and planted them at the proper season, but 

 not one of those so perforated have thrown up a bloom bud, most of 

 them are gone quite rotten, and all you have left are a few chips that 

 were not affected. This, certainly, is mortifying, but you must not be 

 disheartened at this your first disaster, as proper care for the future 

 will prevent this again occurring to'any great extent, as my subsequent 

 remarks will show. I remember, for some years, I suffered the same 

 thing, but not to any extent, and other growers, to whom I have men- 

 tioned the circumstance, were similarly affected ; they attributed it, 

 some to grubs of some sort, and others to worms. One year it was 

 more serious than it had been before, and the subject grew upon my 

 attention. One day, while musing, I recollected, while in my teens, 

 reading the travels of a naturalist, he was at the time in Holland, I 

 believe at Haarlem (I write entirely from memory) ; he appears to have 

 been a lover of nature in all her courses ; he often visited an extensive 

 Tulip grower's grounds, and while there he particularly noticed that 

 one species of tlie bee was very busy among the beds ; he noticed their 

 entering the ground near the stem of the bulbs ; he was extremely 

 anxious to take up some of the roots, in order perfectly to ascertain the 



