FOREWORDS. 5 



of this phase of gardening has been set by the educational 

 authorities of Sheffield, who every year distribute many 

 thousands of bulbs to children to grow, and afterwards 

 exhibit for prizes at an annual show. 



In all ages bulbs and bulb culture seem to have been 

 held in popular esteem. Even the barbarous Turk in 

 bygone days excelled in the culture of the Tulip and 

 Ranunculus, and regarded the plants as priceless trea- 

 sures. The Greeks and the Romans, moreover, delighted 

 in growing lilies and hyacinths; and, in later days, 

 history shows that the Flemish and Dutch indulged 

 in the cultivation and admiration of a host of 'bul- 

 bous and tuberous - rooted plants. In Holland and 

 in France, indeed, the rage for rearing and cultivating 

 tulips was carried on to such a degree that it de- 

 veloped into a mania. History affirms that in the 

 seventeenth century the craze for these bulbs was so great 

 that as large a sum as 10,000,000 sterling was received 

 in Haarlem and district for new or rare tulips. For a 

 single bulb of a variety named Semper Augustus the price 

 of 4,600 florins, together with a new carriage, harness, 

 etc., was paid. In other instances a single bulb was sold 

 for twelve acres of land, and another for securities of the 

 value of 5,000. Failing to secure the price asked from 

 any one person, lotteries were arranged, and bulbs dis- 

 posed of in that way. The result was, as in the modern 

 instance of the potato boom, wealthy folk who gambled 

 in so wild a speculation were reduced to absolute beggary, 

 and the Government compelled to suppress the mania. 

 Fortunately, in England no such craze has arisen. Lovers 

 of daffodils, however, who are possessed of wealth 

 do not hesitate to pay high prices for novelties, especially 

 the newer varieties of narcissi. 



One of the great charms of bulbous and tuberous-rooted 

 plants is the fact of their flowering mainly at a period of 



