434 FLORA POMESTICA. 



their size. The early-blowers should be planted in Sep- 

 tember, in a pot about ten or eleven inches deep ; they 

 should remain in-doors till April or May. If the weather 

 be very scorching when they are in flower, they must be 

 shaded in the heat of the day. When the flowers have de- 

 cayed, and the seed-vessel begins to swell, it must be broken 

 off; for if they are permitted to seed, the roots will be 

 weakened thereby. 



When the leaves of the early-blowers have decayed, 

 which will be while the late-blowers are yet in flower, the 

 roots must be taken up, cleaned, spread in the shade to 

 dry, and put away in a dry and secure place till they are 

 wanted to plant again. The offsets from the roots, until 

 they are big enough to flower, may be planted several to- 

 gether; but should be taken up when the leaves decay, 

 the same as the old roots. These will flower early in the 

 spring : the later blowers will flower a month or two later, 

 in May and June ; and these last may be planted in Octo- 

 ber or November. The roots should be taken up, and 

 replanted every year, as directed above. In mild weather 

 Tulips may stand abroad, and may be allowed to receive a 

 soft shower, but must be screened from heavy rains ; they 

 will require little or no water, and, while in flower, must 

 be sheltered from rains. The Garden Tulip is a native 

 of the Levant ; Linnaeus says, of Cappadocia. It is very 

 common in Syria; and is supposed, by some persons, to 

 be the lily of the field alluded to by Jesus Christ. In 

 Persia, where it grows in great abundance, it is con- 

 sidered as the emblem of perfect lovers. " When a young 

 man presents one to his mistress,"" says Chardin, " he gives 

 her to understand, by the general colour of the flower, that 

 he is on fire with her beauty ; and by the black base of it* 

 that his heart is burnt to a coal." Chardin saw it on the 

 northern confines of Arabia. Conrad Gesner first made 



