TULIPA 



LILY OBDEB 



TULIPA 861 



somewhat from most other bulbous plants 

 belonging to the Lily order, it deserves 

 mention. The bulb planted in the autumn 

 is not that which is lifted the following 

 June or Julj'. The original bulb has 

 vanished in producing leaves, flowers, 

 next year's bulb, and offsets ; hence there 

 is no strain upon it when allowing the 

 flower to wither and produce seeds. The 

 bulb for the second season is usually fully 

 formed with roots of its own almost by 

 the time its parent begins to flower. From 

 its side is produced a smaller bulb or ofi'set, 

 and this two years later becomes a flower- 

 ing bulb. The practice therefore that 

 holds good with other bulbous plants, 

 namely, that of allowing the leaves to 

 wither before lifting the bulbs, is not 

 so applicable to the Tulip, which may be 

 lifted as soon as ever the flowers have 

 passed from a state of perfection, whether 

 the leaves are green or not. Of course 

 when seeds are required the plants must 

 not be disturbed until the seed-pod has 

 thoroughly ripened. 



Tuhps may be left in the soil for two 

 or more years, and may be top-planted 

 with annuals like China Asters, French 

 and African Marigolds, Clarkias, Gaillardias 

 &c., but as a rule it is better to lift them 

 annually after flowering is over. If lifted 

 while the leaves are still green, the new 

 bulbs retain their beautiful deep brown 

 skin, but if the operation is delayed until 

 the foliage has vanished, the bulbs have 

 to be handled more carefidly, otherwise 

 their skins will peel off readily leaving the 

 white flesh of the bulbs exposed. Little 

 or no harm, however, is caused thereby. 

 The bulbs which are to flower the follow- 

 ing season should be cleaned and stored 

 on dry shelves in cool airy sheds or other 

 places free from rats and mice until the 

 autumn. Any offsets that are produced 

 may be detached and planted as early as 

 possible in specially prepared beds by 

 themselves, where they may be either left 

 till they bloom two years afterwards, or 

 taken up the following year, and planted 

 in the ordinary way in autumn. 



Seedling Tulips 



Baising Tuhps from seeds is a slow 

 but interesting process and presents no 

 great difficulty. The seeds may be sown 

 as soon as ripe very thinly in the open 

 border in a specially prepared bed. The 

 seeds do not germinate until the following 



spring, and time is saved if the young 

 plants are allowed to remain in the seed- 

 bed until they flower. When sowing the 

 seeds plenty of space should be therefore 

 left for the production of offsets, or 

 ' droppers,' and 4-6 years may elapse 

 before the first flowers appear. A curious 

 fact in connection with the flowers of 

 seedling Tulips is that they are always of 

 one uniform colour, although the seeds 

 may have been saved from flowers beauti- 

 fully feathered and flamed and with two 

 or three distinct colours. Seedling Tulips 

 are called ' breeders ' or ' mother Tulips ' 

 by florists, and they retain the name so 

 long as the flowers remain of one colour. 

 They may, however, at any time ' break ' 

 away into beautifully feathered and flamed 

 flowers. They are then said to be ' recti- 

 fied ' or ' broken.' Having reached this 

 stage florists split these ' rectified ' Tulips 

 into two groups, viz. those having a pure 

 white centre, base, or ground, and those 

 having a pure yellow one. Those having 

 a white base, and the purer the white the 

 better, are divided into two sections: (1) 

 Roses, in which the flowers may be of 

 dehcate pink, rose, scarlet, cerise, crimson, 

 and intermediate shades of colour ; and 

 (2) Bybloemens, in which the flowers may 

 be shades of pale lilac, lavender, violet, 

 purple, brown, and black, and the deeper 

 and blacker in colour they are the better. 

 Tulips having a yellow base or centre 

 consist of one class only called Bizarres, 

 and their flowers may be orange, scarlet, 

 crimson, black, brown &o. 



All ' rectified ' Tulips, whether ' roses,' 

 ' bybloemens,' or ' bizarres,' have the 

 petals either ' feathered ' or ' flamed,' and 

 thus are readily distinguished from the 

 self-coloured breeder Tulips. This latter 

 group, however, can easily be fitted into 

 any of the three groups mentioned by the 

 white colour or yellow centre, and the 

 prevailing colour of the flowers, as stated 

 under each. 



A ' feathered ' Tulip is one in which 

 the colour is beautifully pencilled and 

 feathered round the edges only of each 

 petal, thus producing a light and graceful 

 effect. When the feathering is broken, 

 splashed, or confused, it is a defect. 



A ' flamed ' Tulip is beautifully pen- 

 cilled like the feathered group, but is 

 distinguished from it by having strong 

 and brilliant streaks, bands, or flames of 

 a distinct colour shooting up the centre 

 from near the base, and forking out 



