THE CHARM OF GARDENS 



most peculiar things in the history of gardening. The 

 Tulip is really a Persian flower, the shape of it suggest- 

 ing the name, thoulyban, a Persian turban. It was 

 introduced into England about 1577, by way of 

 Germany, having been brought there by the German 

 Ambassador from Constantinople. By the Seventeenth 

 Century there had developed such a passion for this 

 flower that it led to wreck and ruin of rich men who 

 paid fabulous sums for the bulbs, a single bulb being 

 sold for a fortune. One bulb of the Semper Augustus 

 was sold for four thousand six hundred florins, a new 

 carriage, a pair of grey horses, and complete harness. 

 So great did the business in Tulips become that every 

 Dutch town had special Tulip exchanges, and there 

 speculators assembled and bid away vast sums to 

 acquire rare kinds. The mania lasted about three 

 , years, and was only finally stopped by the Govern- 

 ment. 



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