220 



FARMERS' REGISTER— TULIPOMANIA. 



notes, and of wliich there are but few parallels. 

 It was from 1634 to 1637 that the tiilipomania 

 raged in Holland, particularly at Harlaem, Am- 

 sterdam, Utrecht, Alkmaer, Leyden, Rotterdam, 

 Horn, Enkhuysen, and other places. In those 

 years tulips rose to enormous prices, and enriched 

 many speculators. The florists held in particular 

 estimation certain species, to which they gave par- 

 ticular names, and which they sold dearer than 

 others. A single root of the variety called viceroy 

 produced the owner four fat oxen, eight hogs, 

 twelve sheep, ten hundred weight of cheese, two 

 pipes of wine, a bed and furniture complete, a sil- 

 ver cup, a great quantity of corn, and other pro- 

 visions, to the value of twenty-five thousand florins. 

 These I'oots were sold by weight, like the most 

 valuable commodities; an ounce olten cost sevei-al 

 thousand florins; the most esteemed variety was 

 that called semper augustits : it was valued at two 

 thousand florins, and reported to be so rare that 

 there were but two roots of the kind ; one at Har- 

 laem, and the other at Amsterdam. A flower- 

 fancier offered for orie of these, four thousand six 

 hundred florins, and a fine coach and two horses 

 into the bargain. Another person gave twelve 

 acres of land for a root. In 1637, the collection of 

 tulips of one individual, was sold, after his death, 

 by his heirs, for the enormous sum of nine thou- 

 sand pounds ; one single semper aiigustics sold for 

 two thousand florins. 



Everybody's head was turned by the passion 

 for tulips; those who had not ready money, bar- 

 tered away their lands and houses to procure them. 

 The florists, and other persons who were engaged 

 in the cultivation of flowers, in a very sliort time 

 made immense fortunes. All classes of society 

 were therefore desirous of embarking in the trade; 

 and all the Dutch, from the first gentleman in the 

 land to the chimney sweeper and rag man, began 

 to speculate on the tulipomania. A bed of tulips 

 was considered the greatest treasure that a person 

 could possess, and was worth at least as much as 

 the most magnificent palace. It is related, that a 

 sailor, having brought some goods to a merchant 

 who cultivated tulips in his garden for this specu- 

 lation, received from the lattera herring for break- 

 fast. As he was going away with it, he saw some 

 roots in the garden; and thinking they were com- 

 mon onions, he began quietly eating them with 

 his herring. At this moment the merchant came 

 up, and perceiving what he was about, " Villain !" 

 cried he, in a tone of despair, " your breakfast has 

 ruined me ; I could have regaled a monarch at half 

 the expense." The poor sailor, as you may sup- 

 pose, was in the utmost astonishment ; and it was 

 not without difficulty that he was made sensible of 

 his mistake. 



The rapid increase of private fortunes made 

 people neglect every tiling to engage in the specu- 

 lations of the moment. The taverns and ale- 

 houses resembled little exchanges; bargains were 

 there concluded in the presence of notaries and 

 witnesses, for a few tulip roots ; and in general, 

 these negotiations, which were transacted with 

 the utmost gravity, were followed by splendid en- 

 tertainments. It has been calculated, that in one 

 single town of Holland the dealings in tulips 

 amounted in three years to ten millions of florins. 

 It should lie observed, however, that those who car- 

 ried on this traffic did not cultivate the flowers, 



the case that neither the buyer nor the seller 

 ever saw the tulips for which they bargained. 

 Others engaged to supply roots, which in fact they 

 never furnished : before the flowering season, ar- 

 rangements and negotiations were concluded for 

 the sale and purchase of more tulips than perhaps 

 all the gardens in Holland contained. There ex- 

 isted, as I have told you, but very few flowers of 

 the variety called semper augxistus ; and yet no 

 other kind was so frequent in commerce as that. 

 A gentleman would perhaps buy of a chimney 

 sweeper two thousand florins worth of tulips, and 

 sell them again to a farmer at a still higher price; 

 and yet none of the three ever had the tulips, or 

 thought of obtaining possession of them. It was 

 not properly speaking in tulips that they trafficked, 

 but in money. Had the rarity and beauty of the 

 tulips been the object of this trade, people would 

 have bestow ed the utmost attention on the cultiva- 

 tion of that flower : they would have gone to its 

 native country, the east, and sought the most beau- 

 tiful species all the world over ; but, instead of 

 this, the speculators never quitted their alehouse, 

 and enriched themselves by an extraordinary kind 

 of jobbing — the whole secret of which was this : 



Suppose a dealer engaged to furnish a gentleman 

 at the exj)iration of six months with a tulip root 

 of any particular sort, for the sum of a thousand 

 florins; at the expiration of the time agreed upon, 

 the price of that variety was either higher or low- 

 er, or perhaps the same as before. If the current 

 price of one thousand florins had meanwhile risen 

 to fifteen hundred, the gentleman did not demand 

 his tulip, but the dealer was obliged to pay hiin 

 five hundred florins in cash ; but if the price was 

 lower than at the time of making the bargain, say 

 eight hundred florins, the gentleman, on the con- 

 trary, paid the dealer the sum of two hundred. If, 

 however, the tulips were neither dearer nor cheap- 

 er at the end of six months, neither party lost or 

 gained, and their contract was at an end. Every 

 thing depended on the price current, by which 

 they regulated their agreements and bargains; and 

 the dealers were as anxious to know the prices of 

 tulips every day, as people are with us to inquire 

 the prices of stocks. It frequently happened, that 

 the same person gained of one and lost to another ; 

 and if he had no cash to pay his debts, he referred his 

 creditors to those who had lost. to him; so that 

 plenty of business might be transacted without tu- 

 lips, and even without money. As every body was 

 desirous of participating in this kind of stock-job- 

 bing, the rich speculated on the rarest species, 

 \yhile the bargains of the lower classes were con- 

 fined to the most common sorts. Taking all cir- 

 cumstances into consideration, this commerce in 

 tulips, or rather tulipomania, was in reality a game 

 of chance, by which all were at first seduced by 

 the immense profits to be derived from it ; but as 

 these speculations possessed only a fictitious lustre, 

 and had no solid foundation, the gamesters were at 

 length undeceived, and learned, to their cost, that 

 excessive cupidity generally makes dupes of those 

 by whom it is harbored, and thallabor and indus- 

 try are the surest road to fortune. 



Nations and individuals, who apply themselves 

 to commerce, cannot, I repeat it, hope for prospe- 

 rity, except from industry and frugality. To con- 

 clude the history of the tulipomania, I shall add, 

 that in a iew years the rage for speculations rose 



but only bought and sold ; and it was frequently I to such a height that most of those who engaged ia 



