Notes 071 Gardens and Nu7'series. 213 



Art. III. Notes 07i Ga7'dens and Nurse7'ies. 



Mr. Walker^s Tulip Show. — Two years have elapsed 

 since we gave an account of Mr. Walker's last show of 

 tulips. The season of 1841 was unfavorable for a good 

 bloom, and the flowers had sufl'ered so much from the cold 

 rains of April and May that their beauty was not devel- 

 oped. On the contrary, the present spring has been ex- 

 ceedingly fine for the tulip, and the blooms have come 

 forth in all the splendor of former years. A heavy cover- 

 ing of snow is preferable to an open winter, notwithstand- 

 ing the tulip is quite hardy ; beneath such a protection the 

 bulbs continue to grow, and when the warm weather of 

 spring advances they are ready to shoot out with great 

 vigor ; frequent freezing and thawing the earth, and conse- 

 quently the foliage, has a tendency to injure the bloom. 



We have never seen Mr. Walker's tulips when in better 

 condition. The colors are less run, and the general ap- 

 pearance of the whole bed is better, than usual. Many of 

 the blooms are remarkably fine, and so select has Mr. Wal- 

 ker now made his beds, by discarding inferior flowers, that 

 few find a place in his collection that have not sufficient 

 merit to recommend them to general cultivation. 



The cultivation of the tulip is gradually extending, and 

 we are glad to learn that Mr. Walker has been successful 

 in disposing of several small beds to some of our amateur 

 cultivators. With the exception of Mr. Cabot, of Salem, 

 who has one of the best private collections in the country, 

 few other persons have taken but little interest in the tuhp 

 except Mr. Walker. The idea that great expense would 

 be required to purchase even a good collection, has deterred 

 many from making the experiment. When they learn, 

 however, that a fine bed of ten rows, containing seventy 

 bulbs, in fifty varieties, with twenty duplicates, can be 

 purchased for from ten to twenty dollars, we think many 

 will be induced to secure a small one. The same varie- 

 ties which Mr. Walker would furnish, if imported, would 

 cost three times the same amount. It is far better to pur- 

 chase them at his low prices, than to buy the miserable 

 trash which is sold at auction, and which only leads to 

 disappointment whenever it is planted out. 



