TULIPA 



TULIPA 



1869 



to be monstrosities, and were pictured as such. Accord- 

 ing to Solms-Laubach, no traces of them are to be found 

 in the old Dutch books. They were evidently developed 

 by the French, who did not disdain the yellow and red 

 forms, to which these beloug, to such an extent as did 

 the Hollanders. At one time they were made a separate 

 species, T. Turcica, and later said to be hybrids, by one 

 author, between T. acuminata and sylvestris (E. S. 

 Rand, Jr., 1873), by another between T. Gesneriaua 

 and suaveolens (Mrs. Loudon, 1841). That the Parrot 

 Tulips are hybrids is perhaps true, but to state with 

 certainty the parents seems impossible, for as early as 

 1613, among the figures in Hortus Eystettensis, there is 

 one which shows laciniation 

 of the petals to a marked 

 degree ; sufficiently so, in 

 fact, to be the original form 

 from which this strain could 

 bedeveloped. Besides, many 

 of our garden varieties of 

 to-day exhibit more or less 

 laciniation, so that it is 

 probable that "Parrot" 

 strains might be developed 

 from them by simple selec- 

 tion. 



Double Tulips seem to 

 have made their appearance 

 at an early date. In Hortus 

 Eystettensis (1613), there 

 are four forms figured, one 

 of which, at least, seems to 

 have been almost wholly 

 made up of bracts, as it is 

 shown entirely green and is 

 described as being "wholly 

 herbaceous and green." The 

 other three there figured 

 are: one red, one yellow, 

 and the other white with 

 maroon borders. Solms- 

 Laubach places the advent 

 of double Tulips at a much 

 later date, 1605, and gives 

 as the first authentic record 

 the account of " Tulipa lutea 

 centifolia, le ntovstre jaune 

 double." Flowers with as 

 many as 200 petals are men- 

 tioned. A double form of 

 " T. serotina" was known in 

 1701, and at the beginning 

 of the nineteenth century a 

 double form of T. sylves- 

 tris was described. 



Arnold V. Stubenrauch. 



Tulip Bulb Culture in 

 America. — From a com- 

 mercial point of view the 

 Tulip in this country has 

 received but little consid- 

 eration, which is due to the 

 fact that its cultivation has 

 not been considered of suf- 

 ficient financial importance 

 to warrant the undertaking, 

 and also to the very general opinion that the industry 

 could not be made profitable excepting in Holland and 

 by the Dutch. There is a common notion that Dutch 

 soil alone is adapted to the perfect development of the 

 bulb, and that there is some secret process possessed 

 by the Dutch alone which they will not under any cir- 

 cumstances reveal. Nevertheless some of our early 

 horticulturists and florists showed conclusively that the 

 Tulip bulbs could be grown in America even better than 

 in Holland. 



The late David Thomas, of Greatfield, near Aurora, 

 Cayuga county, N. Y., grew from seed some of the 

 finest Tulips, both as regards size, colors and markings, 

 ever shown in this or any other country at that early 

 date, which was nearly sixty years ago. The writer re- 

 members well seeing them on exhibition at the Aurora 



3594. The 



Horticultural Society and the favor with which they 

 were received by as critical and intelligent an audience 

 as ever gathered around an exhibition table. 



The late Isaac Buchanan propagated the Tulip very 

 successfully from offsets at his nursery in Astoria, L. I., 

 at about the same period, and exhibited the flowers at 

 the first spring exhibition of the first New York Horti- 

 cultural Society, carrying off the highest honors. 



Recent attempts in cultivating the Tulip in various 

 parts of the country, particularly in the West, as an 

 industry, have been quite successful, and the work only 

 needs to be taken up systematically and energetically to 

 insure success. (See Washington.) 



The Tulip is not at all 

 particular as regards soil. 

 It will thrive in either sand 

 or clay, but it can be prof- 

 itably grown only on a light 

 sandy soil, as in such the 

 bulbs increase more rapidly 

 and are larger and more at- 

 tractive in appearance, the 

 skin being of a lovely red- 

 dish brown, while those 

 grown in a heavy soil are 

 smaller and of a dirty brown 

 color. Nearly all the soil 

 on the Atlantic coast from 

 Maine to Florida is admir- 

 ably adapted to commercial 

 Tulip cultivation, as is much 

 of the upland soil from Vir- 

 ginia southward, the light 

 sand being almost identical 

 with that of Holland, where 

 the Tulip is almost exclu- 

 sively grown. 



Wliile the Tulip loves 

 moisture, perfect drainage 

 is requisite to success. The 

 best results are obtained 

 when the soil has been 

 made very rich for a pre- 

 vious crop; it matters but 

 little what, — some root crop 

 being preferable. The best 

 manure is that from the 

 cow-stall, which must be 

 thoroughly rotted and 

 evenly incorporated in the 

 soil. Even though the soil 

 be light and fine, it must be 

 thoroughly worked before 

 the bulbs are planted, which 

 should be by the 15th of 

 September. Plant the bulbs 

 4 inches below the surface 

 in beds 4 feet in width, the 

 rows 6 inches apart and the 

 larger or stock - bulbs 6 

 inches apart in the rows. 

 For propagation the largest 

 and finest bulbs are always 

 used, and selected by the 

 dealers before filling orders. 

 The sets can be planted 2 

 inches apart in the rows, 

 the space to be increased according to the size of the 

 bulb. Upon the approach of winter the beds should be 

 given a light mulch to prevent the ground freezing be- 

 low the bulb. Not that the Tulip will not endure as 

 much frost as any hardy perennial — for it will— but 

 nearly all bulbs make certain preparations for spring 

 flowers in winter, and when the soil around them is 

 hard frozen this preparation cannot go on; consequently 

 when growth starts in early spring it will be premature 

 and feeble, and the result will be inferior flowers and a 

 smaller increase. 



Upon the approach of spring remove the mulch; this 

 is all the work that will be required, other than to keep 

 the surface of the soil frequently stirred with a fine 

 rake to keep down the weeds and prevent evaporation 

 until the flowers appear. The beginning of bloom is the 



contemporaneous garden Tulip. 



