156 CONCERNING WILD AND CULTIVATED 



and to put an end to them the intervention of the Govern- 

 ment was required. 



However, we may cite several examples of distinguished 

 men who have cherished a partiality for the tulip, in the 

 better sense of the word. Among these was Justus Lipsius, 

 the great philologist. In his garden he cultivated with his 

 own hands, it is said, the rarest varieties, and his floricultural 

 tastes were shared by two of his intimate friends, Dodone'e 

 (Diodati) and L'^cluse, the two most illustrious botanists of 

 their time. 



But all these details, however curious and interesting, do 

 not teach us whether our wild tulip has sprung from the 

 cultivated germs. As it is impossible to solve this problem 

 experimentally, we are forced to be satisfied with a simple 

 conjecture. 



And, for our own part, we are strongly of opinion that the 

 wild and cultivated tulips may, from their very origin, have 

 co-existed independently of one another. And now to put 

 forward a fact in support of this statement. 



THE HELIOTROPE. 



With the Heliotrope every lover of flowers is familiar ; it 

 is not less prized for its delicate fragrance than the tulip for 

 its glowing colours. No doubt exists as to the country from 

 which we have imported the cultivated heliotrope, nor as to 

 the epoch when it was introduced : it came from Peru, whence 

 the name given to it by Linnaeus, Heliotr opium Peruvianium ; 

 and was brought into Europe, in 1740, by Joseph de Jussieu. 



