Tulips 



economy's sake, on the same principle as the excuse of the 

 child rebuked for extravagance in eating butter and jam 

 on one piece of bread, that it was economical to make the 

 same slice do for both. But this year we tried separating 

 the quondam partners, a::d were rather pleased at being 

 able to harvest the Tulips earlier than Carnation-layering 

 time, and to manure and crop the vacant ground to get it 

 ready for next season's bulbs. By this route we come first 

 to the English varieties, the very lite of the Tulip world, 

 for after the Dutch, Flemish, and French florists had de- 

 veloped the Tulip to a certain standard, the English florists 

 took it in hand, and became much more exacting in their 

 requirements, and succeeded in producing a strain of more 

 symmetrical, cup-shaped flowers with purer bases and 

 ground colours than had been known before. 



The love of the English Tulip may be an acquired 

 taste, but I am sure it is really good taste, and just as an 

 art connoisseur will turn away from showy, meretricious 

 objects to a really fine piece of work even though it may 

 need looking into and handling to appreciate its best points, 

 so will anyone who compares many Tulips, and has access 

 to really well-grown English florists' varieties, grow to love 

 the beautiful proportions and delicate featherings or rich 

 contrasts of the best of them more than any gorgeous 

 display of Darwins. Not that I wish in any way to dis- 

 parage Darwin Tulips for garden display, or even for 

 cutting for large vases in halls and large rooms. But one 

 could not hang the walls of a picture gallery with Limoges 

 enamels instead of pictures, nor banish the Apollo Belvedere 

 from his pedestal in the Vatican to make room for a Japanese 

 netsuke, and so there are no English Tulips on the Terrace, 

 245 



