AMATEURS OE FLOWERS. 155 



the original of an anemone which we shall find in another 

 part of the garden; there, its foliage forms a beautiful rich 

 green turf, from which spring simple rose-shaped anemones, 

 red, scarlet, purple, blue, violet, white, — or streaked with aU 

 these various colours. A bed of these is one of the richest 

 and most magnificent sights imaginable. The anemone is 

 one of the plants ca^&eA. florists flowers. 



There are people, sober in their pleasures, who concentrate 

 their cares upon a single flower. There are amateurs of tulips ; 

 for them there is no other flower in the world but tulips — 

 other flowers are weeds; and still further, among tulips, there 

 is only the tulip with the white ground, and among tulips 

 with the white ground, there is only the tulip with the 

 rounded petals. The year begins for them on the 15th of 

 May, and finishes on the 28th of the same month. There are 

 amateurs of roses, there are amateurs of auriculas, there are 

 amateurs of pinks, there are amateurs of dahlias, there are 

 amateurs of camellias, there are amateurs of ranunculuses, 

 there are amateurs of anemones: these are the onlj flowers — 

 others are called bouquets; and you should see with what 

 a tone and manner they pronounce the word bouquet ! So 

 with sportsmen, there are some animals that are game, and 

 others that are not. Of all this race, the amateurs of tulips 

 are the most ferocious; not that the others, however, are 

 remarkably mild, or that I advise any one to approach them 

 without due precaution. It sometimes happens that the ama- 

 teurs of anemones cultivate ranunculuses simultaneously, but 

 they expose themselves to being treated as fleurichons, or 

 dabblers, by the more severe amateurs. 



I knew a tulip-fancier, who, at the season for planting his 

 tulips, made every year two composts : one of maiden earth, 

 sand, and leaf mould; the other of clay, pigeons' dung, and 

 animal mould. In the first, which is favourable to tulips, 

 he planted his own roots; in the other, which combined all 

 the contrary conditions, he placed such as he had received 

 as presents, or in exchange. If he thinks his cares insuffi- 

 cient, he waters them with soap-suds. Then, at the period 

 of their blooming, after having made you admire his own 

 plants, he leads you to the others, and tells you, in a delight- 

 fully self-sufficient tone — "These are plants which distin- 



