100 DUTCH BULBS AND GARDENS 



court, where he made a friend of William of 

 Orange ; this in 1 577, by which time tulips, 

 whether first introduced by Gesner to Augsburg 

 or by Busbecq to Maximilian, would have had 

 time to grow and increase in Germany and the 

 Low Countries, and might well have attracted 

 the attention of the widely interested and 

 cultivated Sidney. 



But how they came and when they came does 

 not greatly matter now. Come they did, both to 

 Holland and to England, and early find their 

 way to favour and to cultivation and variation. 

 The date of the earliest varieties is as unknown 

 as the date of introduction, but some are cer- 

 tainly very old, many late single kinds, Darwin 

 tulips among them, have been found by Dutch 

 growers in old Flemish gardens with long his- 

 tories, other sorts seem to be quite as old. The 

 tulip, like the dog, appears to have taken very 

 kindly to domestication and variation for the 

 pleasure of man. 



There are, of course, wild tulips in some 

 countries, the Sylvestris of Italy, for instance, 

 though none are native to Holland. They are 

 accredited to England, and said to be indigenous 

 in Gloucestershire, but the thing is very doubtful, 



