THE TULIP. 



tulip. 



F ALL the so called hardy Holland 

 bulbs there is, in all probability, no 

 other one so important for early 

 spring- display in the garden as the 

 For beautiful forms and dazzling 

 brilliancy of color the tulip is far in advance 

 of all other spring flowers and nothing can 

 equal its gorgeous appearance in beds, 

 groups, lines or ribbons in the spring garden 

 or in any other position in which it may 

 be placed. 



About the middle of the 15th century the 

 tulip craze began in Holland and since that 

 time there has been no decline of popularity 

 of this most brilliant of spring flowers. In 

 those days there were but very few colors 

 and varieties and most people of the present 

 day are surprised to learn that none but the 

 most wealthy were able to obtain a single 

 bulb, much less have them planted by the 

 thousand in their gardens or lawn beds. 

 Instances of the exorbitant prices demanded 

 for bulbs in those days may prove of interest 

 to readers. One single bulb of the variety 

 " Semper Augustus " was sold for thirteen 

 thousand florins, — about $5,200. For a 

 bulb of another variety a man paid his friend 

 four thousand florins, a new carriage and a 

 pair of handsome, harnessed horses. In 

 another instance four brothers went into 

 partnership to buy a single tulip bulb, no one 

 of the four having sufficient means to buy it 

 himself. These instances may be received 

 with feelings of doubt but documents are on 

 record to prove the truthfulness of the same 

 and many interesting stories could be told 

 of the great excitement that prevailed at 

 that time and of how fortunes were made 

 and lost in bulb speculation when the tulip 

 mania was at its height in Holland. 



Since that time there has come about a 

 great change and now, instead of but few 

 colors, we have them in selfs in all imagin- 



able shades of purple, crimson, scarlet, pink,, 

 yellow and of the purest white. Of the-, 

 striped flowers, there are violet, purple^, 

 crimson, rose, cerise and yellow stripes 

 on snow-white grounds, and crimson, scar- 

 let, maroon, and red flakes and feathers on 

 rich gold grounds. Instead of paying a 

 fortune for a single bulb we can now get 

 them at such a mere trifle that it is pos,sible 

 for most every home to be supplied with 

 hundreds of them. All this is the result of 

 the work of the hybridist and the practical 

 gardener. The former has spent his time 

 and exercised his skill in improvement of 

 form and color and the latter has studied out 

 the cheapest mode of production and culti-. 

 vation. 



Of the many distinct classes we will in 

 this article give a very short description of 

 but a few, each having distinct characteris- 

 tics and merits. (i) By bloemens (By 

 blooms). — Of this class there are many beau- 

 tiful, variegated flowers of many diff"erent 

 colors but all of which are striped, flaked, 

 feathered or spotted with white. They are 

 extremelybeautiful. (2) Bizarres (Bizards). — 

 This beautiful class is identical in every res- 

 pect with the Byblcemens except its rich 

 colors are dark and velvety and its variegat- 

 ions yellow where the Byblcemens are white. 

 A magnificent class. (3) Sweet Scented. — 

 The flowers of this class are more or less 

 fragrant as well as beautiful. (4) Parrot. — 

 These have exquisitely fimbricated petals, 

 made up of crimson, green and yellow colors, 

 some combinations of which remind one of 

 the beautiful plumage of some species of 

 parrot-whence the name. These, are ex- 

 tremely large and distinct. (5) Darwin. — 

 This is the most recent class among tulips.. 

 The flowers are large, borne on long, slender- 

 stems, and are richly colored, the shades 

 ranging from black to crimson (mostly dark)^ 



