BULBS 129 
commonly, and of these it is rare to come across 
all four in one dooryard. As if this were not 
bad enough, tulips, to most, remain tulips; hya- 
cinths are hyacinths, the narcissus is a narcissus 
and the crocus is a crocus, just as if the horti- 
cultural world had stood still since the middle of 
the last century. Single or double, red, blue, pur- 
ple, pink, yellow or white are still the common 
differentiations. Of course, these four bulbs can 
give abundant satisfaction at that, but a greater 
satisfaction is lost through ignorance of the va- 
riety that has converted the modern catalogue into 
a veritable treasure-house. 
Tulips have been separated into important sub- 
divisions since the early days of their culture; it is 
the emphasis on the subdivisions that is modern. 
You speak now not of tulips in general, but of a 
particular class. The commonest bedding tulips, 
known as early-flowering, are both double and sin- 
gle and the growth is low. While their precise 
origin is lost in remoteness, they are supposed to 
have come from Tulipa suaveolens, a species from 
the southern part of Russia. The old tall single 
bedding tulips are styled late-flowering, May or 
cottage tulips. These range from two feet to, in 
some cases, the height of an ordinary walking- 
stick and bloom well along in May, immediately 
following the others—which begin in April. Their 
parent species is J’. Gesneriana. For many years 
they were neglected save in the British and Flem- 
ish cottage gardens—whence they have been res- 
