86 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



though one cannot help thinking that, without 

 the real existence of the latter the former would 

 not have been possible, at least not in that 

 manifestation. 



There are still many tales told of that time, 

 some supported with sufficient evidence, some rest- 

 ing on report, all equally remarkable. To the first 

 class belongs that which can be found in the 

 registers of the city of Alkmaar, where in 1637 

 there is an entry of the sale of tulips for the 

 benefit of the Orphan Hospital, when 120 bulbs 

 were sold for 9000 florins a florin then about 

 represented a bushel of wheat, so the approximate 

 equivalent of that sum in modern money is rather 

 startling even for gambling prices. To the latter 

 class of tales belongs that of the man who believed 

 himself to be the possessor of a unique tulip, and, 

 hearing that there was another like it in Haarlem, 

 repaired to that city, bought the bulb at great cost 

 and crushed it with his foot, so that his tulip 

 should really be unique. There is the other tale 

 of the sailor, who, having been given a raw herring 

 at the kitchen door of a rich merchant and a 

 tulip fancier, picked up some roots which were 

 lying outside, cooked them with it, and ate them, 

 thinking them to be onions, and unaware that they 



