DUTCH BULBS. 27 



only do the choicer bulbs go to our own nursery- 

 men, but they are now sent direct to many 

 private gardens ; while large auction sales in v 

 London, Liverpool, and elsewhere, clear off the 

 inferior roots or those exported by the less well- 

 known growers. Mr. Burbidge tells us that the 

 value of the flower-roots sent from Holland a 

 year or two ago was nearly 6o,ooo/., and one 

 English grower imports annually 160,000 tulip 

 bulbs. A certain proportion of these will be 

 required for forcing purposes for the house and 

 the conservatory, but many more will be used 

 in the open garden. A bed of well-grown tulips 

 is certainly a very beautiful object, and there 

 are some at least who believe in the rich fragrance 

 of the tulip, which a living poet says " might 

 be the very perfume of the sun." 



Besides the spring garden, there is in some 

 places the Semi-tropical garden, and in others 

 the Alpine garden. No one has done more than 

 has Mr. W. Robinson x to call up an interest in 



1 In Gleanings from French Gardens, and Alpine Flowers for 

 English Gardens. 



