BULBS 129 



commonly, and of these It is rare to come across 

 all four in one dooryard. As if this were not 

 bad enough, tulips, to most, remain tulips; hya- 

 cinths are hyacinths, the narcissus is a narcissus 

 and the crocus is a crocus, just as if the horti- 

 cultural world had stood still since the middle of 

 the last century. Single or double, red, blue, pur- 

 ple, pink, yellow or white are still the common 

 differentiations. Of course, these four bulbs can 

 give abundant satisfaction at that, but a greater 

 satisfaction is lost through ignorance of the va- 

 riety that has converted the modern catalogue into 

 a veritable treasure-house. 



Tulips have been separated into important sub- 

 divisions since the early days of their culture; it is 

 the emphasis on the subdivisions that is modern. 

 You speak now not of tulips in general, but of a 

 particular class. The commonest bedding tulips, 

 known as early-flowering, are both double and sin- 

 gle and the growth is low. While their precise 

 origin is lost in remoteness, they are supposed to 

 have come from Tullpa suaveolens, a species from 

 the southern part of Russia. The old tall single 

 bedding tulips are styled late-flowering, May or 

 cottage tulips. These range from two feet to, in 

 some cases, the height of an ordinary walking- 

 stick and bloom well along in May, immediately 

 following the others which begin in April. Their 

 parent species is T. Gesneriana. For many years 

 they were neglected save in the British and Flem- 

 ish cottage gardens whence they have been res- 



