266 A GUIDE TO FLORICULTURE. 



the extravagant prices fell at once, and a Semper- Augustus 

 could be had for 50 florins ; yet the profits of raising rare 

 bulbs were considerable ; and, even at present, we find 25 

 to 150 florins the price of a single rare Tulip in the cata- 

 logues of the Harlem florists. Until the time of the 

 French Revolution, the florists of Harlem obtained their 

 bulbs principally from Lisle, and other towns in Flanders, 

 where the clergy were engaged in raising them." 



The mania was not confined to Holland altogether, for 

 the English found the business so profitable as not to per- 

 mit the Dutch to engross the whole ; the English florists, 

 by crossing and re-crossing their flowers, were enabled to 

 eclipse their neighbors with their beauty and magnificence, 

 thus causing a decline in price in new varieties. 



The Tulip is still dear, that is, choice varieties ; a mode- 

 rate variety could not be purchased for less than three hun- 

 dred dollars, when twenty years back the same collection 

 would cost four times that amount. This is not to be won- 

 dered at, when we take into view the time and uncertainty 

 of raising good flowers. Those cultivated in this country, 

 generally, are no criterion to judge of the merit of the fine 

 kinds ; those brought from Holland being nothing but the 

 rubbish of that market, the good kinds being prized too 

 much in Europe to find a ready sale here. In 1629 there 

 does not appear to have been over 140 with names; in 

 1792 the number had increased to 665 ; and in 1820 I saw 

 a catalogue, published by one Mason, containing 900. 

 There is one called Fanny Kemble, raised from seed since 

 that publication, that has been sold at an administrator's 

 sale for about $500 ; there being but one offset propagated 

 at that time, it will be many years before that variety will 



