130 FAMILIAR GARDEN FIOll'EIiS. 



delicate tulipj and j". ri'Wiitini, that is like a large \ellow 

 eioeuSj will be i'uuiid b}' the earnest man easily- enoag'lij 

 iVir are fliey not in the trade eatalognes, j)riced at so mueh 

 per dozen^ and needing only love and jjatienee to grow them 

 jierfectly ? The tulip figured is the famous Keizerskroou, 

 a most fitting representative of the entire section of early 

 tulij)s^ whose collective name is Legion, and whose proper 

 patrons are the souls comprised in the word everybody, and 

 that are so free and easy in their habits of life that they 

 can live and prosper anywhere. As a matter of fact, the 

 early tulips are the cheapest, most showy, most accom- 

 modating, and (when skilfully handled) the most lasting of 

 all the spring flowers ; and thereby hangs a tale. 



In all current histories of the tulip it is commonlv 

 assumed that the late tulipjs, descended from T. gcsneruiiiii , 

 were the subjects of the extraordinary speculations of the 

 seventeenth century, collectively known as the " tulip 

 mania." But the late or "florists'^' tulips have no such 

 special distinction, for of the variety named Lac run Bln/ii, 

 a single bulb of which in the days of the mania was sold 

 for 175 gulden, is still in existence, and is an earlv tulip, 

 much prized as a bedder, and obtainable at a few shillings 

 per dozen. So, ag'ain, the II Jnle ttiiil Bed Bonlered , known 

 in Holland as // li en linoi] IjunJe, each bulb of which was sold 

 at :2,IH)I) gulden, is still in cultivation as an early variety, 

 and commands a very low price as a thing of little account. 

 The true state of the case is set forth at length, on the 

 basis of documentary evidence, in a lecture on the tulip 

 by the ])resent writer, the text of which will be found in 

 the Giinli'iirfx' 'Maiiiiz'iiic of ^lareh :2('i, ISS]. It is therein 

 coneliisi\-ely established that the early fi(n-ists fas'oure 1 the 

 early and the late varieties aliout equally ; and Parkinson 



