flower is found in native wildness, 

 we know it only as one of those glo- 

 ries of the plant world which rise into 

 gorgeousness from a brown and stolid 

 bulb. It is like the wonderful birth 

 which takes place in the chrysalis 

 from which a butterfly emerges, a 

 creature so ethereal and gossamer that 

 it looks as if the sun and a rainbow 

 were responsible for its being. 



Never has there been a plant which 

 has occupied quite the same position 

 and achieved the same notoriety as 

 the tulip, and it was in the little 

 country behind the dykes that the 

 fancy for tulips rose to its greatest 

 heights, and fell. Early in 1^00 

 Dutch merchantmen had sailed to 

 Constantinople and brought home 

 spices and sandalwood, attar of roses 

 and mats of richest dyes, but for the 

 wife or sweetheart was brought a yet 

 choicer gift, — a packet of seeds or 

 19 



