EVERT WOMAN HER OWN FLOWER GARDENER. 



101 



The Tulip. 



This bulbous plant has been aptly styed " The Fop of Flowers/' for 

 it is the most gorgeous of all the spring flowers^ and its variety of colors, 

 most delicately blended, are almost beyond the power of imagination. 



Their culture is so simple, that no one can well afford to be with- 

 out a bed of them, for an early display of gorgeous bloom. 



They are natives of Persia, and the name is derived from tulipan,dk 

 turban, the calyx of the flower resembling that Eastern head-dress. 

 The Turks first cultivated them, and from thence they were sent to 

 Vienna. At first they were supposed to be eatable, like onions, but 

 were found unpalatable ; then they were preserved in sugar, but their 

 taste was not improved, so they were thrown out upon a refuse heap as 

 worthless trash ; here they bloomed, and thus revealed the beauty of the 

 flower. 



Conrad Gesner, the Swiss botanist, first saw the flower in 1559, and 

 described it scientifically. Many years afterwards, Linnaeus gave the 

 flower the specific name of Gesneriana, in honor of Gesner. 



Linnaeus styles bulbs, "The hybernacle, or winter lodge, of the young 

 plants." Darwin says, "These bulbs in every respect resemble buds, 

 except in their being produced under ground, and include the leaves 

 and flowers in minature which are to be expanded in the ensuing spring. 

 By cautiously cutting in winter through the concentric coats of a Tulip 

 root, longitudinally from the top to the base, and taking them off suc- 

 cessively, the whole flower of the next summer's Tulip is beautifully 

 seen by the naked eye, with its petals, pistils, and stamens. The flowers 

 exist in other bulbs in the same manner, but their individual flowers 

 bemg of less size, they are not so easily dissected, or so conspicuous to 

 the naked eye. The poet thus describes the bulb : — 



Quick flies fair Tulipa the loud alarms, 

 And folds her infant closer in her arms ; 

 In some lone cave's secure pavilion lies, 

 And waits the courtship of serener skies." 



In the flrst half of the 17th century the historical episode of the 

 tulipomania occurred. It commenced in Holland, thence spread to 

 France, and England would have felt its influence had she not been fully 

 occupied with the more sanguinary mania of civil war. The almost 

 incredible extravagances of this mania are usually laid to the Dutch; 

 but this is erroneous. As well attribute the deeds of reckless stock spec- 



