372 breck's new book op flowers. 



the Tulipomania ; at which j^eople laugh, because they be- 

 lieve that the beauty and rarity of the flowers induced 

 florists to give such extravagant prices. But this Tulip 

 trade was a mere gambling commerce, and the Tulips 

 themselves were only nominally its object, many bargains 

 being daily made, and the roots neither given nor re- 

 ceived. In Holland and Belgium the passion for Tulips 

 among tlie florists became an absolute madness. Many 

 thousand francs have often been given for a single root, 

 and the conmierce of this article in 1637, rose to some 

 millions of francs. At the period of this eflfervescence, 

 properties of considerable value were given for a single 

 flower, and a memorable monument of this outrageous 

 folly is still exhibited at Lille, in the Tulip Brewery, 

 which, it is said, though valued af 30,000 francs, (16000,) 

 was given by its proprietor for a single root. At last the 

 Tulip mania became so overpowing that the government 

 of Holland, convinced of the evil effects which might re- 

 sult from it, were obliged to interfere, and to pass laws of 

 great severity against such transactions, limiting the ex- 

 tent of the amount for any one bulb to 200 francs. To 

 this day, a few of the choice and rare varieties are priced 

 at that sum in the Dutch catalogues. During this Tulip 

 fever, a merchant in Holland gave a herring to a sailor 

 who had brought him some goods. The sailor, seeing 

 some valuable Tulip roots lying about, which he consid- 

 ered of little consequence, thinking them to be onions, 

 took some of them unpei-ceived, and ate them with his 

 herring. Through this mistake, the sailor's breakfast cost 

 the merchant a greater sum than if he had treated the 

 Prince of Orange. 



Another anecdote is told of an Englishman, who, be- 

 ing in a Dutchman's garden, pulled a couple of Tulips, 

 on which he wishc^l to make some l)otani{;al observations, 

 and put them in liis pocket ; but he was apprehended as a 



