TUBEROSE TULIP. 281 



unable to support themselves. The leaves do not appear 

 until the vines are several feet in length. The flowers 

 are very showy, and produced in the greatest profusion. 

 Half a dozen tubers, planted at the end of the center 

 bench of a greenhouse, will present a mass of bloom sev- 

 eral feet square. This is the only one of the class that 

 is worthy of cultivation, and it should always be seen in 

 the conservatory. 



TUBEROSE. 



See Polianthes Page 258. 



TULIP. 



Tulipa. 



Few plants show so plainly the florists' skill in selec- 

 tion and cross-fertilization as the Tulip. Like the Glad- 

 iolus, it has been improved in nearly every respect, with- 

 out losing the respect of the systematic botanist. It is 

 true that in the garden Tulips there are a few double 

 forms, "vegetable monsters," as Linnasus termed all 

 double flowers ; but they are, relatively, few, and the 

 taste for them is on the decline rather than on the in- 

 crease. Among the true admirers of the Tulip the 

 double forms meet with but little favor; where flowers 

 are grown simply to show a mass of color, without re- 

 gard to form or structure, as in our public parks, the 

 double Tulips answer a very good purpose, because they 

 are showy, and last longer than the single forms. As 

 flowers begin to be appreciated for their intrinsic worth, 

 when we look into them rather than at them, when we 

 see all their parts and their wonderful adaptation to each 

 other, the beautiful necessity there is for each, our 

 respect for double forms will be lost in our admiration 

 for the single flower, perfect in all its parts as it was 

 when it first beautified the earth, and there was none to 

 admire other than the Power that gave it. 



