THE ARISTOCRAT OF THE BULB GARDENS 101 



much more likely have they been introduced — as 

 rabbits to Australia — and taken to the West 

 Country. There is a garden in Devonshire where 

 they multiply wonderfully, and where, to a certain 

 extent, a record of their multiplication is kept. 

 Incorporated in the lease of the house is a clause 

 to the effect that the lessee, when he leaves, shall, 

 besides the usual " habitable condition," etc., leave 

 so many hundred of a special kind of red tulip in the 

 garden. The which is rather a pleasing clause to 

 read in these days, when no one may put a window 

 in his woodshed without the permission of the 

 Urban District Council. It is pleasing to realise 

 that a man, though dead, has that much right 

 over his own property, and can perpetuate his 

 fancy for red tulips, or (as is the case of an 

 east county estate) ordain that the garden he 

 loved shall continue to be as it has been 

 since the days of Anne Boleyn — that, not 

 only shall no Council say him nay, but no 

 Englishman would ever wish it, on the contrary 

 they all, privately, think it a very right and 

 proper thing. 



Perhaps it will be permitted to close these 

 desultory remarks on tulips past and present, 

 English and Dutch, with a few lines from two 



